# The Real Story of The Two P-40 Pilots In Pearl Harbor

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 9, 2017, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011 "2017-12-09T09:46:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 9:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011/1 "2017-12-09T09:46:45Z")

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Cool story. We always hear about “a couple of American planes managed to get off the ground and kill a couple of Zekes” but this is what really happened.

Thanks to my war buff/retired Army officer Dad for the link!

[![]( "YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS8HWFWaqa4)

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**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011/2 "2017-12-09T09:59:44Z")

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Very cool. They were 2nd Lts George Welch and Ken Taylor, 6 kills and 2 more probables. They were submitted for the MoH and were awarded the DSC for their actions. “I was too young, too dumb, and too stupid to realize what danger I was in.”

Please pass along my thanks to your father, and thanks for posting the link.

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**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011/3 "2017-12-09T10:26:42Z")

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Very cool, thanks for sharing!

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**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\
**Post date:** [December 9, 2017, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011/4 "2017-12-09T11:52:01Z")

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I read both pilots Wiki articles and it seems all of that is true. How much would it suck to die as a 1950’s test pilot of experimental aircraft?

“Ah man, these jet engines, I’m going so fast, it’s amazing…”

BOOM

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [December 10, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-real-story-of-the-two-p-40-pilots-in-pearl-harbor/804011/5 "2017-12-10T22:20:29Z")

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Nice vid. Poor guy got killed testing the plane my old man ended up flying.