Well with last December being the 70'th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor I'd like to point out several interesting facts about how unlucky timing, the delayed arrival of the fleet, delivery of new bombers and a lucky break all played part in how the thing unfolded.
Radar was given to the Americans by the British where it already proved its use in the battle of Britain, detecting German Bombers as they took to the sky.
However, this system took an intricate ground force to make it work to its best abilities. In the radar operating center, there were people at the radar screens, who gave the information to people phoning in locations...
http://www.tayroots.com/web/MultimediaFiles/RADAR_ROOM_CU.JPG
which were then mapped out...
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/w/wartling/r3_control_room.jpg
...before being forwarded to the squadrons of interceptors.
http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/37/3725/2ZSAF00Z/poster/world-war-ii-british-spitfire-planes-during-the-battle-of-britain-1940.jpg
Now Radar stations became a well oiled machine when the Brits used them to such good effect in their darkest hour, so when the US forces acquired Radar it was thought that people would welcome it with open arms.
Which sadly wasn't the case with both Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and General Walter Short who were the commanding officers at Pearl harbor.
They were suspicious about this miracle thing and saw it as little more than an expensive toy. The forces needed to man the whole thing could be used elsewhere and so the establishment of Radar networks as intricate as the British had, was given low priority.
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/uploads//monthly_12_2008/post-68-1230474579.jpg
These are Curtiss P-40 fighters actually photographed at a similar airfield as Wheeler's airfield at Pearl Harbor prior to the attack. They stood exactly like that, neatly in a row, when the first wave of Japanese attackers came. Now in those days, the war in Europe had already been going on for over a year and the Americans learned about how a strafing run could destroy those neatly parked aircraft and that it was a much better idea to disperse them across the airfield. However, Short had placed the planes of his airfields wing tip to wing tip because of fear that since many of the island's inhabitants who were of Japanese ancestry, acts of sabotage would be a threat. As such, he also made sure that none of the planes were armed.
At the same time a fleet of new Boeing B-17E bombers were Due to arrive from their long journey from Los Angeles to Wheeler's, where they would replace the older B-17D and Douglas B-18 "Bolo" models as maritime patrol, anti ship aircraft. The Bombers left from Washington state where they were build, flew to Salt Lake Utah where they got their crews, who then flew the whole squadron to LA where the planes were outfitted with long range tanks for the long journey over the Pacific.
http://www.youngeagles.org/photos/gallery/Military/BoeingB-17_4.jpg
So the B-17's came from north east but because of the crews not being that well trained, they actually had briefings with pilots from air lines on what route to follow and what visual markings (If any) to look out for.
And at that very day bad weather had prolonged the arrival of the main flotilla of destroyers and aircraft carriers which were carrying out exercises a couple hundred of miles away. The ships that remained in harbor, thanks to a misinterpretation were sitting ducks. Kimmel ordered (on November 27, 1941, 10 days prior to the attack) to initiate a "defensive deployment" of the fleet. Kimmel understood this to mean defense against sabotage, and so made the necessary arrangements. Because of this misinterpretation, ships were kept in port and the fleet was not placed on alert. Moreover, after his intelligence unit lost track of Japan′s aircraft carriers, Kimmel did not order any long-range air or naval patrols to assess their positions, in part for lack of serviceable Consolidated Catalina Patrol aircraft, in part because he also had a training schedule to maintain, and in part because the Army Air Corps had the responsibility for long-range patrol. (but even less capability in Hawaii than he did, since the Philippines had higher priority).
And so with that set, this happened:
- A large blip on the radar appeared at Wheeler's airfield and people went "Ah that must be the bombers flying from L.A. They made good progress." after all, they had been briefed about the B-17 delivery and had no reason whatsoever to believe that the large formation of planes they saw approaching was anything other than those new planes, not even being a bit surprised at them arriving earlier than scheduled.
- Many of the fighter pilots were off-duty, some were resting after the exercises they had done in the last couple of days or were taking their leisure, one even got married with some of his squadron mates attending. They even were preparing a welcome party for those pilots who were flying in their new planes.
- A pilot training aircraft spotted the Japanese formation, sensing that this could be bad news, it radio'd to Wheeler's airfield that it had seen a large formation of Japanese planes. The reply was dismissive: it were probably those new Boeing bombers, from a then-brand new type that didn't look familiar to the instructor and because of there not being a formal declaration of war from Japan, there was no reason for the Japanese being there anyway.
The attack started happening, around 80% of the fighters at Wheeler's airfield were destroyed on the ground almost right away, with pilots in either pajama's or tuxedo's rushing to the planes that survived, Radio operators frantically trying to get in touch with the mainland to find out if a declaration of war had been issued and they hadn't heard of it yet. The reply from the mainland was equally confused, they hadn't heard a single word from the Japanese, what was going on?
And meanwhile on board the Boeing B-17 formation, having nearly completed their 14 hour flight, the tired and fatigued crews were wondering why they got no reply from the airfield as they made their approach at the time they were expected to. Although they were wondering what all those water spouts they saw at the ocean's surface were (They were anti-aircraft ammunition that was falling back down.) and about that large column of smoke, they dismissed it as a pod of whales spouting and a wildfire at the sugar plantations, they had no reason to believe it being anything other than that.
