LAST JAPANESE FIGHTER RECOVERED IN HAWAII

AOPA ePilot ^ | 18 August 2006

[IonImplantGuru]

The first pieces of the last remaining Japanese Zero fighter to be shot down over Hawaii on December 7, 1941, have reached the new Pacific Aviation Museum, now in its final fund-raising campaign and set to open December 7, 2006.

This aircraft had just finished strafing Bellows Field and Kaneohe Naval Air Station when ground fire punctured its belly fuel tank, preventing it from returning to the aircraft carrier Hiryu and forcing it to land on what Japanese planners thought was an abandoned island, Niihau.

However, the island's owners, the Robinson family, had heeded the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924 and had plowed huge furrows in every conceivable landing site. Those furrows were still present and forced the Zero pilot to crash and be taken prisoner.

The remaining pieces of the Zero and the tractor that plowed the furrows will be on display at the museum on Ford Island, the military airfield where bullet holes from the attack still remain.

[IonImplantGuru]

The locals call the crash landing, capture of the Japanese pilot, subsequent escape, eventual recapture and execution the "Battle of Niihau."

[sionnsar]

the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924

!!!!

[IonImplantGuru]

For Aeronauts ping list.

[Loud Mime]

the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924 ---


The New York Times may have printed them.....

[Springman]

Ping.

[ichabod1]

I thought this meant the last of the Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle was found after all these years.

[Michael.SF.]

yep. That was why they court martialed him, he was way ahead of his time.

[ExSES]

the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924

Court-marshalled for being "innovative" in demonstrating what airpower could do to surface ships!!!

[SamAdams76]

What took them so long?

[Samwise]

Foxhole Ping

[Vision]

However, the island's owners, the Robinson family, had heeded the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924 and had plowed huge furrows in every conceivable landing site. Those furrows were still present and forced the Zero pilot to crash and be taken prisoner.

The Robinson's are true American heroes.

[tet68]

Yes, the Navy was terrified by his demonstration, if thinking like that had caught on, appropriations for battleships and ships of the line would have disappeared.

[SkyPilot]

Wow. Any pictures of this story anywhere?

[Soaring Feather]

Thanks for the ping.

[Paleo Conservative]

Yes, the Navy was terrified by his demonstration, if thinking like that had caught on, appropriations for battleships and ships of the line would have disappeared.

It would have avoided all the wasteful spending on Battleships in the 1930's and '40s. We could have spent more on aircraft carriers and submarines and testing weapons. Imagine how many allied planes wouldn't have been lost if we had already developed aerial refueling.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Nah - the Robinson's only had the fields plowed. Read this story and you'll see the heros.

http://www.the-catbird-seat.net/PearlHarbor.htm

[tubebender]

Great War Story...

[MissEdie]

Prior Prevention Prevents Poor Performance- sounds like these people were well prepared!!!!

[Centurion2000]

I always wondered why the B-25 was called the Mitchell ... now I know thanks to this. Excellent.

[MissEdie]

Please excuse my ignorance, exactly what was Gen. Mitchell court-martialed for?

[Centurion2000]

Just read that .... awesome war story that was never really told

The pilot, his revolver-arm free, shot Kana-hele. The bullet went into his stomach. The wounded Hawaiian rushed the Japanese again. The pilot shot him again, in the thigh. He shot him a third time, in the groin.

"Then," Kana-hele later told the American interpreter who took down his story, "I got mad!"

The enraged Hawaiian came down upon the Japanese like a killer whale upon a shark. He grabbed him up by his leg and neck as he would have a sheep, swung him around in the air, and hurled him with terrific force against the lava stone wall.

Then Kana-hele turned to keep his promise to Harada. He was not needed there. The stocky Japanese was clumsily placing the muzzle of the long shotgun against his own stomach, attempting to commit hara-kiri. He was in such a hurry that he missed, as the shotgun kicked itself out of his hands. He grabbed it and aimed it at himself again. This time he succeeded, emptied both barrels into his stomach.

