Ghost Plane of Pearl Harbor; shocking story of the pilot who was covered in blood in cockpit disappearing in sky

World War II was a time of unforgettable disasters for the world. Many mysterious incidents during the war were reported at the time. Both real events and fables are included in this category. One such story is about the unidentified plane known as the 'Pearl Harbor Ghost Plane'!

Something on the radar

1942, December 8

The day after the first anniversary of Japan's attack on the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, claiming the lives of over 2,300 American servicemen. The US radar system at Pearl Harbor noticed something unusual. A plane was coming from Japan towards America.

Radar operators could not detect any typical signs of an airstrike on that plane. The sky was overcast and it was late evening. They asserted that there was no possibility of an attack in such weather.

Without landing gear

Wasting no time, two US planes took off to catch the unknown plane. US aircraft approached the unidentified aircraft. The US pilots identified the aircraft as a Curtiss P40 Warhawk and reported the information to the authorities. US military had used the P40 model aircraft in defence during the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, P40 aircraft were not used after that.

US planes got closer to the unidentified P40 plane. What they saw next shocked the US pilots. The plane's landing gear was missing. Moreover, the unidentified P40 aircraft was riddled with bullet holes.

The pilot could also be seen inside the plane but he was exhausted in the cockpit with blood all over his body. As the US planes got closer, the pilot of the P40 plane smiled slightly and waved his hands slowly at the pilots of the US planes! Within seconds, the P-40 plane plummeted from the sky with a loud crash.

Where is the pilot?

The US military searched the area where the unidentified P-40 plane crashed but was unable to locate its pilot. The pilot had disappeared!

Who was that pilot? No trace of the pilot could be found in the wreckage. However, they received some documents. It was like parts of a diary.

Researchers who examined those records speculated that the P-40 might have come from the Philippine island of Mindanao, about 1,300 miles away. Which plane was that? Who was its pilot? What happened to him? All these questions and answers became a secret.

Myth?

Most of the historical observers are of the opinion that the story of the P40 aircraft is completely fictional. The researchers point out that there is a similar fictional story in a book by Robert Lee Scott Jr., who served as a pilot during World War II, which some have been promoting as the story of the P-40 plane.

However, some believe that the pilot may have taken refuge in the jungle or some other isolated location after escaping the enemy with a plane that had crashed during the attack on Pearl Harbor a year earlier. He may have somehow made the plane airworthy himself and flew the miles back to his native land….

Stories like these are the reasons given by a section that believes the story of the P40 plane is real. However, one thing is certain... an aircraft as heavy as the P40 cannot take off without the aid of some sort of landing gear!