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January 6, 2016 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

“the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean”

In 1866, Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain) was retained by The Sacramento Union newspaper to write a series of articles on Hawaiʻi. Here are some of his words about Hawaiʻi (from that series, as well as his other writing.)

“I was there for four or five months, and returned to find myself about the best known man on the Pacific Coast.” (Twain) Popular pieces, some credit the series with turning Twain into a journalistic star.

Like they get to a lot of people, the Islands struck a chord with Clemens.

“On the seventh day out we saw a dim vast bulk standing up out of the wastes of the Pacific and knew that that spectral promontory was Diamond Head”.

“So we were nearing Honolulu, the capital city of the Sandwich Islands – those islands which to me were Paradise; a Paradise which I had been longing all those years to see again. Not any other thing in the world could have stirred me as the sight of that great rock did.”

“The town of Honolulu (said to contain between 12,000 and 15,000 in habitants) is spread over a dead level; has streets from twenty to thirty feet wide, solid and level as a floor, most of them straight as a line … houses one and two stories high, … there are great yards, (that) are ornamented by a hundred species of beautiful flowers and blossoming shrubs, and shaded”.

“A mile and a half from town, I came to a grove of tall cocoanut trees, with clean, branchless stems reaching straight up sixty or seventy feet and topped with a spray of green foliage sheltering clusters of cocoa‐nuts”.

“… not more picturesque than a forest of colossal ragged parasols, with bunches of magnified grapes under them, would be. … It is the village of Waikiki once the Capital of the kingdom and the abode of the great Kamehameha I.”

“What a picture is here slumbering in the solemn glory of the moon! How strong the rugged outlines of the dead volcano stand out against the clear sky! What a snowy fringe marks the bursting of the surf over the long, curved reef!”

“I tried surf-bathing (surfing) once, subsequently, but made a failure of it. I got the board placed right, and at the right moment, too; but missed the connection myself. – The board struck the shore in three quarters of a second, without any cargo, and I struck the bottom about the same time, with a couple of barrels of water in me.”

“It has been six weeks since I touched a pen. In explanation and excuse I offer the fact that I spent that time (with the exception of one week) on the island of Maui. … I never spent so pleasant a month before.”

“I went to Maui to stay a week and remained five. I had a jolly time. I would not have fooled away any of it writing letters under any consideration whatever. … I sail for the island of Hawaiʻi tomorrow.”

“We landed at Kailua (Kona,) a little collection of native grass houses reposing under tall cocoanut trees ‐ the sleepiest, quietest, Sundayest looking place you can imagine.”

“Ye weary ones that are sick of the labor and care, and the bewildering turmoil of the great world, and sigh for a land where ye may fold your tired hands and slumber your lives peacefully away, pack up your carpet sacks and go to Kailua!”

“I suppose no man ever saw Niagara for the first time without feeling disappointed. I suppose no man ever saw it the fifth time without wondering how he could ever have been so blind and stupid as to find any excuse for disappointment in the first place.”

“I was disappointed when I saw the great volcano of Kilauea to‐day for the first time. It is a comfort to me to know that I fully expected to be disappointed, however, and so, in one sense at least, I was not disappointed.”

“I said to myself ‘Only a considerable hole in the ground ‐ nothing to Haleakala ‐ a wide, level, black plain in the bottom of it, and a few little sputtering jets of fire occupying a place about as large as an ordinary potato‐patch, up in one corner ‐ no smoke to amount to anything.’”

“I reflected that night was the proper time to view a volcano … I turned my eyes upon the volcano again (now, at night.)”

“… the floor of the abyss was magnificently illuminated; beyond these limits the mists hung down their gauzy curtains and cast a deceptive gloom over all … Here was room for the imagination to work! … it was the idea, of eternity made tangible ‐ and the longest end of it made visible to the naked eye!”

“We hear all our lives about the ‘gentle, stormless Pacific,’ and about the ‘smooth and delightful route to the Sandwich Islands,’ and about the ‘steady blowing trades’ that never vary, never change, never ‘chop around’”.

“No alien land in all the world has any deep, strong charm for me but that one; no other land could so longingly and beseechingly haunt me, sleeping and waking, through half a lifetime, as that one has done.”

“Other things leave me, but it abides; other things change, but it remains the same. For me its balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surf beat is in my ear”.