But as they approached the runway, the fatigue made way for adrenaline as the scope of destruction and the melee of Japanese aircraft suddenly came into view. As by a wonder all but one of the bombers made it safely onto the ground, one even landing on a smaller nearby airfield with a runway that was basically too short for a bomber to land on.
But also within the melee of the Japanese aircraft there was the feeling that there was something amiss, why weren't the Americans airborne to intercept them, of the around 300 aircraft they sent to do the attack with around 60% were fighters, to fend of American interceptors which could shoot down the bombers and because they had radar they should have seen the strike force approach coming from a long distance but their aircraft were all on the ground, parked neatly in a row where they could easily be destroyed by a strafing run, why weren't they in the air?
The Japanese didn't know about the bombers arriving, their intelligence hadn't factored that in but it came in their advantage, because the Americans were expecting their new bombers to arrive the Japanese began their attack unopposed, which was a lucky break for them. Any American fighters that managed to become airborne didn't really pose that much of a threat.
But the second thing that the Japanese noticed that was amiss was much more serious: the harbor was empty, apart from a couple of battle ships and submarines, the big flotilla they were there to sink wasn't there, they were due to arrive that morning but thanks to the weather, they were delayed by at least two days and the Japanese weren't aware of that.
Squadron leader Fugida urged a third strike to take out the oil reserves but Yamamoto denied him that, stating that the element of surprise was no longer on their side.
And it was that last lucky break for the Americans that ultimately lost the Japanese the war in the Pacific. Admiral Yamamoto later said that that failure and the fact that the fleet they were out to destroy wasn't there, rather than killing the beast, just awoke it.
But the awoken beat first had a few internal affairs to release its wrath on: Admiral Kimmel and General Short were called in and face the music,
FDR had said in his official interview that he was furious about the fact that despite having received radar and the instructions how to deploy it, never mind also having gotten valuable information on dispersing aircraft and to make sure they were always ready to do battle, the aircraft were ON THE GROUND when they were needed in the air the most.
I doubt that both Kimmel and Short were ready to admit to FDR on why they hadn't put that "new expensive toy" they were so suspicious of to work in the way they should have.
Outdated military ideas are hard to drop when one is indoctrinated in them so much.
Legend says, that Kimmel stood with open mouth in horrified astonishment as the carnage unfolded in front of his eyes. A Fifty caliber round passed, grazing him. To which he remarked "It would have been merciful had it killed me."
Radar was given to the Americans by the British where it already proved its use in the battle of Britain, detecting German Bombers as they took to the sky.
However, this system took an intricate ground force to make it work to its best abilities. In the radar operating center, there were people at the radar screens, who gave the information to people phoning in locations...
http://www.tayroots.com/web/MultimediaFiles/RADAR_ROOM_CU.JPG
which were then mapped out...
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/w/wartling/r3_control_room.jpg
...before being forwarded to the squadrons of interceptors.
http://cache2.allpostersimages.com/p/LRG/37/3725/2ZSAF00Z/poster/world-war-ii-british-spitfire-planes-during-the-battle-of-britain-1940.jpg
Now Radar stations became a well oiled machine when the Brits used them to such good effect in their darkest hour, so when the US forces acquired Radar it was thought that people would welcome it with open arms.
Which sadly wasn't the case with both Admiral Husband E. Kimmel and General Walter Short who were the commanding officers at Pearl harbor.
They were suspicious about this miracle thing and saw it as little more than an expensive toy. The forces needed to man the whole thing could be used elsewhere and so the establishment of Radar networks as intricate as the British had, was given low priority.
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/uploads//monthly_12_2008/post-68-1230474579.jpg
These are Curtiss P-40 fighters actually photographed at a similar airfield as Wheeler's airfield at Pearl Harbor prior to the attack. They stood exactly like that, neatly in a row, when the first wave of Japanese attackers came. Now in those days, the war in Europe had already been going on for over a year and the Americans learned about how a strafing run could destroy those neatly parked aircraft and that it was a much better idea to disperse them across the airfield. However, Short had placed the planes of his airfields wing tip to wing tip because of fear that since many of the island's inhabitants who were of Japanese ancestry, acts of sabotage would be a threat. As such, he also made sure that none of the planes were armed.
At the same time a fleet of new Boeing B-17E bombers were Due to arrive from their long journey from Los Angeles to Wheeler's, where they would replace the older B-17D and Douglas B-18 "Bolo" models as maritime patrol, anti ship aircraft. The Bombers left from Washington state where they were build, flew to Salt Lake Utah where they got their crews, who then flew the whole squadron to LA where the planes were outfitted with long range tanks for the long journey over the Pacific.
http://www.youngeagles.org/photos/gallery/Military/BoeingB-17_4.jpg
So the B-17's came from north east but because of the crews not being that well trained, they actually had briefings with pilots from air lines on what route to follow and what visual markings (If any) to look out for.
