Jim Scanlon (deceased)
Senior Staff
FORUM CHAPLAIN
Commander South Texas outpost of the County Sligo Squadron
Currently: Offline
Posts: 5,075
Location:
Joined: July 2007
Retired: USAF NBA: Spurs NFL: Niners MLB: Giants NHL: Penguins
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Dec 11, 2013 2:47:21 GMT 9
This from the AFA On-Line Journal this morning.
Pearl Harbor Survivor Returning to United States The world's oldest Curtis P-40B Warhawk fighter, which survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, will join the Collings Foundation, announced the Massachusetts-based, non-profit organization. A "very generous sponsor" made possible the foundation's acquisition of the airplane from the Fighter Collection in Duxford, England, which had operated the airworthy airframe since 2003, according to the foundation's release. Shipment of the now-disassembled P-40B, serial number 41-13297, is underway, states the release. Robert Collings, the foundation's executive director, said the airplane is expected to participate in the 75th anniversary commemoration of the Pearl Harbor attack in 2016, reported Fox News on Dec. 7. The Army Air Corps aircraft escaped destruction during the attack 72 years earlier in a maintenance hangar at Wheeler Field, Hawaii, where it was undergoing repairs, according to the foundation. However, some six weeks later, on Jan. 24, 1942, the aircraft crashed into a Hawaiian mountainside, killing its pilot. Recovery of the aircraft began in 1985; restoration started four years later in Torrance, Calif. The Collings Foundation restores World War II-era aircraft and displays and flies them at airfields across the country. (See also Airpower Classics P-40 entry from Air Force Magazine's archives.)
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Post by pat perry on Dec 9, 2014 23:59:42 GMT 9
Meant to post this on Dec 7th and CRS disease set in.
www.thisdayinaviation.com/7-december-1941/
These are the only two American fliers who got off the ground at Pearl Harbor to fight the incoming Japanese fighters.
The guy on the left, Ken Taylor, went on to become the first commanding officer of the 456th Fighter Squadron in the Pacific.
Excerpt: On the morning of December 7, 1941, only two American pilots were able to get airborne to fight the Japanese attackers. Second Lieutenants Kenneth Marlar Taylor and George S. Welch took two Curtiss P-40B Warhawk fighters from a remote airfield at Haleiwa and against overwhelming odds, each shot down four enemy airplanes: Welch shot down three Aichi D3A “Val” dive bombers and one Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter. Taylor also shot down four Japanese airplanes. Although both officers were nominated for the Medal of Honor by General Henry H. (“Hap”) Arnold, they were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.
see also www.456fis.org/BIO_GENERAL_KEN_TAYLOR.htm and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_M._Taylor
Pat P.
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