Kana-hele turned quickly to the pilot. He was not needed there either. The Hawaiian's wife had again rushed to his aid, this time armed with a rock.

"She was plenty hu-hu [angry], that woman," Kana-hele told the interpreter. "She started right in to beat that pilot's brains out. She did a pretty good job."

By this time, Beni-hakaka Kana-hele, with three bullets in his middle, wasn't feeling so well. He sat down by the bloody stone wall. His wife ran to the village for help. But while aid was coming on horseback, Kana-hele got tired of waiting, got up, and walked to the village alone.

Hawila returned from Kauai with a squad of men from the 299th Infantry; but they were not needed, except to round up Shintani and Harada's wife for the concentration camp.

So ended the Battle of Niihau.

The Japanese invader was the first armed enemy to assume command over free Americans on their own soil in more than 150 years. Fully equipped with modern weapons, he was overcome by two Hawaiians, unarmed except with native strength and courage and the primitive rocks of their own island.

When Major General Rapp Brush pinned American Legion hero medals on Hawila and Kana-hele, he said: "You showed fine qualities. When put upon, you took the only action decent people could take."

In Honolulu, we said: "Warn the Japanese not to shoot Hawaiians more than twice. The third time, they get mad!"

[Centurion2000]

Please excuse my ignorance, exactly what was Gen. Mitchell court-martialed for?

Gross insubordination at the direct order of Calvin Coolidge

[KellyAdmirer]

The interesting part of the story to me, besides the obvious heroism, is the fact that the local Japanese on the spot weren't exactly, er, helpful. Which sort of puts a different light on things when liberals spout out about how no Japanese-Americans ever did a single wrong thing concerning the war effort through 1941-1945.

[oh8eleven]

Court Martial of William Billy Mitchell.

[Jackknife]

I thought this meant the last of the Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungle was found after all these years.

All I can picture is the little nip on the Gilligan's Island episode ....... heeheeheeheeheeheehee ;-)

[txroadkill]

Great Story!!!!

"Warn the Japanese not to shoot Hawaiians more than twice. The third time, they get mad!"

[VOA]

bump

[rmlew]

Battleships were useful weapons well into 1941 in the Atlantic theater. Major surface actions occured around Guadelcanal involving battleships despite the use of air power. (In fact the nightly Japanese bombardment of Henderson field took out many planes.)
The North Carolina and Iowa class Battleships were hardly a waste of money.

[Bogeygolfer]

"The interesting part of the story to me, besides the obvious heroism, is the fact that the local Japanese on the spot weren't exactly, er, helpful. Which sort of puts a different light on things when liberals spout out about how no Japanese-Americans ever did a single wrong thing concerning the war effort through 1941-1945."

That's if you believe the story as it is written. I have doubts. The locals were blessed, kind, noble, and heroic and the locals of Japanese ancestry died at their own hand or disappeared. One of them had a family of his own there and I have a high degree of respect for Japanese Americans.

[IonImplantGuru]

What took them so long? Niihau is a privately-owned (since 1864, by the Robinson family) island off the coast of Kaui. "Possession is 9/10 of the law," as the saying goes. See the 'Battle of Niihau' link in my original post.

[snippy_about_it]

Samwise, thanks for the ping. For everyone else, here's info on Billy Mitchell.

The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Brig. Gen. William Mitchell - Dec. 15th, 2003

[SAMWolf]

Cool! Thanks for the ping.

[SAMWolf]

[Parley Baer]

I have to agree. He was not exactly helpfull to the Islander's was he? Does put things in a different perspective.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Correct. The Navy did wise up, finally, by scrubbing the Kentucky and Illinois, the last two of the Iowa class BBs. They also canceled the larger Montana class, which reached the blueprint stage...

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Actually, he was court-martialed at Calvin Coolidge's direct order for issuing a public statement accusing senior leaders in the Army and Navy of incompetence and "almost treasonable administration of the national defense" following the crash of the Navy dirigible Shenandoah.

