Best Tourism On Hawaii

[Bill Greenwood]

What tours or interest points would a pilot or EAA person enjoy seeing on Oahu with its miltary history?
There is the well known visit to the sunken hull of the Arizona,, with the only problem that it is hard to see with it underwater. But a vistor is there where the attack happened with the power of that feeling.
And a bus can take you to Ford Island to the new aviation museum there, and again where it actually happened. I just wish the runway was still active or at least maintained as it was then, it should be kept that way but the control tower and hangars are still there. A battleship is part of one tour, USS Missouri
As for as I know there is not a boat tour that covers all of Pearl Harbor, and I think there should be.
The best tour we had was an hour flight in a De Haviland Beaver on floats the covered the whole island and the final leg was to come in from the north shore retracing the route that the attacking planes came in, past Wheeler army base, and to the harbor and Hickam Field. This was a special flight, and perhaps a pilot could also rent a plane and do the flight themselves, but it is nice to have someone else flying while one does the looking.

[CarlOrton]

Did you take the Ford Island tour? We did in 2012; was quite interesting, but most of the efforts inside the hangar were geared toward restoration projects underway. Not knocking it, but was more emphasis on the current rather than the historical.

I thought it was notable and noble that the bullet holes in the glass doors of the hangar were still there. It provided a bit of a "you are there" moment, for me at least.

Not too many GA airports on Oahu. I believe no more than two, but it's been years since I looked at a digital sectional of the island.

[Bill Greenwood]

Yes , Carl we went to Ford Island. In some ways there is more to see there than other places, however the Arizona is special because of those lost aboard her and nearby, even if not as much to see.
And the museum at Ford Island has a nice snack bar, makes a good lunch spot. You can pretty much see these two sites in half a day.

[FlyingRon]

I didn't have any problem seeing the Arizona from the memorial. If you go over to the hangar where the Pacific Air Museum has their workshops, the windows there still have bullet holes from the attack. The museum also amused me as one of the exhibits was surrounded with barbed wire. I pointed out to the (then) director of education there that the Smithsonian hadn't come up with this idea yet. She told me to go ahead and touch it. It turns out that the barbs (very realistic looking) were, in fact, made of rubber.

One word of advice to those wanting to go to the Arizona. There's often over an hour wait for a departure time. Get your tickets as soon as you arrive (there's a small museum there at the dock that you can kill time with as well as food available). You can't take the food with you so plan accordingly.

The oil in the Arizona tanks is still dripping to the surface and will for quite some time to come.

https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10472831_10202909898059478_5336915647920943859_o.j pg?oh=81cb6676993e807a71a1e067fcaf155f&oe=58BB6AA2

[FlyingRon]

As for the rest of Oahu, the first thing I'd do is skip Honolulu itself. There's nothing there frankly that you can't have in any California city (or just about any major US city). There, however, were some good restaurants. There's also a touristy Dole pineapple plantation you can visit.

We drove up to the north shore and had some good food and sites there and then drove down the coast on the east side. Some pretty spectacular wave action as well.

There's a neat "blowhole" in the rocks in an overlook just north of Honolulu. My picture doesn't quite do it justice.
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10649089_10202909895499414_2433759523450447433_o.j pg?oh=ebb464a8771cc9efd6e758dabff82f44&oe=58FB466A

[FlyingRon]

f course, Oahu is only a tiny fragment of Hawaii. I spent more of my time over on the "Big Island" of Hawaii. We stayed in Kona but traveled all over the island (been there twice). I've circumnavigated the coast and gone across the middle (between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa) a few times. Once it was so foggy, I thought I had lost the cars I was following but when we descended out of the cloud bank we were only thirty feet or so behind them.

Here's one of the volcanic cauldrons:
https://scontent.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t31.0-8/10694304_10202914244728142_2227006351205217552_o.j pg?oh=c749e0b7f40635a2d928225d2b1a4218&oe=58FC1DAA

[rwanttaja]

I didn't have any problem seeing the Arizona from the memorial.

Landlubbers like me and Bill tend to forget one thing: The tide. Visit near high tide, and little is visible on the surface. Low tide, and one of the aft turret rings is visible. My first visit was probably near high tide, didn't see much. My second visit, I saw a lot more. Also, much of the ship isn't that visible from the memorial due to the slanting sight lines and reflectivity of the water.