“I can see its garlanded craigs, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore; its remote summits floating like islands above the cloudrack”.

“I can feel the spirit of its woodland solitudes; I can hear the plash of its brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago.”

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January 3, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Collapse to Caldera

The Hawaiian Islands are volcanic in origin. Each island is made up of at least one primary volcano, although many islands are composites of more than one. The Big Island, for instance, is constructed of 5 major volcanoes: Kilauea, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Hualālai and Kohala. Mauna Loa is the largest active volcano on Earth.

Kilauea is presently one of the most productive volcanoes on Earth (in terms of how much lava it erupts each year). The primary volcanoes on each of the islands are known as a shield volcanoes, which are gently sloping mountains produced from a large number of generally very fluid lava flows. (SOEST)

To the casual observer, Kilauea appears to be part of the larger volcano Mauna Loa, but geological data indicates that it is a separate volcano with its own vent and conduit system. (livescience) When Kilauea began to form is not known, but various estimates are 300,000-600,000-years ago. (USGS)

Kilauea is a broad shield volcano built against the southeastern slope of Mauna Loa. The summit presently has a caldera that is roughly 2.5-miles by 2-miles wide, and walls nearly 400-feet. Another feature, known as Halemaʻumaʻu crater, lies within the main caldera (on the southwestern side.)

For the past century, Halemaʻumaʻu has been the principal site of activity at Kilauea’s summit. There has also been frequent activity along the Southeast rift zone (such as the presently active Puʻu ʻOʻo eruption, which started in 1983.)

While at nearby Mauna Loa eruptions tend to occur in pairs (i.e., a summit eruption followed by one on the flank), Kilauea’s pattern of summit versus flank activity appear to be more random. However, evidence of numerous flank eruptions occurring after a summit eruption can be found. (SOEST)

Sometimes, volcano summits form calderas. When an erupting volcano empties a shallow-level magma chamber, the edifice of the volcano may collapse into the voided reservoir, thus forming a steep, bowl-shaped depression called a caldera (Spanish for kettle or cauldron.)

The summit regions of many active shield volcanoes are marked by calderas. Hawaiian examples include the Mokuaweoweo caldera on Mauna Loa and the Kilauea caldera on Kilauea. (sdsu-edu)

So, when and how was the Kīlauea Caldera formed?

The modern caldera at Kilauea collapsed in about 1470-1500 AD, as recognized by geologic field work and C-14 radiocarbon dating. Two lines of geologic evidence indicate it was very deep soon after it formed, as is also suggested by Hawaiian oral tradition.

Scientists suggest at least a couple possibilities exist for the collapse. One is that the magma reservoir emptied rapidly without erupting; the other possibility is that magma withdrawal was prolonged, not rapid, in response to slow eruption of the ʻAilāʻau lava flow (the largest in Hawaiʻi in more than 1000 years.)

The flow erupted on the east side of Kilauea’s summit during a ca. 60-yr period ending in about 1470. It has typical tube-fed formation, consistent with slow eruption. The eruption just predates the caldera – its shield is cut by the outermost caldera fault – and in fact could have ended when the caldera formed. (Swanson)

Geologic evidence indicates that the caldera appeared in about AD 1500, give or take several decades. It developed at the end of, or soon after, a 60-year-long eruption from the ʻAilāʻau shield just east of Kilauea Iki, flooding much of Puna with lava flows. The caldera formed at the start of, or shortly before, a series of explosions that radiocarbon ages date to about AD 1500. (USGS)

However, most geologic models assume very rapid removal of material to form a caldera. The argument is that a large void cannot support itself underground, so an empty volume of a few cubic miles could not exist for long. If so, a huge volume of magma must have almost instantaneously left the reservoir under Kilauea’s summit, leaving a void into which the summit fell.

Both geologic and cultural evidence should exist for such a major volcanic event. Indeed, the events are likely chronicled in the Pele-Hiʻiaka chants. But neither cultural nor geologic evidence tells us where the rocks disappeared when the top of the volcano sunk to form the caldera.

How much material was removed? The volume is uncertain but very large. If the entire caldera formed at one time, scientists estimate a volume of 1.4 cubic miles, equivalent to 780-million loads for a 10-cubic-yard dump truck. That estimate is based on the caldera’s dimensions when first surveyed in the 1820s and on guesses as to how much deeper it might have been. (USGS)

Historical eruptions at Kilauea volcano have occurred from both the summit caldera and from vents along the East Rift Zone. The historical record began with a very explosive eruption in 1790.

