The Hawaiian Air Force

The Hawaiian Air Force, an integrated command for slightly more than one year, under the command of Major. Gen. Frederick L. Martin, was deployed.  It consisted of:

  • 754 officers and 6,706 enlisted men
  • Headquarters 18th Bombardment Wing at Hickam Field (5th and 11th Bomb Groups (H) and 58thBomb Squadron (L) Headquarters 14th Pursuit Wing at Wheeler Field.
  • 86th Observation Squadron at Bellows Field.
  • 231 military aircraft:
    • 12 B-17Ds
    • 12 P-40Cs
    • 12 A-20As
    • 87 P-40Bs
    • 33 B-18As
    • 39 P-36As
    • 14 P-26As
    • Plus an assortment of observation, training and attack planes.
  • Radar facilities:
    • 6 detector stations in operation. (one of which was at Opana on the northern tip of the Kahuku Mountains)
  • Defense plans included a system of SOP’s for alerts:
    • Sabotage (considered most likely).
      Occupation of all fields.
    • Attacks.

Since sabotage was considered most likely, aircraft were concentrated with extra guards.  Aerial reinforcements were being rushed to Philippine Islands as most probable spot of attack by Japanese.  Defense plans among military in Hawaii were general rather than specific regarding interchange of vital information and assistance.

At 0755 on a Sunday morning, 183 aircraft from six Japanese aircraft carriers struck American military facilities and vessels on Oahu, just as Billy Mitchell had predicted in 1924. The second wave consisted of 170 aircraft. Ninety-four American ships were in Pearl Harbor. Four hundred American aircraft were parked at Ford Island, Hickam Field, Wheeler Field, Ewa MCAS, Kaneohe MCAS, Bellows Station and Haleiwa Field. The American Aircraft Carrier Saratoga was in San Diego, the Lexington was delivering planes to Midway Island and the Enterprise delivering planes to Wake Island. The Japanese attack sunk 18 American ships and destroyed 188 American aircraft and caused 2,335 American military deaths while losing 29 Japanese planes, damaging 50 Japanese planes and suffering fewer than 100 Japanese deaths. A flight of 11 B-17s arrived during the attack from the West Coast and landed at Wheeler, Haleiwa, Hickam and the golf course at Kahuku. One plane was destroyed and three badly damaged.

Gambo Flying Service lost two planes and two civilian Aeronca aircraft were fired on by the attacking forces. World War Two had started in Hawaii and was followed within a few hours by attacks on the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies.

Hawaiian Air Force Casualties and Damage from Japanese Attack:

KillesMissingWoundedTotal
Hickam12437274432
Wheeler3765396
Bellows20914
Total16343336542

Aircraft: Only 79 out of 231 assigned were operational after the attack; 64 were totally destroyed; the remainder heavily damaged.

Property Damage: Hangars at both Hickam and Wheeler were severely damaged.  The aircraft repair station in Hickam’s Hangar 35 was completely gutted.  There was major damage to repair facilities in Hangars 11, 13 and 17.

Two Hawaiian Airlines transports were damaged on the ground during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The first civilian casualty in Hawaii of the War was Robert Tyce, owner of the K-T Flying Service, who was killed by machine gun fire from Japanese torpedo planes as they flew over John Rodgers Airport on their way to Pearl Harbor.

Two small planes from the K-T Flying Service were shot down near the entrance to Pearl Harbor and the pilots lost.  Small planes of other flying services received bullet holes but were able to return to Rodgers Airport without injury to pilots or passengers.

 

For the full documentation of Hawaiian Aviation during WWII, check: