Attendees experience Pearl Harbor invasion

Mar. 19—For Ted Hine, it was like going back in time.

Hine, a World War II veteran, was on hand Saturday at Muskogee-Davis Regional Airport for Pearl Harbor reenactment rehearsals by the group Tora! Tora! Tora!, a division of the Commemorative Air Force.

Hine got his first experience in the vintage aircraft was on his way from Oklahoma to California.

"I was with a special outfit of 500 of us in Los Angeles," he said. "We met up with three warships in Tasmania and those warships escorted us through Japanese waters to our assignment."

Alexander Long, a master sergeant with the Civil Air Force, said it was a thrill to see the vintage aircraft.

"It's really, really interesting for me and the other cadets to see because it's part of history," Long said. "It's really intriguing to me specifically because I really like this era. I would rather go up in the air in these because they're history."

The planes were rehearsing for this season's air shows. Denise Walker with the Tora! Tora! Tora! division of the Commemorative Air Force said the group travels from coast to coast putting on reenactments of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

"We've done as many as 19 shows a year, but we really try to keep it around 12 to 13," Walker said. "We have two second-generation pilots — Dan Reedy who flies Zero 114 and Patrick Hutchins in Zero 111. Doug Derr has been flying for over 20 years and Ron Wright has been flying for over 30 for Tora."

The planes they fly were used in the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora! and are replica Mitsubishi Zeros that the Japanese used in the attack.

Kay Anderson, whose husband Mike is a pilot with Tora! Tora! Tora! and also owner of Davis Field Aviation, said the rehearsals had to move from Conroe, Texas, to Muskogee because of overcrowding.

"They started having so many flight schools that it was hard for them to get out and fly with all the schools taking off and landing," she said. "So we said let's do it up here because we have the FBO (fixed base operators). We do fuel, we do maintenance, radios and hangars."