By Charles D. Angel, and copied from The Spring 1996 DISPATCH magazine of the CAF

Over the years, the TORA group of the Confederate Air Force has thrilled tens of thousands of people recreating the devastating aerial assault on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. From Canada, across virtually every part of the U.S., including Alaska to the far reaches of Mexico, countless spectators have seen, heard and felt exactly what it was like to experience that costly and dramatic event that signaled America’s entry into World War II.

The pilots and ground support teams who create the Pearl Harbor attack are hard-working, dedicated, sacrificing individuals who put a great deal of time, effort and money into bringing airshow audiences this unique aerial act. Theirs is a great story but it is another story. This story is about the airplanes. The aircraft represent the permanent identifying symbol everyone sees. It is the TORA aircraft that bring the history dramatically alive.

The TORA airplanes are a unique collection of warbirds with a colorful past of their own. Where did they come from? Who made them? How did they do it? Fortunately, the answers to these basic questions lead to a fascinating tale.

In 1968, 20^th Century Fox set out to make a film about one of the most important events in American history – the surprise attack on U.S. installations in the Hawaiian Islands by Imperial Japanese Naval Air Forces. The film was to be an epic, a movie that would examine every aspect leading up to the attack, then show the actual attack in great detail.

To create the aerial sequences, producer Elmo Williams and directors Richard Fleischer and Akira Kurosawa had to have an entire Imperial Japanese Air Force in flying condition. The traditional Hollywood approach, painting solid red circles on one or two American airplanes, or using hokey-looking studio models, simply was not acceptable for this kind of movie. The flying scenes played too important a part, indeed they were to be the main part of this unprecedented film production.

The other aircraft needed were, although scarce, at least available: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, Curtiss P-40 Warhawks, a Consolidated PBY Catalina, and a Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber provided by the U.S. Marine Corps. The Japanese aircraft were another matter. Producer Williams could not use real Japanese aircraft. Some types required did not exist anymore, at least not in flying condition, and the ones that still could fly were simply not up to the hard use required for filming nor numerous enough for the movie.

Enter Jack Canary. When 20^th Century Fox announced they needed a "Fox Air Force" to film "TORA! TORA! TORA!" Canary successfully bid the contract to provide such an air force. He had already worked with Williams and 20^th Century Fox when he built two Fokker Triplanes for the movie "The Blue Max." Plus Canary had worked for many years at North American Aviation Inc., where one of his jobs had been technical representative for the AT-6 Texan. He was the perfect man for the job – the man who would create the Japanese aircraft for "TORA! TORA! TORA!" This is how he did it.

Carrier-based naval aircraft of both the U.S. and Japan during World War II consisted basically of three types: single-seat fighters, dive bombers with a two-man crew and torpedo planes with a two-or three-man crew. The Japanese types that Canary needed to replicate consisted of the Mitsubishi Navy type Zero Carrier Fighter (A6M), the Nakajima Navy Type 97 Carrier Attack Bomber (B5N) and the Aichi Navy Type 99 Carrier bomber (D3A).

These aircraft were code named by the Americans: Zero or Zeke for the fighter, Kate for the Type 97 torpedo bomber and Val for the Type 99 dive bomber. The Japanese designated their aircraft by type number based on the last two digits of the Japanese calendar year when the aircraft entered service. The fighter was designated a type Zero fighter because it entered service in the Japanese calendar year 2600 (1940), the Type 97 torpedo bomber entered service in 2597 (1937) and the Type 99 dive bomber entered service in the year 2599 (1939).

The American-given code names were the idea of Capt. Frank T. McCoy Jr., intelligence officer of the 38^th Bomb Group, and his staff. They began this code name system from Australia in early 1942. They decided on boy’s names for fighters and girl’s names for bombers, hence Zeke, Kate and Val. The name Zero remained in use for the fighter simply because it had already become too familiar and popular by 1942.

Canary and his staff decided on using two American airplanes to create the three Japanese aircraft required – the Vultee BT-13 basic trainer and the North American AT-6 advanced trainer. Both these aircraft were used to train tens-of-thousands of American pilots during the World War II years and were suitable for conversion to Japanese naval aircraft with a "few" modifications. These modifications were handled by two companies, the Stewart-Davis and Cal-Volair companies located at California’s Long Beach Airport. Unfortunately and tragically, Jack Canary was not there to see his "Fox Air Force" become a reality. He was killed in August 1968 while flying one of the BT-13s to California for conversion.

To create the Zero fighters, AT-6s were used. The main area of change was the cockpit. The AT-6’s two place, fairly large greenhouse canopy had to be altered to match the single-seat Zero canopy. But the greenhouse canopy frame and the front windshield canopy piece and upper deck of the AT-6 were changed to closely resemble the Zero’s look. The engine cowling was changed by adding non-adjustable cowl flaps, repositioning the air scoop for the carburetor with the oil cooler scoop and adding a rather large spinner to cover the propeller hub.

The changes to the cockpit area and engine were what really made the AT-6 look like a Japanese Zero, however, the wing tips were also reshaped to conform to the Zero’s shape and the rudder was likewise redone to match the Zero’s rudder. The wheel-pants and wheel-well shapes were also changed and wing-to-fuselage fillets changed to help with the AT-6’s aerodynamic shape. Some of the Zeros had geared R-1340 engines with three-bladed props and working arresting hooks fitted for close-up shots on the carriers and landing scenes filmed on the USS Yorktown. Most of the reshaping of the aircraft was done with fiberglass and the result was an airplane that very closely resembled a Zero fighter. Most of the Zero replicas flying with TORA today have a modified passenger seat behind the pilot under the cut-down canopy frame.