After this, the volcano was almost continuously active, mostly showing gentle effusion from a lava lake at the summit until 1924, when it again erupted explosively. The period 1924 to 1955 saw mostly short-duration summit eruptions.

From 1955 to the present Kilauea has seen mostly East Rift Zone activity interspersed with small summit eruptions. Two notable rift eruptions were Mauna Ulu (1969-1974) and Puʻu ʻOʻo (1983-present). Kilauea’s Eruption rate diminished steadily over the first half of the historic period but has been increasing again since 1924. (SOEST)

Since the Puʻu ʻOʻo eruption started on January 3, 1983, the southern part of the caldera has been sinking 2.5-4 inches/year. (USGS)

Currently there are 3 Hawaiian volcanoes that we can be classified as active: Kilauea, actively erupting since 1983; Mauna Loa, which last erupted in 1984 and is building for a new eruption in the next few years; and Loihi, which erupted in 1996.

All three of these active Hawaiian volcanoes share the Hawaiian hot spot, but retain unique volcanic histories and compositions.

The most likely dormant volcanoes are: Hualālai, which last erupted in 1801; Haleakalā, which last erupted in about 1790; and Mauna Kea, which last erupted about 4,000-years ago. (SOEST)

Due to the ongoing eruption, portions of the Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park are periodically closed, due the hazardous and unsafe conditions; check conditions and area closures before venturing.

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Ailaau Flow-Kīlauea summit overflows-their ages and distribution in the Puna District, Hawai’i-Clague-map

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January 2, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

The Dark Side

There are many good things of the Hawaiʻi of old.

In Hawaiian culture, natural and cultural resources are one and the same. Traditions describe the formation (literally the birth) of the Hawaiian Islands and the presence of life on, and around them, in the context of genealogical accounts.

All forms of the natural environment, from the skies and mountain peaks, to the watered valleys and lava plains, and to the shore line and ocean depths are believed to be embodiments of Hawaiian gods and deities. (Maly)

“Cultural Attachment” embodies the tangible and intangible values of a culture – how a people identify with, and personify the environment around them.

It is the intimate relationship (developed over generations of experiences) that people of a particular culture feel for the sites, features, phenomena and natural resources etc, that surround them – their sense of place. This attachment is deeply rooted in the beliefs, practices, cultural evolution and identity of a people. (Kent)

In ancient Hawai‘i, most of the makaʻāinana were farmers, a few were fishermen. Access to resources was tied to residency and earned as a result of taking responsibility to steward the environment and supply the needs of aliʻi. Tenants cultivated smaller crops for family consumption, to supply the needs of chiefs and provide tributes.

In this subsistence society, the family farming scale was far different from commercial-purpose agriculture. In ancient time, when families farmed for themselves, they adapted; products were produced based on need. The families were disbursed around the Islands.

A lot of good things can be learned from this; a lot. However, sometimes it seems people romanticize the way of life solely as some kind of idyllic paradise.

Hawaiians were an isolated, complex society, often glamorized as simply a self-sufficient, environmentally-friendly, sustainable paradise that folks would yearn to return to.

Often looked-the-other-way and/or ignored were some significant societal actions and attitudes that shed a different light – a dark side – that was part of the overall life of the ancient Hawaiians; activities that are not now considered acceptable behavior.

Human Sacrifice

“Paradoxically, the dead were used to give more life to the living…. Many occasions or events would have required human sacrifice. Most of them seem to be connected with the lives of the aliʻi … While most rites required only one victim at any one time, for certain occasions many people were sacrificed.” (George Kanahele)

“(A) heiau would minimally consist of any place where sacrifices and offerings were made, and indeed, the notion of sacrifice is fundamental in Hawaiian religious practice.” (Handy; Kirch)

“…when a human sacrifice was required for the heiau, women could not be killed, because they were a defiling influence; only men were sacrificed to the male Akua Ku.” (Lilikala Kameʻeleihiwa)

“On the most elementary level, ʻAikapu is that which prevents the ‘unclean’ nature of women from defiling male sanctity when they offer sacrifice to the male Akua, and which is further observed on the kapu nights of the four major male Akua.” (Lilikala Kameʻeleihiwa)