And at that very day bad weather had prolonged the arrival of the main flotilla of destroyers and aircraft carriers which were carrying out exercises a couple hundred of miles away. The ships that remained in harbor, thanks to a misinterpretation were sitting ducks. Kimmel ordered (on November 27, 1941, 10 days prior to the attack) to initiate a "defensive deployment" of the fleet. Kimmel understood this to mean defense against sabotage, and so made the necessary arrangements. Because of this misinterpretation, ships were kept in port and the fleet was not placed on alert. Moreover, after his intelligence unit lost track of Japan′s aircraft carriers, Kimmel did not order any long-range air or naval patrols to assess their positions, in part for lack of serviceable Consolidated Catalina Patrol aircraft, in part because he also had a training schedule to maintain, and in part because the Army Air Corps had the responsibility for long-range patrol. (but even less capability in Hawaii than he did, since the Philippines had higher priority).
And so with that set, this happened:
- A large blip on the radar appeared at Wheeler's airfield and people went "Ah that must be the bombers flying from L.A. They made good progress." after all, they had been briefed about the B-17 delivery and had no reason whatsoever to believe that the large formation of planes they saw approaching was anything other than those new planes, not even being a bit surprised at them arriving earlier than scheduled.
- Many of the fighter pilots were off-duty, some were resting after the exercises they had done in the last couple of days or were taking their leisure, one even got married with some of his squadron mates attending. They even were preparing a welcome party for those pilots who were flying in their new planes.
- A pilot training aircraft spotted the Japanese formation, sensing that this could be bad news, it radio'd to Wheeler's airfield that it had seen a large formation of Japanese planes. The reply was dismissive: it were probably those new Boeing bombers, from a then-brand new type that didn't look familiar to the instructor and because of there not being a formal declaration of war from Japan, there was no reason for the Japanese being there anyway.
The attack started happening, around 80% of the fighters at Wheeler's airfield were destroyed on the ground almost right away, with pilots in either pajama's or tuxedo's rushing to the planes that survived, Radio operators frantically trying to get in touch with the mainland to find out if a declaration of war had been issued and they hadn't heard of it yet. The reply from the mainland was equally confused, they hadn't heard a single word from the Japanese, what was going on?
And meanwhile on board the Boeing B-17 formation, having nearly completed their 14 hour flight, the tired and fatigued crews were wondering why they got no reply from the airfield as they made their approach at the time they were expected to. Although they were wondering what all those water spouts they saw at the ocean's surface were (They were anti-aircraft ammunition that was falling back down.) and about that large column of smoke, they dismissed it as a pod of whales spouting and a wildfire at the sugar plantations, they had no reason to believe it being anything other than that.
But as they approached the runway, the fatigue made way for adrenaline as the scope of destruction and the melee of Japanese aircraft suddenly came into view. As by a wonder all but one of the bombers made it safely onto the ground, one even landing on a smaller nearby airfield with a runway that was basically too short for a bomber to land on.
But also within the melee of the Japanese aircraft there was the feeling that there was something amiss, why weren't the Americans airborne to intercept them, of the around 300 aircraft they sent to do the attack with around 60% were fighters, to fend of American interceptors which could shoot down the bombers and because they had radar they should have seen the strike force approach coming from a long distance but their aircraft were all on the ground, parked neatly in a row where they could easily be destroyed by a strafing run, why weren't they in the air?
The Japanese didn't know about the bombers arriving, their intelligence hadn't factored that in but it came in their advantage, because the Americans were expecting their new bombers to arrive the Japanese began their attack unopposed, which was a lucky break for them. Any American fighters that managed to become airborne didn't really pose that much of a threat.
But the second thing that the Japanese noticed that was amiss was much more serious: the harbor was empty, apart from a couple of battle ships and submarines, the big flotilla they were there to sink wasn't there, they were due to arrive that morning but thanks to the weather, they were delayed by at least two days and the Japanese weren't aware of that.
Squadron leader Fugida urged a third strike to take out the oil reserves but Yamamoto denied him that, stating that the element of surprise was no longer on their side.
And it was that last lucky break for the Americans that ultimately lost the Japanese the war in the Pacific. Admiral Yamamoto later said that that failure and the fact that the fleet they were out to destroy wasn't there, rather than killing the beast, just awoke it.
But the awoken beat first had a few internal affairs to release its wrath on: Admiral Kimmel and General Short were called in and face the music,
FDR had said in his official interview that he was furious about the fact that despite having received radar and the instructions how to deploy it, never mind also having gotten valuable information on dispersing aircraft and to make sure they were always ready to do battle, the aircraft were ON THE GROUND when they were needed in the air the most.
I doubt that both Kimmel and Short were ready to admit to FDR on why they hadn't put that "new expensive toy" they were so suspicious of to work in the way they should have.
Outdated military ideas are hard to drop when one is indoctrinated in them so much.
Legend says, that Kimmel stood with open mouth in horrified astonishment as the carnage unfolded in front of his eyes. A Fifty caliber round passed, grazing him. To which he remarked "It would have been merciful had it killed me."
