NEW Pearl Harbor Attack photo: 58 BS A-20

[David_Aiken]

This A-20 was inside the Hawaiian Air Depot at Hickam Field. It was to be repaired...until the attack changed things! Note the O-47 immediately behind!

[Nathan]

wow great find David! Finally a photo of an A-20 at Hickam. Where did you find it?

[Glen]

Dose anybody Remembe the shot from the Movie Tora Tora Tora Where the Zero pilot crashes his plane into the Hanger ? and the inside shot shows it crashing into what seem to me a A-20 With this photo the set up the film looks very simular . Nice Find ! Keep em coming.

[dbrown]

The director actually used a real B-25 and modified the tail to appear as an A-20.

If you look real close and freeze frame you can see the side windows.

The film unit really took great efforts to make sure they portrayed the attack as accurately as possible.
BUFFIE

[Chris Brame]

And here it is:



And there it goes:

[Steve Nelson]

I notice the gear doors hanging open on the Mitchell. The oil drums are probably intended to hide flat tires (or they may have even removed the wheels entirely.)

I'm suprised they didn't do that scene in miniature.

Here's some info I found on another forum..the poster was "Aerovin," as in aerovintage.com, so I think it can be regared as accurate.

The B-25 in question (Tora Tora Tora) was s/n 44-30478, civil N9754Z. It had indeed been damaged in May 1965 when a drunken pilot took it for an exciting joyride. For Tora, the filmakers mounted one of the vertical stabilizers as a single fin to allow the B-25 to somewhat resemble (loosely) a Douglas A-20. It appears in the film in very short scene when the Japanese fighter crashes through the roof of the hangar and explodes. The B-25 survived, though heavily damaged. Its ultimate fate?

There were no reported B-25s at Hickam or Wheeler on December 7, just a squadron of A-20s. That the filmmakers went to such a length to replicate an A-20 on scene is indicative of the efforts they made to get it as accurate as possible.

And here it is in the registry, with a side-view pic. http://www.warbirdregistry.org/b25registry/b25-4430478.html

SN

[David_Aiken]

The TORA hangar scene is nice fiction...based on a post war interview of Iyozo Fujita, second in command to Fusata Iida...whose crash location was NEAR the hangars, not INTO a hangar.

After many letters with guys firing from the ground and with (now late) Iyozo Fujita, the facts are posted at: http://www.flightjournal.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=F999E8C39FCE47DEB4CDBABBFBF37179&nm=The+Magazine&type=PubPagi&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle+Title&mid=13B2F0D0AFA04476A2ACC02ED28A405F&tier=4&id=1C8362189B3E4880A7AD26DF526DDD7E

Enjoy,
Cheers,
David

[JOHN MILLER]

Here is a couple pearl photos a friend sent me a while ago I have about 16 total, most I had never seen before.. pearl-5 is included because if you look at center of pic it appears to be a plane, who's ???
JOHN
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm18 ... earl-5.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm18 ... arl-10.jpg
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm18 ... earl-2.jpg

[David_Aiken]

pearl-5 is included because if you look at center of pic it appears to be a plane, who's ??? JOHN

Hi John,
Directions: Hickam Field is to the left of the photographer. The photographer is located at the sub base. Behind him is Kimmel's HQ. The main part of the harbor is to the right.

The Japanese dive bombing of Hickam was in the first wave. No fixed gear is viewed on the plane.

The amount of smoke viewed in the photo says this is a second-wave photo. The second wave KATEs were all high in the sky. The Zero strafing of Hickam was counter-clock wise, quite low and in both waves. Thus we are looking at a second wave Zero in the second wave...banking left towards Hickam looking for his next target.

HTH,
David Aiken, student of 7 Dec