Here's a 3D model showing Arizona as she currently rests:
http://autodesk.blogs.com/.a/6a00d8341bfd0c53ef01b8d1806c6d970c-pi
The aft turret ring I mentioned is the one sticking up on the left side (stern). The memorial itself lies athwartships just forward of the ring. So the details near the bow are much deeper and have to be viewed through a lot of water if one is on the memorial.


The oil in the Arizona tanks is still dripping to the surface and will for quite some time to come.
Arizona had something like a million pounds of fuel in its bunkers when it sank. Much of the bunkerage was immediately breeched and/or burned immediately, but there's still plenty aboard. Show I watched the other day said the actual leakage rate is very low...something like eight ounces a day. But a little oil goes a long way.

Ron Wanttaja

[rwanttaja]

I once wangled a two-week work trip to Honolulu. The group I worked with had a luau on one of the Northern beaches the weekend I was there. Right across the road was an airport, with a very busy Cessna L-19 towing gliders. Having flown a Bird Dog as a CAP cadet, I naturally wandered across the road to watch.

Don't remember much (it was ~25 years ago) but do recall on the onshore breeze was pretty stiff, and the runway (limited by the terrain) resulted in a pretty strong crosswind.

Ron Wanttaja

[L16 Pilot]

I thought Pearl Harbor as a giant tourist trap. Lots of Japanese around but I understand Hawaii is a vacation and honeymoon spot for Japanese folks. The Arizona is humbling when you consider over 1000 are still interred in the sunken hull. For me the Punchbowl Cemetery was the highlight of my visit as I wrote a book about a B29 crew that was lost over Japan on May 7, 1945 (The Crew of the Empire Express and Peace on a Quiet Mountain in Japan). The pilot and copilot are interred at the Punchbowl and the names of three crew members executed by the Japanese on June 20, 1945 are listed on the Tablet of the Missing.

[CarlOrton]

Being from DFW and being a huge Texas Rangers fan, I always wear my Yu Darvish shirt when walking around Waikiki / HNL / Oahu. I get lots of stares, but no one has yet come up to me to chat.

[lnuss]

What's a Yu Darvish?

[CarlOrton]

What's a Yu Darvish?

Well, since I dunno if you're kidding or not, he's one of the Rangers' best pitchers (well, still coming off surgery) who had rockstar status in Japan before he came to the US.

[lnuss]

Thanks. I just barely follow football, these days, and the other sports not at all. And the name is so unusual that I didn't know if it was a person or a gadget or some pop-culture thing. So thanks for the clarification.

[FlyingRon]

I thought Pearl Harbor as a giant tourist trap.

I didn't get that impression at all, or maybe I misunderstand what you mean by "tourist trap."

The time I was there mid day there were indeed a lot of people, but it's hardly the scene I've seen at other touristy locations (and I've lived and worked in the DC area all my life).
I was there first thing in the morning the second time I went, and it was practically empty (In fact, we walked in and the ranger asked if we wanted to go to the Arizona as they had seats available on the next departure). The area around the launch has a nice little museum and not particularly "tourist trappy" compared to other attractions even on Hawaii.
By the time you get over to Ford Island for the Air Museum or the Missouri, you've left most of even that behind.

[L16 Pilot]

I don't know just probably for all the crowds that were there (it was July) and I guess I expected more reverence all things considered. I'm also an Air Force vet. I did take one of the bus tours that included many of the 'sites' so maybe I shouldn't complain but as I mentioned visiting the Punchbowl Cemetery was my highlight because I had a specific reason to do it and I recently had the pleasure of meeting the B29 pilots son who was born about two months after his father was killed in Japan (now interred in Hawaii).

[Bill Greenwood]

L16 , your story about your friend in the B-29 brings some reality to what for most of us is a distant story. Sorry for their loss. How were you able to find out exactly what happened to the crew?
I haven't been to Punchbowl, but have been to other military cemetaries. All were well kept but to me sad with acres of crosses or stars, the reality of war.
As for the sites at Pearl being crowded, other people want to see these also. If you go somewhere where no one wants to go, whats the point? The Air and Space Musem on the mall is an example of lots of people, but a great place to visit.

