"Tora! Tora! Tora!" Wasn't Just a Movie Title

Dec. 7, 1941, 7:53 a.m. The attack leader over Pearl Harbor radioed three words back to his carrier: "Tora! Tora! Tora!" It meant complete surprise had been achieved.

"Tora" is Japanese for "tiger," but the signal's syllables also stood for "charge" and "torpedo attack."

Since 1972, the Commemorative Air Force® (CAF) Tora! Tora! Tora! team has re-created that morning at airshows across the country, so new generations remember what happened at Pearl Harbor.

✈️ Wait, are those real Zeros? No, and that's part of the story. Very few genuine Japanese warplanes survived the war, and only a handful can still fly. The Tora team's aircraft are replicas, many of them originally built for the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! The "Zeros" are modified North American T-6 Texans. The "Kate" torpedo bombers and "Val" dive bombers started out as Vultee BT-13 Valiant trainers, with longer fuselages, new canopies and tails, and Japanese markings. The explosions are carefully choreographed pyrotechnics.

Educate. Inspire. Honor.

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