The latest blockbuster film about World War II, from Hollywood, is Pearl Harbor. Possibilities for an ‘alternate’ Pearl Harbor appear in the new Rising Sun Victorious, but there is also a fine description of the start of that day of infamy in the new book Fortress Against The Sun: The B-17 Flying Fortress in the Pacific from Combined Publishing. Robert L. Pigeon, President of Combined Publishing, writes about their new, strong book: “The book has many, many human interest stories. This is all due to the author’s incredible research and his countless veteran interviews. Gene Salecker has fashioned a very compelling narrative about the role of B-17s in the Pacific-a role often overlooked in consideration of the B-17’s more prominent role in Europe.. This story that convinced me to publish the book is found in the opening pages of the book. The book opens on the morning of June 7, 1940. Twelve B-17s take off from California headed on a rather routine trip to the Philippines, with a planned stop refueling at Pearl Harbor. To save fuel for the long trip, no significant ammunition was loaded. Calmly listening to the radio on a bright Spring morning over the Pacific, the crews arrive at Hickam Field at the same time as the first wave of Japanese fighters. Imagine the surprise of airmen suddenly realizing they arrived at the start of America’s entry into the war. Here is just a bit of the story as told in Chapter One.... To excerpt the book: “The flight to Hawaii had been uneventful as each B-17 flew alone through the night. ‘Each crew was on its own,’ Lt. Johnson wrote. ‘A thirteen hour trip is a long one, particularly over water. We seldom saw the surface of the ocean, for we flew at 8 thousand feet. The navigators shot the stars, kept track of position, [and] estimated the time of arrival. Everything ran smoothly. . .’As day dawned and the individual planes drew closer to Hawaii, they picked up the music from one of the radio stations. ‘A thousand miles out we could hear Honolulu,’ penned Lt. Johnson. ‘That gave us confidence. We were coming closer, closer . . . [but] the gas became less and less... If we were not exactly on course we might pass to one side of the island of Oahu and never know it . . .’ Near 7:15 a.m., with the individual B-17s nearing Hawaii, a portable Army radar unit detected a large ‘blip’ approaching from the north. When the operators reported the contact to a central plotting station the officer in charge, knowing that the B-17s were coming in from California and certain that the blip was the incoming bombers, told the men, ‘Well, don’t worry about it.’ In reality, the radar had picked up a fast approaching flight of Japanese attack planes. Richards headed towards Hickam and Pearl Harbor. The time was about 7:55 a.m. ‘We came around Diamond Head,’ Angelini continued, ‘and we saw some smoke... just starting to come up from Pearl Harbor.’ Richards and his crew had no way of knowing that they were flying into the start of a war. At precisely 7:55 a.m., carrier-based Japanese planes unexpectedly hit the American fleet at anchor in Pearl Harbor, causing considerable damage. At the same time, the Japanese struck Hickam Field, due east of the harbor. ‘[T]he radio was still playing in town,’ Sgt. Angelini recalled, indicating that everything seemed all right. ‘So we got over Hickam and looked and then [a Japanese plane] came up alongside flying formation with us.’ The crew of Skipper did not know what to make of the strange looking plane. ‘[W]e didn’t know what the hell it was and he didn’t know who we were either for that matter,’ Angelini said. For a few minutes the two planes flew side by side and then suddenly the Japanese pilot fired at the B-17. Caught by surprise, Angelini shouted, ‘What the hell are they shooting at!’ Lt. Richards raced for the safety of a cloud and was able to lose the Zero but when he emerged on the other side, he was jumped by three more enemy planes. Once again the B-17 sustained damage. The No. 2 engine, the inboard engine on the left side, began smoking and the left aileron was torn apart, leaving it practically useless. Afraid of landing at Hickam while it was under attack, Richards turned back towards Bellows Field. Next to reach Hawaii was 1st Lt. Bruce G. Allen’s B-17C. Nearing Pearl Harbor, Allen saw thick columns of smoke above the area and thought it was the result of burning sugarcane. In spite of the attack on Pearl Harbor and Hickam Field, and the large amount of anti-aircraft fire that was beginning to fill the air, Lt. Allen landed his B-17 at Hickam without any trouble. Following hot on the heels of Allen’s plane was B-17C flown by Capt. Raymond T. Swenson. As the plane approached Hickam, copilot 2nd Lt. Ernest L. Reid saw a few black bursts of anti-aircraft fire and thought that some artillery unit was having gunnery practice. At almost the same instant he saw a flight of six fighter planes fly through the fire. ‘I recall thinking,’ Reid wrote, ‘that somebody on the ground was getting a little careless about where he was shooting.’ As the B-17 drew closer to Hickam, things did not look right. ‘I noticed a great deal of black smoke coming up from Pearl Harbor,’ Lt. Reid wrote. ‘There was too much ack-ack [fire] around, and I began to feel that something was wrong . . .’ When Capt. Swenson attempted to contact the Hickam control tower he got no response. Closer to the airfield and down to only 600 feet, Reid finally saw what was causing the oily, black smoke. ‘At least six planes were burning fiercely on the ground,’ Reid wrote. ‘Gone was any doubt in my mind as to what had happened.’ As if to punctuate the thought, two Japanese Zeros suddenly swept in from behind and stitched the B-17 with bullets. Responding instantly, copilot Reid shoved the throttles forward, giving full power to the four engines. ‘It seemed only logical,’ he later recalled, ‘to get quickly into some nearby clouds . . . since we had no way of fighting back.’ As Reid shouted back that the fire was coming from behind, Schick suddenly grabbed his leg. ‘Damn it! Those are real bullets they’re shooting. I am hit in the leg.’ The plane was heading for the clouds when smoke suddenly began filling the flight deck. Tracer bullets from one of the Zeros had ignited a box of magnesium flares stored in the radio compartment. With the center of the aircraft on fire, Swenson and Reid turned the bomber back towards Hickam. Unable to see clearly because of the smoke, the pilots made a hard, bouncing landing and as the tail came down, the middle of the fuselage buckled and collapsed, splitting the plane in two. ‘When that happened we stopped very quickly,’ Reid noted.” Back to Greenhill Military Book News No. 108 Table of Contents Back to Greenhill Military Book News List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Greenhill Books This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com