As the Japanese planes approached Oahu, they found most of the island shrouded in cloud.

Fortunately for them, Pearl Harbor itself was clear and under a bright morning sun.

At 7.53 a.m., the observer plane at the head of the incoming aircraft radioed,

Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah, the Japanese word for Tiger,

was the agreed code signal that meant complete surprise had been achieved,

and the bombers should proceed immediately to their targets.

The observer plane also fired one blue flare, a signal which meant the same thing, for the

benefit of the fighters, since they did not have radios.

The Battle of Pearl Harbor had begun.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century.

The 20th century. Episode 352

Climb Mount Niitaka, Part 2.

Royal Vitusek, an attorney, a member of the Hawaii Territorial House of Representatives,

and an aviation enthusiast was taking his teenage son on a pleasant Sunday morning flight over Honolulu in his private

plane in the early morning hours of December 7, 1941, when he ran headlong into approaching Japanese zeros.

The fighters took a few shots at his plane, but missed.

Vesuszek dove under the fighters and accelerated, hoping the Japanese wouldn't bother to

chase down such an insignificant target.

They didn't, and he landed his plane at the Honolulu Airport,

as it was being bombed. He and his son were fortunate, of the eight private planes known to have

been in the air at the time of the attack, only two landed safely. As soon as he could get to a phone,

he called the Army Air Corps headquarters at Wheeler Field

...