NavList:

Rob van Gent, you wrote:
"A similar event occurred three days later in the North Atlantic
   https://navyhistory.au/12-december-1941/
Luckily, the Venusians did not retaliate."

Heh. Yes... 

Thanks for the link to another similar incident. I'm not at all surprised given the heightened state of alert after Pearl Harbor and also given the brightness of Venus at this time. Paul Hirose mentioned that a list of daily incidents during the war did not include anyone shooting at Venus. In a way it's surprising that any such events were recorded at all given that they were embarrassing (and wasted scarce ammunition). Also, mistakes like this are not especially newsworthy, and they work against the narrative of successful, smart heroes defeating the common enemy. Heroes don't shoot at imaginary airplanes. 

Thanks also for the link to the complete oral history from (then) Ensign Ditto aboard USS Langley. He notes that the little fleet running from Manila a day afterr the initial attack almost a "sacrificial" force, old and slow vessels. Langley had a maximum speed of 12 knots?? Wow. I suppose it's lucky that the former aircraft carrier survived as long as it did... 

Frank Reed