ALASKA WING

COMMEMORATIVE AIR FORCE

P O Box 190041

Anchorage AK 99519-0041

 

 

 

Col Ken Fields

P O Box 662

Pampa, TX 79066

 

Dear Col Fields:

 

It is a great honor and privilege to nominate 2Lt Kenneth Taylor and 2Lt George Welch, both posthumously, to the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame.  Both arrived at Wheeler Field in Hawaii in June of 1941 and began flying the P-40 Warhawk within two weeks.  They became fast friends for they complemented each other.  George Welch was the daring, outspoken, swaggering fighter pilot; Ken, on the other hand was quiet but confident and more affable.  They would need this synergy for what befell them on December 7, 1941.

 

They were assigned to the 47^th Pursuit Squadron which had been rotated from Wheeler Field to Haleiwa Emergency Landing Field for gunnery practice.  At the latter field, they lived in tents, but come Saturday night they went to the Hickam and Wheeler Officer’s Club, where the order of the day was dancing and poker.  The senior officers had made it a club rule that Saturday night was a black tie affair.  The young officers, not having dress uniforms, appeared in tuxedos instead.  The usual modus operandi was dancing and poker until daylight.  On the morning of December 7, 1941, the two lieutenants had just fallen into the rack about 0630 hours.  They were rudely awakened by explosions and buzzing aircraft.  Grabbing tux pants and shirts they ran outside to see Japanese meatballs on the planes.  While Ken called the base to arm and fuel their planes George brought Ken’s car around and they sped, often at speeds up to 100 mph, the ten miles to Haleiwa Field. Upon arrival, two P-40s were being readied, but all the .50 caliber ammo was at Wheeler, so they only had .30 caliber guns.  The two intrepid fliers were told by the crew chief that the orders were to disperse the planes.  Neither lieutenant listened but the two pushed throttles to full power and roared off in formation.  In the wild melee that followed (they were outnumbered six-to-one) they “splashed” a total of six (later raised to eight as the two “probables” were confirmed) Japanese aircraft.  Both pilots continued to engage the enemy until the ammo ran out.  They then ran the gauntlet of friendly fire (the crews had little aircraft recognition training and all were “buck crazy”), landed at Wheeler and rearmed, this time with .50 cal ammunition also.  They were again told by senior officers to not take off.  Lt Welch took off but Lt Taylor was still being rearmed when the second wave of Japanese came into sight.  The ammo boxes were on his wing and the armament dolly was in his way.  The loaders split to the four winds and Taylor gave her full throttle and jumped the dolly with no damage.  He then invented a new attack attitude to keep the Japanese from targeting him on the take off run.  He gunned the engine, swung the plane around, pushed in the throttle for take off but held the tail down as long as he could while firing guns into the enemy formations.  Lt Taylor then raised the tail and pulled back, continuing his fire as he took off.

 

In his haste to join the fray once more, Lt Taylor descended through the smoke and clouds onto what he thought was the tail end of the line of Kates and Zeros.  However, he’d actually placed himself into the middle of the line and had an angry Japanese pilot shooting up his tail.  He received wounds to the arm and leg from this error, but Lt Welch blew that Zero away.

The Japanese were to attack Haleiwa, but upon seeing their comrades going down in flames due to two wildly gyrating P-40s, they turned away to their primary target which was smoldering beneath them and therefore offering no resistance.  “By their engagement just north of Wheeler, Taylor and Welch almost certainly prevented an assault on Haleiwa, saving the airfield, its aircraft and its personnel from further attack and destruction – another accolade to place at the feet of these two remarkable airmen.”[1]

 

After Lt Taylor had his second probable, he continued the fight until out of ammunition.  He then ran the gauntlet of friendly fire a second time, but the Japanese had gone back to their carriers.  Lt Welch had four confirmed kills; Lt Taylor was credited with two kills and two probables.  This meant these two had six of the 11 confirmed kills.  Both received the Distinguished Service Cross as America’s first WW II heroes.

 

Lt Taylor ended the war with six (the two probables were later confirmed for a total of 8 kills).  He left active duty in 1967 and became Assistant Adjutant General of the Alaskan Air National Guard where he made Brigadier General. He retired in 1971 and was an aviation insurance broker for Lloyds of London.  He fully retired in 1985 and passed away November 25, 2006.  Lt Welch ended the war with 16 kills and became a test pilot for North American Aviation.  He was killed in October 1954 when his F-100 exploded.

 

The definitions of “guts and skill” have pictures of Lt Taylor and Lt Welch beside it.  These American heroes deserve inclusion in the American Combat Airman Hall of Fame and the Alaska Wing is honored to submit them.  Attached is documentation to support the case.

 

Contact person is Col Suellyn Wright Novak, 10558 Old Eagle River Rd, Eagle River, AK 99577; tele 907 696 4904; e-mail address is  missfiresioux2@yahoo.com