NavList:

Hi DaveP. Yes, you NAILED this one AND FAST. Near Nihoa Island while Operation K  was underway. Two huge Emily flying boat bombers passed overhead. To my fictional character they might have looked like a dozen bombers heading east.

I was hoping someone would figure out the date from that minimal "lunar" sight that I included. Not yet??

Re the history, you noted that the American forces were aware of the vulnerable Full Moon dates and were prepared. For the Japanese crews, it was even worse. they were detected by the relatively crude radar of those days, and P-40s scrambled. But the intrceptors were beaten by the same clouds that prevented the bombing mission itself. It's interesting to speculate what would have happened if there had been no clouds. I think the bombers would probably have been shot down. Two Japanese bombers shot down as they attempted to bomb Pearl Harbor! That would have been front page news with a significant impact on American morale. Instead this mission was "lost in the clouds" and the whole thing became a page three story. HA.

Josh