[Paleo Conservative]

Battleships were useful weapons well into 1941 in the Atlantic theater. Major surface actions occured around Guadelcanal involving battleships despite the use of air power. (In fact the nightly Japanese bombardment of Henderson field took out many planes.) The North Carolina and Iowa class Battleships were hardly a waste of money.Battleships were useful weapons well into 1941 in the Atlantic theater.

The German navy probably could have benefitted from diverting the investment it made in the Bismark into more advanced submarines especially ones with air independent propulsion. Sure they tied up lots of surface ships for a few weeks, but eventually it was disabled by a torpedo launched from an obsolete Swordfish biplane launched from the British carrier HMS Ark Royal. Couldn't some of the battleships that were scrapped in the 1920's have been pretty effective too if they had been at Guadalcanal?

[Bogeygolfer]

"What took them so long? Niihau is a privately-owned (since 1864, by the Robinson family) island off the coast of Kaui. "Possession is 9/10 of the law," as the saying goes. See the 'Battle of Niihau' link in my original post."

I did a little research and the major components of the plane were taken by our military during the war. All that's really left are the wings and they already have an intact plane of this variety. The wings will be a loan so the possession rule still applies. Interesting fact is the date I thought was a typo apparently wasn't. They spent 8 years digging the trenches back in the 20's. Go figure.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

[indcons]

Military History ping

[cll]

Great story.

[mcshot]

"...They also canceled the larger Montana class, which reached the blueprint stage..."


Now that would have been one awesome ship.

[Paleo Conservative]

They also canceled the larger Montana class, which reached the blueprint stage...

The Montana Class would have been a logistical nightmare. It was actually designed to withstand hits from the sixteen inch guns used by the North Carolina and Iowa Class battleships, but it wouldn't have been able to traverse the Panama Canal. I'm not sure if it would have been able to take direct hits from the 18 inch guns on the Japanese Yamato class battleships. It would have required lots more fuel and used up steel that could go into more tanks and aircraft carriers.

[Samwise]

:^)

I didn't think you'd see the ping, but I added you just in case.

[Ditter]

Just what I thought it meant too. It could be read either way.

[Minutemen]

"the warnings of a possible Japanese attack made by Gen. Billy Mitchell in 1924"

Can you imagine the pin-head dutifully plowing up all his land? But Ah-Ha! With patience and perseverance, he did bag himself a Mitsubishi!

[IonImplantGuru]

Looks a lot like an Iowa class BB...

[true_blue_texican]

Cool story!!

[rmlew]

The German navy probably could have benefitted from diverting the investment it made in the Bismark into more advanced submarines especially ones with air independent propulsion.
Probably. However the German Navy had been promised 5 more years of peace and planned accordingly.

Sure they tied up lots of surface ships for a few weeks, but eventually it was disabled by a torpedo launched from an obsolete Swordfish biplane launched from the British carrier HMS Ark Royal.
That only occured because german engineers assumed that British bombers would fly faster than 100 knots. It was only because they were using the Fairey Swordfish, that the British aviators escaped sestruction. And it was only luck that ensured a perfect hit on the Bismark.

By 1942, it was clear that only fast battleships would suffice. There is a heck of a difference between a ship that goes 23 knots and one that goes 30 knots when trying to catch a fast moving fleet. The 1923 South Dakota would have faired worse than the 1941 USS Washington (the 1941 USS South Dakota suffered electrical malfunction during the battle and served only as a camoflage and a target of japanese attention, while the Washington cloased on the Kirishima and then crippled it.)
In the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the US had the advantage of having 2 new fast battleships, whereas the Japanese only had upgraded pre-World War I battlecruisers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Battle_of_Guadalcanal

[rmlew]

The presense of the USS South Dakota in the Enterprise carrier group saved that carrier in the Battle off Santa Cruz. The USS Hornet, which did not have the luxury of 12 extra 5" guns and many 40mm guns from a battleship was sunk.