Redbird, A2A Simulations And Flying Commemorate the 75th Anniversary Of The Attack On Pearl Harbor

Attendees at AirVenture next week will have an opportunity to Remember Pearl Harbor first hand.

Redbird, A2A Flight Simulations and Flying are sponsoring a 75th Commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor booth, #445, exhibiting with Pacific Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor and experience flying the custom MX2 full motion simulator built by Red Bird Flight Simulation to mimic the P40 that Major George Welch (2nd Lt at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack) flew in the Battle of Pearl Harbor.  This P40 flight simulator was graciously donated by Redbird Flight Simulations Inc. and Scott Gentile, President of A2A Simulations Inc., with support from Flying.
 
On Saturday evening, December 6, 1941, Major George Welch and his wingman, Lt. Ken Taylor, attended a formal dinner-dance that led into an all-night poker game for the two fliers - not an unusual Saturday night for Welch and his wingman. Returning to their barracks near Wheeler Field in the center of the island shortly before dawn Sunday morning, both men were still wearing their tuxedo trousers when the area came under the Japanese aerial attack.

Welch and Taylor had recently had their fighter planes moved to an outlying airstrip at Haleiwa so while Taylor got his Buick, Welch telephoned the air strip and screamed, 'Get two P-40s ready! It's not a gag - the Japs are here!' Driving at over 100 MPH and coming under Japanese strafing multiple times along the way, the two fliers arrived at Haleiwa to find their P-40 Warhawks fueled, idling, and being armed. Acting completely on their own initiative, Welch and Taylor took off and engaged the enemy. Taylor took off directly onto the tail of a Japanese plane and he began firing almost immediately, despite both planes only having ammunition in their wing-mounted .30 cal guns. The two successfully engaged several enemy aircraft before having to land at Wheeler Air Field to refuel and rearm.

They returned to the air and successfully engaged the attacking Japanese aircraft once again, finishing the day with four confirmed kills for Welch, two for Taylor, and even more "damaged" and "probable’s" for the pair. These two pilots accounted for nearly 20% of all Japanese aircraft losses during the attack and two-thirds of all Japanese air-to-air losses.

(Source: Redbird news release)

FMI: www.redbirdflightsimulations.com, www.a2asimulations.com