"His options were now limited to defensive operations until further word from an isolated and vacillating MacArthur."

DECEMBER 7–10, 1941: LUZON ISLAND AND “INEPTNESS”

By: SCOTT WALKER Date: DECEMBER 8 , 2011

"Brereton stormed out of MacArthur’s office and ordered his staff car to return to his headquarters. His options were now limited to defensive operations until further word from an isolated and vacillating MacArthur. He immediately ordered all B-17 and B-18 bombers at Clark Field into the air to avoid destruction on the ground. The bombers were to stay within controltower range of Clark Field until ordered to land.

At 8:25 A.M., as American bombers were lifting off at Clark, the first seventeen Ki-21-IIAs Japanese bombers appeared over the mountainous “summer capital” city of Baguio, ninety miles north of Clark Field. The Japanese bombed a small military base, Camp John Hay, a favorite rest and relaxation center for American servicemen. Japanese intelligence suspected that MacArthur was vacationing at Camp John Hay and intended their first bombs to fall on him. Though they missed MacArthur, it was now obvious that Japanese bombers were taking offensive actions against the Philippines. However, MacArthur still withheld permission from Brereton to unleash his bombers and attack Formosa.

As the sun grew higher in the sky on the morning of December 8, Brereton’s bombers continued to circle idly above Luzon and the South China Sea, slowly expending their fuel supply. Finally, at 10:14 A.M., MacArthur personally telephoned Brereton. Brereton told MacArthur that even though he lacked proper photoreconnaissance, he wanted to mount an attack on Formosa as soon as possible. MacArthur finally gave Brereton permission to attack at his own discretion. Elated, Brereton immediately ordered his circling bombers to return to Clark for refueling and the loading of armaments.

As the scattered American bombers landed, they lined up with peacetime precision into neat rows and were attached to fuel trucks and loaded with one-hundred-and three- hundred-pound bombs. The tense and jittery bomber crews gulped down lunch in the mess hall, and some forty senior officers gathered for a briefing on the bombing mission to Formosa, slated for the afternoon. At this most vulnerable of moments the delayed Japanese attack on Clark Field and nearby Iba Field finally struck at 12:35 P.M. It was a repeat of Pearl Harbor. The first wave of fifty-four bombers crossed the field at 18,000 feet and dropped their bomb loads. The bombers were followed by Japanese fighters that strafed the field at ground-top level. In a matter of minutes, twelve B-17s were destroyed, along with thirty-four P-40 fi ghters and thirty other aircraft. It is also estimated that 77 airmen and ground crewmen were killed and another 148 wounded. MacArthur had lost over half of his air force."