On December 8, 1942, approximately one year after the attack on Pearl Harbor, a radar picked up what appeared to be a plane headed for American soil from the direction of Japan.
Government officials were baffled when they were notified, as this had none of the usual characteristics of any previous attack. Aside from that fact that there was only one craft in the air, the sky was overcast and it was late evening.
Two American pilots were sent to investigate the suspicious air craft. They radioed back to the ground that the craft was a P-40 bearing markings not used since the attack on Pearl Harbor. They were even more shocked when, upon flying alongside the plane, they saw that it was riddled with bullet holes, and the landing gear was completely destroyed.
As they puzzled over the condition of the plane, they noticed that the pilot was slumped forward in the cockpit, and his clothes were wet with fresh blood. The pilot of the mysterious craft then lifted his head slightly, and offered a weak smile and wave to his allies. The P-40 spiraled to the ground and crashed just moments later.
When troops investigated the crash site, they found no trace of the pilot, nor any clues to his identity. They found the remains of a diary in the wreckage, and concluded that the plane had come from the island of Mindanao, some 1,300 miles away.
Some believe it is possible that the plane had been shot down a year earlier during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and that the pilot had navigated his damaged aircraft home over some 1,300 miles of enemy territory. If that is the case, how did the unfortunate pilot manage to get the heavy P-40 off the ground with no landing gear?
