B-26 Takeoff 7 Dec 1941 Pearl Harbor Day At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time, 360 Japanese warplanes, mostly dive bombers and torpedo planes, attacked the naval base at Pearl Harbor. At 0700, eastern time, on 8 Dec 1941, less than 18 hours after the first bombs dropped on Pearl Harbor, the 22nd Bomb Group, the Red Raiders, took off in B-26 medium bombers from Langley field, VA headed for Muroc, CA to fly shore patrol. My father was a crew chief on one of those B-26s in the 33rd squadron. From Muroc, they boarded the airplanes and flight crews onto ships and sailed to Oahu. At Hickam Field, they reassembled the planes and island hopped to Australia. The 22nd BG was one of the first units to take offensive action against the enemy. From from bases in northern Australia, they flew bomb missions without fighter escort against Japanese bases and shipping around New Guinea and the surrounding waters. Seventy-five years later, some Americans worry that most Americans don’t recognize the importance of Dec. 7, 1941. Remember Pearl Harbor!
