Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Two American Pilots and Pearl Harbor" video.

  1. At 5:30 you state their actions did not change the war or the battle. I must strongly disagree. Taylor and Welch not only downed at least a half dozen Japanese planes, they damaged many more. Combined with losses inflicted by Army and Navy ground fire during the second attack wave, Admiral Nagumo called off the third attack. Fully 15% of his attack force had been destroyed or seriously damaged. Oil storage tanks, repair bays, armaments, and dry dock facilities had been left intact. Had he authorized a third wave attack, Nagumo would have left Hawaii completely defenseless and useless to the Navy and Army for months to come, meaning our aircraft carriers would have been without a safe harbor from which to arm, fuel, and repair. It might even have precipitated a disastrously premature engagement between our carrier forces and theirs. But Nagumo was a cautious man who essentially snatched defeat from the jaws of Japanese victory. If Taylor and Welch not been so aggressive, history might well have turned out quite differently and not been worth remembering.
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