“Human sacrifice is so alien to modern values, not to mention laws, that it nearly defies any attempt to understand it.” (George Kanahele)

Incest

“… incest is acceptable, even desireable. … brother-sister … father-daughter …. Hence, incest is not only for producing divinity, but the very act of incest is proof of divinity. No wonder the Aliʻi Nui guarded incest so jealously and refused to allow the kaukau aliʻi (lower chiefs) and makaʻāinana that privilege.” (Lilikala Kame‘eleihiwa)

“A suitable partner for a chief of the highest rank was his own sister, begotten by the same father and mother as himself. Such a pairing was called a piʻo (a bow, a loop, a thing bent on itself;) and …”

“… if the union bore fruit, the child would be a chief of the highest rank, a ninau piʻo, so sacred that all who came into his presence must prostrate themselves. He was called divine, akua.” (Malo)

Polygamy

“Individuals stayed together or not by choice rather than by commitment or obligation. … Monogamy, polygyny and polyandry coexisted among ali‘i and among commoners. Often, polygamy involved siblings.” (Diamond)

Polygamy was often practiced, especially by chiefs. Kamehameha had 30 wives; from them, he had 35-children from 18 of the wives (12 did not bear any children.) (Ahlo & Walker)

Infanticide

“There can be no doubt but that infanticide was prevalent among them and that a very large percent of the children born were disposed of in various ways by their parents, soon after their birth.”

“Generally speaking, it appears that in Hawaiʻi, as throughout Polynesia, the struggle for existence and life’s necessities, was largely evaded by restricting the natural increase in population in this way.” (Bryan, 1915)

Discrimination Against Women

The Hawaiian kapu can be grouped into three categories. The first evolved from the basic precepts of the Hawaiian religion and affected all individuals, but were considered by foreign observers to be especially oppressive and burdensome to women.

One of the most fundamental of this type of prohibition forbade men and women from eating together and also prohibited women from eating pork, coconuts, bananas and, ulua and the red fish (kumu.)

If a woman was clearly detected in the act of eating any of these things, as well as a number of other articles that were tabu, which I have not enumerated, she was put to death. (Malo)

Certain places were set apart for the husband’s sole and exclusive use; such were the sanctuary in which he worshipped and the eating-house in which he took his food.

The wife might not enter these places while her husband was worshipping or while he was eating; nor might she enter the sanctuary or eating-house of another man; and if she did so she must suffer the penalty of death, if her action was discovered. (Malo)

Wars

Wars and battles were often conflicts fought between family members – brother against brother, cousin or in-laws. At the period of Captain Cook’s arrival (1778-1779), the Hawaiian Islands were divided into four kingdoms …

(1) the island of Hawaiʻi under the rule of Kalaniʻōpuʻu, who also had possession of the Hāna district of east Maui; (2) Maui (except the Hāna district,) Molokaʻi, Lānaʻi and Kahoʻolawe, ruled by Kahekili; (3) Oʻahu, under the rule of Kahahana; and (4) Kauaʻi and Niʻihau, Kamakahelei was ruler.

“At that time Kahekili was plotting for the downfall of Kahahana and the seizure of Oahu and Molokai, and the queen of Kauai was disposed to assist him in these enterprises. The occupation of the Hana district of Maui by the kings of Hawaii had been the cause of many stubborn conflicts between the chivalry of the two islands”. (Kalākaua)

At a battle at ʻIao, “They speak of the carnage as frightful, the din and uproar, the shouts of defiance among the fighters, the wailing of the women on the crests of the valley, as something to curdle the blood or madden the brain of the beholder.” (Fornander)

The Maui troops were completely annihilated and it is said that the corpses of the slain were so many as to choke up the waters of the stream of ʻIao, and that hence one of the names of this battle was “Kepaniwai” (the damming of the waters). (Fornander)

Then, a final battle of conquest took place on Oʻahu. Kamehameha landed his fleet and disembarked his army on Oʻahu, extending from Waiʻalae to Waikiki. … he marched up the Nuʻuanu valley, where Kalanikūpule had posted his forces. (Fornander)

“The superiority of Kamehameha’s artillery, the number of his guns, and the better practice of his soldiers, soon turned the day in his favour, and the defeat of the Oʻahu forces became an accelerated rout and a promiscuous slaughter.” (Fornander) Estimates for losses in the battle of Nuʻuanu (1795) ranged up to 10,000-Hawaiians, by Hawaiians. (Schmitt)

There are many good things of the Hawaiʻi of old.