[Zack Baughman]

Not exactly military related, but if I were in Oahu, I'd definitely do this - Magnum, P.I. helicopter tour!

https://paradisecopters.com/tours/oahu-the-magnum-experience/#.WE8Uvn2jpjc

[CarlOrton]

Never thought it was tourist-trappy, either.

Have been a few times, most recently in 2012. Best time was 1982 on our honeymoon. Got married May 29th and headed West. We visited June 1st, the day after Memorial Day (Punchbowl same day...). Our tour group was able to arrive at the much less structured Pearl Harbor departure spot just before they raised the colors. At the time (I imagine they still do...) they had a multi-service band playing the National Anthem, each service hymn, Stars and Stripes Forever, and I can't remember the others. Eye watering. I have never felt such patriotism.

[L16 Pilot]

Bill, the waist gunner on the B29 was the brother of a friend of mine. He was one of the three able to bail out and eventually executed by the Japanese. I had started researching on behalf of the Baumgarten family, able to get a copy of the missing crew report, located the pilots (or as they called them on the B29 "aircraft commander) son who was able to furnish some information and a number of photos. Eventually I had enough material that I was prompted by my daughter and son in law to write a small book of about 110 pages which I self published. I've sold or given away about 250 copies but my major focus was to get a copy to each of the 11 crew member families. So far I've been able to accomplish that to eight families and still searching for the other three. I guess their response has been typical as the 90 year old sister of the tail gunner wrote back to me "Thank you for your book and research. We never knew what happened as it was never talked about....too painful". If you google "Baumgarten and the B29 Empire Express" there are a number of articles on the research and the book. I was a technical college teacher so I've always described the writing as 'nuts and bolts'. Hope this is helpful.

[Bill Greenwood]

L16 I have a very small connection to Enola Gay. The tail gunner was Bob Caron who lived in Denver some years ago. I met him, we were both CAF members and I was asked by a friend for a small loan to help them publish his book on the Atomic Bomb mission over Hiroshima. I did, and belive it or not, they even repayed my loan. His book, FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS, subtitle "I saw it first" referring to his viewpoint in the tail being closed to the explosion. It came out, 1995, same day as some big event and didnt get full media notice. He just seemed like a normal guy, you wouldnt pick him out of a crowd, and he was kind of quiet, really not like Tibbets. The CAF had Fifi on display at the original Denver airport before Pena and his investors moved it out of town, and he and I were there. Lots of airline guys coming over to tour the plane and two young Frontier pilots were climbing through and asking lots of questions. One said, "Sir, you seem to know a lot about B-29s?" and Bob said that he had been crew on Enola and these guys eyes got real big.
Strange thing is that I am somewhat "middle ground" about the Atomic bomb mission, but I didnt have much trouble deciding to help with the book. Ardent Bomb proponent always frame the question in simple black and white, ie use the bomb or invade right away and they often quote sky high casualty estimates. Little attention is given to use of conventional bombing while intensifying diplomatic contacts and efforts for a negotiated peace, especially since Japan had no offensive military strength left. Some negotiations had begun through Swiss and the main point of honor to Japan, the survival of emperor Hirohito was accepted in principal by both sides. And there was Russia also. I think it is sad the the 2nd bomb drop was started only 48 hours later, not given much room for negotiation and both targets were civilian cities, not some military base with those who started the war. But looking through Pres Truman's eyes, IN THE C0NTEXT OF 1945, would more favor prompt use of the Bomb. His job was to end the war, not primarily concern with civilians. Churchill was told of the Bomb before the mission, ( Stalin was not) and he was in support.
The whole Bomb story is immense, and there is an about 800 page book on it In depth about the brillant minds who developed it and all the secrecy. One part most people dont know is that there was a commuitte to try to find the best target for the Bomb, hopefully military not civilan but in the end Hiroshima was it.
That one bomb did about what 334 B-29s had done in the first low level raid on Tokyo and changed the course of how we look at war now.
One can google Jan 25, 1995 and find a case where Russia picked up radar report that looked like a U S missle launch, turned out to be a research rocket in Norway.
P S, this started out to be about tourism on Oahu and grew, my Son is going to Japan soon and I was just thinking if I went would I want to see the Bomb locations in Hiroshima etc? Not sure if I would.

[Bill Greenwood]

Zack the helicopters tours are very popular,and will take you into tight spaces , but somehow I really felt like the Beaver on floats was more like real flying.?