At 10 AM, the second wave withdrew, leaving 188 aircraft—nearly half of Hawaii’s “Pineapple Air Force”—in ruins and much of Battleship Row underwater.  Just 14 Army pilots managed to takeoff in the chaos, and between them shoot down 10 or 11 Japanese aircraft.  18 or 19 more Japanese warplanes were downed by ground fire, and nineteen so heavily damaged they were thrown off deck. These losses were more than acceptable given the success of the raid, but no slight that Japanese Admiral Chuichi Nagumo was unduly tempted to launch a third strike.

While the Army and Navy were organizationally unprepared for this first trial by fire, a handful of gallant flyers showed that America had both decent flying machines, and the daring men who could pilot them into future victories.

Sébastien Roblin holds a master’s degree in conflict resolution from Georgetown University and served as a university instructor for the Peace Corps in China. He has also worked in education, editing and refugee resettlement in France and the United States. He currently writes on security and military history for War Is Boring. This article first appeared in December 2019.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.