However, when we speak of the lives and lifestyle of the ancient Hawaiians and hint at romanticizing it strictly as an idyllic paradise way of life, we should not overlook Human Sacrifice, Incest, Polygamy, Discrimination Against Women, Infanticide, War and other dark sides of this life and lifestyle.

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December 30, 2015 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Paʻaʻaina

“Dearest Mary thou hast left us,
Here thy loss we deeply feel,
But ‘tis God who hath bereft us,
He can all our sorrow heal.”
(The Friend, June 1853)

Isaac Davis and John Young arrived in Hawai‘i at the same time (1790 – on different boats.) Isaac Davis (Welch) was the sole survivor of the massacre of the crew of The Fair American; John Young, British boatswain on the Eleanora, was stranded on the Island of Hawai‘i.

“Young and Davis would have been killed had not Kaoanaeha, a high lady, fallen in love with Young and by her intercession with the King saved the lives of both sailors. Kaoanaeha was the most beautiful woman on the Island of Owhyhee and was the admiration of all the sailors who visited Karakakooa Bay.”

“She was the only daughter of Keliimaiki, the favorite brother of the great King, Kamehameha I. John Young and Kaoauaeba were soon married. King Kamehameha appreciated the superior talents of the white men and made them high chiefs.”

“When the navigator Vancouver visited the island, in 1793, he was entertained by King Kamehameha and John Young, who was then the King’s chief counselor. Young built the first house on the island of Hawaii, and its ruins are still to be seen. It is of stone.”

“Here Young and Kaoanaeha lived and died, and here their daughter, Fannie Young Kekelaokalani was born.” (NY Times, February 14, 1886)

Fanny married twice, first to Henry Coleman Lewis (they had a daughter Mary Polly Paʻaʻaina;) then Fannie married High Chief George Naʻea (Emma, their daughter, was Paʻaʻaina’s step sister – Emma later married Alexander Liholiho and became Queen Emma.)

Paʻaʻaina was hanai (adopted) by John Papa ʻIʻi and his wife Sarai; ʻIʻi served as kahu (caretaker) to Princess Victoria Kamamalu.

Paʻaʻaina, Emma and twelve others eventually (at varying times) entered the Chief’s Childrens’ School. The main goal of the school was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii’s Kingdom.

Seven families were eligible under succession laws stated in the 1840 Constitution of the Kingdom of Hawai‘i; Kamehameha III called on seven boys and seven girls of his family to board in the Chief’s Children’s School.

In May 1843, Paʻaʻaina was the last girl to enter the boarding school; she was 10 years old which was relatively old (the last boy “William Pitt” Kinaʻu entered in 1844.)

The children were taught reading, spelling, penmanship, arithmetic, geometry, algebra, physics, geography, history, bookkeeping, singing and English composition.

King Kamehameha III founded the Chief’s Children’s School (Royal School) in 1839. The school’s main goal was to groom the next generation of the highest ranking chief’s children of the realm and secure their positions for Hawaii’s Kingdom. King Kamehameha III “ask(ed) (missionary) Mr Cooke to be teacher for our royal children.”

In this school, the Hawai‘i sovereigns who reigned over the Hawaiian people from 1855 were educated, including: Alexander Liholiho (King Kamehameha IV;) Emma Naʻea Rooke (Queen Emma;) Lot Kapuāiwa (King Kamehameha V;) William Lunalilo (King Lunalilo;) Bernice Pauahi (Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop founder of Kamehameha Schools;) David Kalākaua (King Kalakaua) and Lydia Liliʻu Kamakaʻeha (Queen Liliʻuokalani.)

The Chiefs’ Children’s School was unique because for the first time Aliʻi children would be brought together in a group to be taught, ostensibly, about the ways of governance.

(After his experience running the school teaching and training Hawai‘i’s future monarchs, Amos Cooke then co-founded the firm Castle & Cooke which became one of the “Big Five” corporations that dominated the early Hawaiian economy.)

Paʻaʻaina was a pupil in the Royal School for seven years where she endeared herself to her teachers and fellow pupils.

Then, she married Mr James Augustus Griswold on December 30, 1851, in Honolulu. Unfortunately, the marriage was short-lived; she became ill.

“Her sufferings during her last sickness were extreme. She felt conscious of danger, and, as far as human eye could see, prepared herself for her departure.”

