pearl harbor, why no usn a/c in the air?

Andrew C. Toppan wrote in message . ..
On Fri, 9 Apr 2004 14:58:09 -0500, "old hoodoo"
wrote:

I have never heard of a single navy aircraft getting airborne at Pearl Harbor. Was this because all the naval aircraft were based
at a single facility? Has there ever been an accounting of what actually happened to immobilize the navy air?

Because all the Navy fighters were aboard the carriers which were,
famously, absent. Launching things like seaplanes, which were present
at Pearl, would be useless and suicidal.

Fighters from ENTERPRISE did arrive over Pearl in the course of the
attack.

The Enterprise planes that arrived over Pearl Harbor during the raid
were a mixed bag of 18 VB-6 and VS-6 SBD's. Four, piloted by Ensigns
Clarence Dickinson, Bud McCarthy, John Vogt, and Walter Willis were
brought down by Japanese fighters. Dickinson and McCarthy were the
only survivors of these encounters with the Japanese fighters. Ens.
Ed Deacon's SBD was shot down by US AA fire, but both he and his rear
seat gunner were saved. Lt(jg) Frank Patriarca crash landed his SBD
in a field on Kaui when he ran out of gas; both he and his gunner
survived. The remaining 12 aircraft landed on either on Ford Island
NAS or at Ewa MCAS.

Rich