As the Japanese aircraft approached Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, they encountered several civilian aircraft. One of these civilian pilots later became a "first" in U.S Military history. Who was the pilot and what was the "first"?

Verbonica

"Cornelia Fort (1919 - 1943) was an aviatrix in the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS). While working as a civilian pilot instructor at Pearl Harbor, Cornelia Fort inadvertently became one of the first witnesses to the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II. On December 7, 1941, the day of the attack, Fort was in the air near Pearl Harbor teaching takeoffs and landings to a student pilot in an Interstate Cadet monoplane. Her Cadet 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 Red sun insignia on the wings. Within moments, she saw billows of black smoke coming from Pearl Harbor and she saw a formation of silver bombers flying in. She quickly landed the plane at John Rodgers civilian airport near the mouth of Pearl Harbor. A Japanese plane strafed the runway as she and her student ran to a hangar for cover. She also became the first female pilot in American history to die on active duty when a plane struck the left wing of her BT-13 in a mid-air collision, ten miles south of Merkel, Texas, on March 21, 1943." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornelia_Fort Oct 23 09, 10:05 PM

Datsmeharse

Correctamundo. Her encounter with the Japanese is depicted in the film "Tora, Tora, Tora." Sadly, the answer to the previous question, Hazel Ying Lee, was the last WASP aviatrix to lose her life in the line of duty in WWII. Oct 23 09, 10:16 PM