Days before the 65th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, Kenneth Taylor has died in Tucson of complications after hip surgery.
He was a new second lieutenant on his first assignment, posted in April 1941 to Wheeler Army Airfield in Honolulu. A week before the Japanese attacked, his 47th Pursuit Squadron was temporarily moved to Haleiwa Field, an auxiliary airstrip about 10 miles from Wheeler, for gunnery practice.After a night of poker and dancing at the officers' club at Wheeler, where the dress code required tuxedoes, 21-year-old Lt. Taylor and fellow pilot George Welch awoke to the sound of planes flying low, machine-gun fire and explosions. They learned that two-thirds of the U.S. aircraft at the main bases of Hickam and Wheeler fields were demolished or unable to fly.
They quickly pulled on their tuxedo pants and, while Welch ran to get Lt. Taylor's new Buick, Lt. Taylor, without orders, called Haleiwa and commanded the ground crews to get two P-40 fighters armed and ready for takeoff.
Strafed by Japanese aircraft, the pair sped 10 miles from Honolulu to Haleiwa [sic - that must be from Wheeler. It's more like 30 miles from Honolulu to Haleiwa]. At the airstrip, they climbed into their fighters, which were fueled but not fully armed, took off and soon attracted fire from the Japanese, who had not expected to be challenged in the air. Suddenly, they were in combat, two pilots against 200 to 300 Japanese aircraft.
Taylor was one of the two guys who got into the air that morning. He was credited with two kills, as was Welch. They were each awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the first two medals awarded in World War II.
Taylor went on to fly at Guadalcanal; he spent 27 years on active duty, became commander of the Alaska Air National Guard, and retired in 1971 as a brigadier general.
Posted by Linkmeister at December 5, 2006 12:01 AM | TrackBackThat's a shame. All things considered, he and Welch did a great job on a really bad day.
[sic - that must be from Wheeler. It's more like 30 miles from Honolulu to Haleiwa]
Yeah, every account I've ever read has them starting from Wheeler, which was where they were barracked. Wheeler was one of the Japanese priority targets, but since Haleiwa was just a grass training strip with a handful of planes, it didn't rate any attention.
My favorite account is in the long out of print One Damned Island After Another, the official history of the Seventh Air Force during the War (which started at as the Hawaii Air Department).
Posted by: DXMachina at December 5, 2006 06:11 AM