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Harry Brown: Pearl Harbor Pilot
By: Martin K.A. Morgan
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Harry Brown as an
aviation candidate in June 1941. His baptism to
aerial combat would come six months later on the
morning Sunday, December 7th in the skies above
Oahu. (National Archives and Records
Administration) |
The auxiliary
airfield near Haleiwa as it appeared on
September 4, 1941. Just three months after this
photo was taken, Haleiwa would be the scene of
great drama during the Pearl Harbor raid.
(National Archives and Records Administration
80G-279357) |
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A pre-war view
of the auxiliary airfield near Haleiwa between
Waialua Bay and Waimea Bay on Oahu’s north
shore. (National Archives and Records
Administration 80G-279358) |
The auxiliary
airfield at Haleiwa as it appeared in January
1943. This photo was taken facing east toward
Kahuku Point. (National Archives and Records
Administration 80G-451134) |
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The auxiliary
airfield at Haleiwa as it appeared in January
1943. This photo was taken looking west toward
Kaena Point. (National Archives and Records
Administration 80G-451135) |
A 1922 map showing
the locations of the various harbor defenses of
the island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii.
(courtesy of Coast Defense Study Group) |
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A panoramic view of
the old airfield at Haleiwa as it appears today.
(photo by author) |
Government vehicles
parked on the old airfield at Haleiwa -
September 2005. (photo by author) |
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Government vehicles
parked on the old airfield at Haleiwa -
September 2005. (photo by author) |
Tropical vegetation
has largely reclaimed the old airfield at
Haleiwa - September 2005. (photo by author) |
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Dense tropical
vegetation has largely reclaimed this part of
the taxiway apron at the old airfield at Haleiwa
- September 2005. (photo by author) |
Dense tropical
vegetation has largely reclaimed the old
airfield at Haleiwa - September 2005. (photo by
author) |
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Dense tropical
vegetation has largely reclaimed the old
airfield at Haleiwa - September 2005. (photo by
author) |
A Hawaiin Airlines
DC-3 flies over Haleiwa on the north shore of
Oahu in 1957. Kaena Point is visible at top
right and the old abandoned auxiliary airfield
that Harry Brown flew from on December 7, 1941
can be seen at the bottom right. (author’s
collection) |
On Saturday, December 6, 1941 some
of the aircraft of the 47th Pursuit Squadron/15th Fighter Group
were temporarily based on the north shore of Oahu at the
auxiliary airfield near Haleiwa. Little more than a grassy strip
between the coastal road and the beach, Haleiwa field could not
have been more primitive. It lacked hangars, landing lights and
even a control tower. Despite the absence of proper airfield
facilities, the 47th Pursuit Squadron was at Haleiwa to conduct
remote field gunnery training with their P-40s and P-36s. 2nd
Lieutenant Harry W. Brown and his roommate 2nd Lieutenant Johnny
Dains were among the squadron’s pilots there, but they completed
their gunnery qualification earlier in the day. With their work
at Haleiwa finished, the two young pilots decided to celebrate
by going out in Honolulu that night. They returned to their
quarters at Wheeler Field shortly before dawn on Sunday,
December 7th.
At 7:55 a.m., 2nd Lt. Brown heard the distinct sound of an
airplane in a dive followed by an explosion. Startled, he ran to
the door and looked up only to see a sky “…full of airplanes –
all of which were laying bombs and then machine-gunning on their
pull-ups.” Johnny Dains joined Brown at the door and the two
immediately thought of their fighters, which still sat on the
dirt strip at Haleiwa. The pilots wasted no time in jumping in
Brown’s car and speeding off for the north shore. On the way to
the post’s main gate, they took a detour through Wheeler’s
married officer’s housing section to pick-up the squadron’s
Executive Officer Bob Rogers. The three officers then roared off
toward Haleiwa, sometimes traveling at speeds in excess of 100
mph. On the way, a Japanese Aichi D3A1 Val dive-bomber spotted
the car and strafed it but caused no damage. Intent on reaching
the field where the squadron’s fighters sat waiting, Brown kept
driving. In so doing, he inadvertently led the Val to the only
airfield that had not yet been attacked.
Brown, Dains and Rogers arrived to find two of the squadron’s
other pilots – Lt. Ken Taylor and Lt. George Welch – and their
ground crewmen already prepping a pair of fighters for flight.
“The flight line was utter chaos!” Lt. Brown remembered years
later. After skidding to a stop, he took off toward the row of
aircraft at a sprint. Unfortunately, the Val that hounded him
during the drive up from Wheeler was there too and it began to
strafe the field. Seeking cover from the harassing enemy
dive-bomber, Brown hid underneath the wing of the first P-36 he
came to. With bullets slamming into the ground around him, it
dawned on Brown that the wing just over his head was also a fuel
tank containing 100 gallons of high-octane aviation gasoline. He
quickly abandoned that cover and found his P-36, which was being
prepared for flight by his ground crewmen. He helped the crew
load ammunition for the Hawk’s .30-cal. and .50-cal. guns and
then jumped into the cockpit and took-off.
As Lt. Brown climbed out from Haleiwa, he raised his landing
gear, steered his P-36 to the southeast and charged-off toward
Bellows Field. He had heard on the radio that enemy aircraft
were strafing and bombing the Army airfield there, but he found
nothing in the area and turned back toward Kahuku Point. Brown
then spotted a lone airplane and closed up on its wing. It was
the P-36 being flown by Bob Rogers, who motioned downward toward
a Japanese D3A dive-bomber. Rogers nosed over to begin an attack
and Brown followed. When Rogers pulled-out, Brown began dog
fighting with the enemy airplane. After briefly pursuing the Val
down to wave-top level without getting a kill, Brown continued
looking for more enemy aircraft. He quickly spotted three planes
over Kaena Point - two Japanese dive-bombers pursuing a lone
P-36. Brown approached the three aircraft and when he was in
range, he engaged the closest Val. Years later, Brown remembered
what happened next: “he tried to turn away from me and flew
right through my line of fire.” The Val was no more than 15 feet
away when Brown opened fire. “I couldn’t have missed!” he
remembered, “I saw the rear gunner crumple and the left wing
begin to burn so I snapped to the right and climbed to set
myself up for another pass.” Brown was watching when the enemy
plane hit the water “almost vertically.” It was his first aerial
victory.
With one Japanese plane down, Brown turned to his left to look
for the other one. Instead of seeing a lone Val though, he saw a
formation of 10 Japanese aircraft that began to scatter in all
directions. Brown flew his P-36 right through the middle of them
then he formed-up on the wing of the P-36 being flown by 2nd LT.
Mike Moore of the 46th Pursuit Squadron. Together, Moore and
Brown attacked a group of A6M2 Zero fighters from the aircraft
carrier Soryu. Moore got on the tail of one of the Zeros and was
maneuvering to get it in his gun sight when Petty Officer 1st
Class Takeshi Atsumi slid his Zero in behind him and began
firing. With his attention focused on Moore’s P-36, Atsumi did
not detect Harry Brown closing in on him. On his first pass,
Brown “inflicted heavy damage” on Atsumi’s airplane: “I saw the
pilot’s canopy shatter and the engine take some hits,” he
remembered. Brown made two more runs on the enemy fighter but
then ran out of ammunition. The last time Atsumi’s Zero was
seen, it was trailing a column of black smoke and headed out
over Kaena Point in the general direction of Kauai. Atsumi did
not return to the Soryu that day, but Harry Brown returned
safely to Haleiwa. He lived until1991 in the knowledge that on
December 7, 1941, he took to the air and got two kills in aerial
combat with the enemy.
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