Chino Planes of Fame Airshow features World War II era vintage warplanes

Last week’s airshow commemorated the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the show included many aircraft that flew during that era, including a vintage and original Japanese Zero, of which there are but a few in existence.

The airshow began Friday with a twilight show, which Burris attended. The Twilight Show began with a reenactment of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  It was followed by opening ceremonies with more performances throughout the weekend

One of the highlights was an American P-40 in pursuit of a Japanese aircraft, a reenactment of the American pilots who got airborne that day and managed to engage the enemy. The actual names of the pilots were Lt. George Welch and Lt. Kenneth Tyler. Welch was officially credited with 4 kills.  Tyler was credited with 2 kills by some sources, and four kills by other sources.  A total of 14 pilots eventually got airborne that day, but most of the kills came from these two pilots.

There was also a simulated event that transpired before the attack even began, with civilian pilot Cornelia Fort, who inadvertently became one of the first witnesses to the attack. On December 7, Fort was in the air near Pearl Harbor teaching takeoffs and landings to a student pilot in a monoplane.

Her plane and a few other civilian aircraft were the only U.S. planes in the air near the harbor at that time.

 Fort saw a military airplane flying directly toward her and swiftly grabbed the controls from her student to pull up over the oncoming craft. It was then she saw the rising sun insignia on the wings. Within moments, she saw billows of black smoke coming from Pearl Harbor and bombers flying in. She quickly landed the plane at John Rogers Airport near the mouth of Pearl Harbor. A Japanese Zero strafed her plane and the runway as she and her student ran for cover.The airport manager was killed and two other civilian planes did not return that morning. Cornelia was killed in action in 1943, the first female casualty flyer of World War II.

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