Kenneth Taylor (left) with George S. Welch, who died in 1954
Posted on 12/03/2006 6:36:43 AM PST by lunarbicep
Kenneth M. Taylor, 86, an Army Air Forces pilot who managed to get airborne under fire near Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and shot down at least two Japanese attacking aircraft, died Nov. 25 at an assisted living residence in Tucson. He had been ill since hip surgery two years ago.
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. 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.
Soon out of ammunition, Welch and Lt. Taylor landed at Wheeler to rearm. Senior officers ordered them to stay on the ground.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
ping
Ironically, this was on TBS last night.
Interesting...
Thanks for the post.
Pearl Harbor & USAAF ping
Go watch Tora, Tora, Tora instead much better than the aflected P-H fiasco of a movie.
God bless 'em. So glad that Taylor, at least, got to live a long life and die of natural causes.
"He was always self-conscious about people making a big deal of it, and he wanted to be remembered as a good husband, a good provider and a good citizen."
Rest In Peace General Taylor.
Incidentally, George Welch was heir to his family's fortune earned through their jelly products. The brand is still commonly found in grocery stores.
(the following information was assembled from several web sites)
More than 70 American aircraft were airborne during the Japanese attack.
A dozen U.S. planes were shot down, including two by friendly ground fire.
Because of the chaos, the aerial combat losses were never fully accounted for.
Some of the crashes were unwitnessed and unrecoverable.
Lieutenant Gordon Sterling grabbed the first available plane.
He took his watch from his wrist he handed it to the crew chief and said,
"Give this to my mother! I'm not coming back!"
Then he was airborne, engaged with enemy fighters, ... and gone.
When Pearl Harbor survivors held their 60th reunion, Second Lieutenant Sterling
was still counted among the missing, the first such airman of World War II.
Five planes carrying nine crewmen are still missing in Hawaiian waters.
Five were USS Enterprise crewmen, three were coast artillery enlisted men,
and one was a USAAF pilot.
Gordon Sterling is the sole U.S. Army Air Force pilot still counted as missing.
Yep. Along with "The Battle Of Britian" ", Tora was the best film in terms of aircraft and air footage.
Whether his was "the greatest generation" is debatable. The Revolutionary War and Civil War generations are also in contention, but there is no doubt at all that his was a strong, courageous, and patriotic generation. RIP as they pass from the scene.
Whether his was "the greatest generation" is debatable. The Revolutionary War and The War of Northern Aggression generations are also in contention, but there is no doubt at all that his was a strong, courageous, and patriotic generation. RIP as they pass from the scene.
A find man,may he stroll the halls head high, my brother was KIA in the marina islands.
"My dad was modest and retiring about all this," his son said. "I have picked up what I know about it in snippets over the years. He was always self-conscious about people making a big deal of it, and he wanted to be remembered as a good husband, a good provider and a good citizen."
I so admire a man who lives his life by this code of conduct especially when you compare this to the behavior of the likes of clinton and his admirers. I pray that I am able to emulate the former more than the latter.
Real interesting pair. Welsh, after becoming an ace in the Pacifc theater, became a test pilot for North American, where he flew the prototype of the F-86. Indeed, it is now generally conceeded that he took that prototype supersonic before Chuck Yeager went Mach 1 in the X-1
He also became the first pilot of the F-100 prototype (the first fighter capable of going supersonic in level flight), a job that got him killed in 1954 when yaw problems led to a breakup at supersonic speeds.
I'd watch except for Alec Baldwin playing Jimmy Doolittle.
very interesting thread- thanks for posting
"Whether his was "the greatest generation" is debatable. The Revolutionary War and Civil War generations are also in contention, but there is no doubt at all that his was a strong, courageous, and patriotic generation. RIP as they pass from the scene."
These guys had guts and saved us from Fascism and Tojo.
But we have guys (and girls) like that today in Iraq and Afhanistan. It's our gutless politicians, panty-waist Democrats and the seditious press that are killing our war effort today.
The issue was leadership and newspapers in which truth, honor, dignity and duty were important.
1774-1894 America had great leaders. Newspapers did attack politicians even Washington, but in the important matters like The Wars, and sorting out the Barbary Coast pirates the papers display dignity, promote honor, encourage duty, and tried to tell the truth. America did great things
1855-1875, America had terrible leaders, and terrible media.
1938-1958 America had great leaders, and TV, Radio, Films, and newspapers that honored courage, virtue, etc.
Now, though the kids are great, the President and Generals are good, they are all betrayed by the dominant chains of TV, Radio, Films, and newspapers. The Oscars showed the real reason. A tiny cabal of deviants control TV, Radio, Films and newspapers for the purpose of justifying their libertinage by proclaiming various gross deviant behaviors normal and good.
Standing at attention and rendering the hand salute. Rest in peace.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.