The Passing of a True Blue Hero

The first of two American pilots aloft during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the first to shoot down Japanese planes, died November 25 in Tucson.

A living legend has left us. You may have seen him depicted in the Movie Tora, Tora, Tora...and him and his friend's exploits stolen for the use of otherwise fictional characters in the 2001 hit Pearl Harbor.

On the morning of December 7th, 1941, a 21 year old Ken Taylor and his friend George Welch were pilots attached to the 47th Pursuit Squadron assigned to the US Army Air Force in Hawaii. They had gone to a party with fellow officers the night before and were 'recovering' when the Japanese attacked that Sunday morning at 7:55 am. Throwing on a pair of tuxedo pants from the night before he took to the air in his P-40 Warhawk (think Shark Teeth and the Flying Tigers) and shot down two Japanese bombers. Along with Lt. Welch's victories that day he was credited with the first American aerial victories of World War two. They were the only two US planes to get off the ground during the attack.

Lt. Taylor went on to survive the war and retire as a Brigadier General in the US Air Force 1967. He is survived by his wife, two children and three grandchildren. His wingman, Lt Welch died in 1954 in a plane crash of an experimental aircraft