The December 7, 1941 Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the U.S. into World War II. It was a sleepy Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii when out of the wispy grey clouds and cerulean sky came the whine of engines and the roar of explosions. Ford Island and the ships moored around it were the focus of the attack - specifically the huge battlships along "Battleship Row." The first bomb strikes were on the Patrol Plane base at the southern tip of the island, while the first torpedoes struck the training ship Utah on the western side and the battleships Oklahoma and West Virginia on the eastern side, in Battleship Row.
Here a Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 "Kate" (used as both torpedo bombers and as here, level bombers) is shown approaching Ford Island in company with more Kates and Val dive bombers. The red tail aircraft is that of the attack leader, Commander Fuchida. Moments before he had radioed the infamous attack call "Tora Tora Tora," meaning that complete surprise had been achieved.
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