Actually we did see them coming. But army headquarters blew off the signal corps report of incoming craft as a flight of B-17’s coming in from Midway.
CC
—— a flight of B-17’s coming in from Midway——
for the record.......
“On the morning of 7 December 1941, twelve Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses were approaching Hawaii after a 14-hour flight from California. “
They were coming from the mainland
Most personnel on the ground at Pearl said “WTF!?” when the skies suddenly filled with Zeros, Kates, & Vals. There was a massive breakdown in getting intelligence to where it was most needed.
Kinda like the famous last words of Gen. George Armstrong Custer:
“Where did all those f*****g Indians come from!!?”