“She took a calm and effecting leave of her friends that were present, and sent her last message to absent ones. She expressed the wish that others whom she loved would prepare while in health for the trying hour of death.” (The Friend, June 1853)

She died at Honolulu, May 28, 1853. Her only child was a daughter named Mary Paʻaʻaina Griswold. (Kravitz)

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December 28, 2015 by Peter T Young 8 Comments

Haleiwa Airfield

The date of construction of the Haleiwa airfield has not been determined. The earliest depiction of the field which has been located was a 1933 aerial photo, which depicted a group of B-6A biplanes on a grass field.

Haleiwa Field on the northwest coast of Oahu, 30-miles from Honolulu, was originally (prewar) a center for private flying.

“On the 3rd of December 1941 the 47th Pursuit Squadron was assigned to this base …. This was not a regular runway, just something comparable to an old country road rather than an airstrip. (HIAVPS)

Originally used as an emergency landing field, it had only an unpaved landing strip. Those on temporary duty there had to bring their own tents & equipment.

On December 7, 1941, combined forces of the Japanese Imperial Navy struck at Naval and Army installations on Oahu – and the secondary target was the fleet of American aircraft scattered about the island, aircraft that could disrupt the aerial assault and then follow the fleeing Japanese back to their carriers.

The first targets hit were the airfields: Wheeler, Kaneohe, Ewa, Hickam, Ford Island, Bellows and the civilian airport serving Honolulu. In the strafing and bombing, scores of American aircraft were destroyed in a few minutes. The Imperial bombers could then concentrate on the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.

Haleiwa Field earned its place in history when it became the only airfield able to provide defense against the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Japanese heavily strafed the aircraft at Wheeler Field and few aircraft were able to get airborne to fend them off. Haleiwa was an auxiliary field to Wheeler and contained a collection of aircraft temporarily assigned to the field including aircraft from the 47th Pursuit Squadron.

A total of eight Curtiss P-40 Kitty Hawk and 2 Curtiss P-36 Mohawk pursuit planes were at the field on the morning of 7 December 1941.

Lt. George S. Welch (heir to the grape juice family) and 2nd Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor (on his first assignment,) both P-40 pilots, were at Wheeler when the attack began.

They had previously flown their P-40B fighters over to the small airfield at Haleiwa as part of a plan to disperse the squadron’s planes away from Wheeler.

Not waiting for instructions the pilots called ahead to Haleiwa and had both their fighters fueled, armed and warmed up. Both men raced in their cars to Haleiwa Field completing the 16-mile trip in about 15 minutes.

With their P-40s, now warmed up and ready, they jumped into their cockpits. The crew chiefs informed them that they should disperse their planes. “The hell with that”, said Welch. Ignoring the usual pre-takeoff checklists the aircraft took off down the narrow airstrip.

Once in the air they spotted a large number of aircraft in the direction of Ewa and Pearl Harbor. Only then did they realize what they were up against. “There were between 200 and 300 Japanese aircraft,” said Taylor; “there were just two of us!”

The two P-40s engaged the aircraft attacking Ewa Mooring Mast and shot down five Japanese planes. They then returned to Wheeler to replenish their ammunition. While there, another wave of dive bombers appeared and Lt. Taylor raced back into the air. His P-40’s cockpit was damaged as a Japanese plane chased him.

Lt. Welch was able to down the plane following him and they both returned back to Wheeler. Lt. Welch was credited with a total of four Japanese planes shot down and Lt. Taylor downed two.

Just as suddenly as it began, the sky was empty of enemy aircraft. Both are credited with being the first “Aces” of World War II. Taylor & Welch were both awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Walsh & Taylor’s dramatic ride & takeoff was shown in the movie Tora, Tora, Tora. (Trojan)

The Army improved the field during the early part of World War II and it was in use to simulate real battle conditions for gunnery training. In 1944 the Navy took the field over for carrier-landing training.

After the war Haleiwa Fighter Strip was apparently reused as a civilian airport for some period of time. Haleiwa was depicted as a civilian airport on the 1947 Hawaiian Islands Sectional Chart.

It was described as having a 4,800′ hard-surface runway. The Haleiwa Airport was apparently abandoned at some point between 1947-1961, as it was not depicted at all on the 1961 Honolulu Sectional Chart. (Trojan)

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