Recently there was a Group Build centered around the Pearl Harbor anniversary earlier this month.
I originally joined up intending to complete it by the Dec 7th deadline, but was unable to do so. Here instead I present to you a very personnal project for me, and I apologize ahead of time If I get a bit long-winded in my explanation. (dont worry…there are pictures at the end)
64 years ago my Grandfather…then Lieutenant John Compton was a B-17 pilot with the 88th Recon Squadron based out of Utah.
He was busy flying the old B-17 D and C models when the orders came in that he along with the rest of his squadron were to be transferred to the 435th Bomber of the 19th Bomb Group.
He didnt know exactly where they were heading…they had only been told they were to fly to a secret base code named PLUM. (The Philipines) The exact location revealed once they left the States.
My grandfather was very excited, especially since before he left he was ordered to stop at the Boeing plant in Seattle Washington and pick up a group of brand new B-17 E models fresh off the line.
This done, he flew to Hamilton Field outside San Francisci for a stopover, and then the next day took off for a brief stop at Hickam Field on a lazy little base known as Pearl Harbor.
Most of you know the rest of the story: My grandfather’s flight of B-17E’s arrived over Pearl Harbor at the same time as the Japanese attack force. He recalls the utter shock and surprise that he and his crew felt when they noted the buzzing zeros all around him.
He told me “We didnt have any guns or ammo installed…we were going to pick them up when we got to PLUM.”
He recalls that his crew chief was firing his service pistol out the window.
“It didnt do a damn bit of good, but it sure made us feel better.”
My grandfather recalls being unable to raise Hickam on the radio, and therefore tried to divert to other nearby airstrips. He states that everything else was so shot up badly that they decided to head back to Hickam and land there.
He states “Becasue the tower was off theair we couldnt get information on which way the wind was blowing to decide on how to land. However I could see the smoke of the Arizona buring in the channel and I used which way it was blowing to figure out where to go.”
He also states that the Navy, which by this time was in a frenzy was “shooting everything in sight…including US!”
In particular he recalls that gun crews from the West Virginia were quite unfriendly and nearly knocked his plane out of the air. (Just this past year he met up with a crewman of the West Virginia at veterans day reuinion, and had a few cross words.—“I’ve been looking for that guy for 60 years” he told me)
At any rate my grandfather steered the B-17 onto final approach when one of the crewmen yelled out that there was a zero on their tail.
He considered briefly aborting the approach and going around, but decided between the Japs and the US Navy, he would last too much longer in the air.
Fortnately as he flared for landing the Zero overtook him just skimming above the tail.
He says “I ran the plane down to the very end of the runway to get out of the way of the other bombers, and told the crew to get out and scatter. By this time that same Jap Zerohad circled around and started trying to strafe us. I know it was just war, but at the time I took that very personally.”
“So anyways we were running for cover, and I kept telling the crew to scatter out, but everytime that zero came by we were all in a bunch again.”
My grandpa states that they noticed a series of dirt mounds off the end of the runway, and everybody jumped behind them to hide. He and his crew stayed hidden behind the dirt hills for the remainder of the attack.
It was only afterwards he realized a very scary irony…The dirt hills were an AMMUNITION DUMP!
At any rate I’ll close the tale and go on to show the model I made for him to commemorate this story. Its an old Revel B-17F model which I tried for months and months to locate an E conversion kit for to no avail. So please forgive a few misplaced windows in the nose. I tried to model my grandfather on Final approach with wheels extended just as the Zero ( A Tamiya A6M2) zipped by overhead.
The tail code 41-2432 is accurate for the Batch of New 'E’s picked up by my grandfather from the Seattle plant.
While most research shows that the E already had the Sperry ball turret underneath, my Grandfather insists that his still had the old remote controlled turret until later in the war. I solved this quandry by using the sperry turret hole to mount my model through.
Most of the machine guns are deleted on the model due to the fact that Grandpa was unarmed at the time. Likewise I kept the weathering on the B-17 to a very minimum. They were fresh from the factory.My gandfather had named his plane ‘Mary Ann’ but I deleted this name because it had not yet been painted on his new E…it was back on his old ‘C’ in Utah.
Finally I added a 1/48 scale pilot figure from Czech Masters, which I think turned out well, but the photo is kinda dark. Oh well.
At any rate, thanks for your attention, and patience in my rambling, but I just wanted to share.
Comments welcome
I know the models are not too good, but I am proud of them despite the flaws, and when I gave it too him for this Christmas he loved it. He said “You even put in that same Damn Jap that almost got me.”
I still thinks he takes it kinda personal 