	Zero AI-115 of the TORA Squadron was originally modified in the late 1960s for possible use in 20th Century Fox’s production "TORA! TORA! TORA!" although the aircraft was never used in the movie, Zero AI-115 became part of the TORA group. Left, AI-115 as she appeared in 1971 in Harlingen, Texas, and six years later with a new paint job in Houston.

Creating a replica Kate required a little more work than the Zeros. A real Kate has a very long fuselage that houses a three-place cockpit area. Stewart-Davis began with an AT-6 airframe, at least the front end, removed the tail and rear fuselage from behind the cockpit, put in a 6-foot-11-inch extension starting at the rear of the cockpit and then added the tail unit of a BT-13.  Then a 16-foot section was added forward of the firewall. The greenhouse canopy had to be completely redone into a five section piece; the wingtips were extended and reshaped with fiberglass; the BT-13 fin and rudder were reshaped slightly to more closely resemble the Kate’s; and a third seat was installed facing rearward. All the modifications, the reskinning, the rebuilt canopy and the reshaping with fiberglass required a great deal of skilled work by the craftsmen of Stewart-Davis and Cal-Volair. The result was a great looking replica of a B5N Kate.

Vultee BT-13 and North American AT-6 of the CAF’s Big Thicket Wing in Conroe, Texas, represent the aircraft types that were used to create the Zeros, Kates and Vals for the movie "TORA! TORA! TORA!."

The replica Val required the most extensive modifications to achieve a movie version of the Aichi D3A Type 99 dive bomber. This aircraft holds a special place in the author’s heart. My wife and I were privileged to own and fly a Val for almost nine years with the TORA group. The movie Val began as a Vultee BT-13. The following changes were made as noted in the aircraft logbook.

November 1968 – This aircraft was modified to portray a World War II Japanese Val dive bomber for 20^th Century Fox Movie Co. Modifications consisted of the following items:

1. Two dummy gun ports consisting of 1½-inch tube installed on top section of ring cowl.
2. Eighteen stainless steel 9-inch by 9-inch cowl flaps added to ring cowl.
3. Carburetor air scoop relocated from side of accessory section to bottom of accessory section.
4. Common air scoop for oil cooler and carburetor installed on bottom of accessory section.
5. Dummy exhaust stack added on left-hand side of accessory section.
6. Both side cowlings on accessory section modified to vent accessory section air overboard.
7. Engine mount bolts replaced with NAS149 OH-28 bolts.
8. Raise cowling forward of canopy 1½ inches.
9. Installed dummy bombsight forward of windshield.
10. Installed 26-inch extension plus in fuselage aft of the rear canopy.
11. Rear canopy rail raised 7¼ inches and rear canopy cut down to match.
12. Rear canopy modified to fold up.
13. Two-foot-3-inch antenna mast mounted on top of rear canopy.
14. All cables to tail surface controls extended 26 inches.
15. Each wing tip extended 24 inches.
16. Installed fiberglass pants on main gear.
17. Installed fiberglass dorsal fin 30 inches long.
18. Installed dummy dive brakes under both wings.
19. Rear cockpit seat reversed.
20. Gun rest added to rear cockpit.
21. Changed fuselage contour aft of canopy – raised 2½ inches at top and narrowed 3 inches at bottom.
22. Replaced R-985 engine with R-1340 AN-1 engine s/n ZP105915 – supplied by 20^th Century Fox.
23. Propeller replaced with 12D40 Hamilton Standard supplied by 20^th Century Fox.

All these changes made the BT-13 into a very convincing copy of the real thing. How close did the Stewart-Davis Co. come in copying the Val? In 1991, while participating in the Nimitz Museum’s Pearl Harbor 50^th Anniversary Commemoration in Fredericksburg and Austin, Texas, I was privileged to show my Val to Lt. Cmdr. Zenji Abe, who flew a Val as a squadron commander for the Japanese at Pearl Harbor on Dec 7, 1941.

As Lt. Cmdr. Abe walked up to the movie Val, he did not say a word, but I observed him catching his breath. He slowly walked completely around the airplane and then came back to where I was standing. He told me two things were missing – the dive breaks under the wing (which I had removed because they were deteriorating) and the arresting tail hook for carrier landings (which was not on the airplane when I bought it). Other than those two items, Lt. Cmdr. Abe said, it was an exact copy of the real Val in every detail.

In all, 25 replica Zeros, nine Kates and nine Vals were built in California by Stewart-Davis and Cal-Volair. Fiberglass torpedoes were added to the Vals. A few of each type had fitted three-bladed props, gear-cased engines and tail hooks for close-up scenes and carrier landings. In addition, 19 other AT-6s were modified in Japan using the "California pattern" by the Kawasaki Aircraft Co. for a second unit filming in Japan.

The movie "TORA! TORA! TORA!," using these movie-replicated Zeros, Kates and Vals, is one of the greatest aviation movies ever made. It set the standard Hollywood had to meet for every movie containing aircraft scenes that followed. This great, unique, collection of aircraft has also continued to please crowds from Canada to Mexico. In the past 25 years, the TORA group of the Confederate Air Force’s Gulf Coast Wing has flown these aircraft across three countries. Today the TORA act continues to be one of the most requested airshow acts in the country.

To achieve this distinction, to keep these airplanes in the air, has required huge amounts of hard work, time, dedication, money and most of all, tender loving care. Created to portray an important part of American history and, over the years continuing to create that history in a dramatic and colorful way, the Japanese replica TORA movie aircraft have become a piece of history themselves. That is as it should be.