X Marks the Spot
X Marks the Spot December 2019 Update: The Museum’s TBM Avenger has been restored and is proudly displayed in Hangar 79. Posted on March 26, 2018 By Burl Burlingame | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum My father flew P-51 Mustangs during the war, and when I was a wee lad, building a model kit […]
The Mystery of the Middle Seat
In traditional torpedo/bombers, a pilot, an observer, and a gunner/radio operator sat behind each other. At first glance, the Grumman TBF/TBM Avenger torpedo/bomber looks like it has the same seating plan. There is a pilot, a long canopy, and then a gun position. Yet World War II Avenger photographs rarely show someone in the middle […]
The Problem with Self-Sealing Fuel Tanks: Capacity, not Weight
“The problem with self-sealing fuel tanks was that these rubber layers were an inch or thicker. This may not sound like much, but given the small volume of fuel tanks, removing an inch of capacity in each direction significantly reduced capacity.” Posted on November 29, 2017 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation […]
Aerial Cameras in World War II
“Figure 1 doesn’t really show how aerial pictures were taken in World War II. However, the people in the picture were real photographers from Utility Squadron VJ-1.” Posted on September 1, 2017 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Aerial Photographers in Pearl Harbor Figure 1: Aerial Photographers from Squadron VJ-1 in […]
Repair In the Air
Posted on February 18, 2016 By Burl Burlingame | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum It’s a photograph of a day like any other in Hawaii, a half-century ago. A wood and wire Army bomber rumbles through the azure sky, criss-crossing the pellucid air above Oahu on an obscure military mission. But wait a minute […]
Pearl Harbor: Thunderfish in the Sky
Posted on December 28, 2015 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Japan’s Type 91 Modification 2 Torpedo Fins at Pearl Harbor Key Points The Japanese had to modify their Type 91 Modification 2 aerial torpedoes for the Pearl Harbor attack. They needed to limit the initial plunge so that the torpedoes […]
Mapping a Sailor’s Service
Posted on December 17, 2014 By Caroline Sibley, Archivist | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Mr. Kagel Smith, looking through his mother’s attic, stumbled upon an old suitcase filled with the photographs and documents of a Mr. Lyman Hoskins. His mother’s ex-husband, it was clear that Mr. Hoskins had served in WWII, but Mr. Smith couldn’t […]
The Ford Island Dispensary
Posted on July 31, 2014 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Ford Island, NAS Pearl Harbor This is the third in a series of posts about buildings on Ford Island, NAS Pearl Harbor. Early in the attack, the Ford Island dispensary was damaged by a high-level Japanese bomb that exploded in […]
Battle of the Coral Sea
Posted on March 8, 2014 By Raymond R. Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Synopsis The Battle of Midway is well known as the turning point in the Pacific war. However, if not for the Battle of the Coral Sea a month earlier, the three American carriers at Midway would have faced six […]
Ford Island – Part I: Overview
Posted on January 23, 2014 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Introduction: Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Ford Island was the epicenter of the attack on December 7, 1941. Its seaplane base had dozens of long-range PBY patrol bombers capable of locating the Japanese fleet after the attack. Along her coast were […]
Huey 705’s (Unplanned) Last Day in Vietnam
Posted on November 21, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum’s UH-1H Huey Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum’s UH-1H Huey (S/N 69-15705) is one of our Vietnam War veteran aircraft. She led a charmed life until her last day there. It had not been planned to be her […]
VF-6: The Deadly Night of December 7, 1941
Posted on January 14, 2013 By Ray Panko | [email protected] | Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum ENS Gayle L. Herman’s Wildcat (U.S. Navy Photograph NH 97485) The night of Dec. 7, 1941, was cold and rainy. Personnel on Ford Island still huddled in ditches, makeshift shelters or hangars, waiting for the Japanese Navy to come […]
LT Frank A. Erickson at Ford Island Control Tower (Pearl Harbor), December 7, 1941
Posted on May 31, 2012 Ford Island Control Tower, Pearl Harbor From the Ford Island control tower, LT Erickson watched in horror as men drowned in the harbor. Boats tried to rescue the sailors, but they could not get through the flames. The frustrated Erickson remembered an article about new kind of aircraft called the […]
