Ken Taylor/Pearl Harbor action

Thursday, January 26, 2012

This is a 9" x 12" oil sketch on canvas of Ken Taylor and his action on Dec 7th, 1941 depicting Taylor as he locates and dives into a formation of Vals heading towards the already battered fleet in Pearl Harbor on that fateful morning of December 7th.

Ken Taylor and George Welch took off from isolated Haleiwa airfield in western Oahu to take on and shoot down a number of Japanese aircraft. Ken was slightly wounded during the action, with George helping save Ken from being possibly shot down during the scuffle with Welch covering his tail. Both pilots claimed to have shot down 3 each. This is considered by many to be the first action of the US in WWII. The AVG were in service before the attack and had a number of volunteer American pilots fighting the Japanese, but technically the US was not at war and therefore this claim may be made.

In the collection of Cranston Fine Arts.