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On December 7th, 1941, a Japanese Mitsubishi Type O (“Zero”) crashed on the site of what was then part of
the US Army Coast Artillery post of Fort Kamehameha. A US Navy photograph of the crashed Zero - the one that appears
on the title page - is one of the better known images of the attack and appears in many books and online documents.
These sources identify the crash site as “Building 52” or a machine shop. Today, many of the original buildings
on the site of the fort have been demolished, and there is currently no Building 52. The only WWII-era structures
remaining are the old officer’s quarters, which are still in use. During the mid-1970’s, my family lived
at Fort Kamehameha (“Fort Kam” as it was known) in Quarters 4. These houses began at the east end of the
Fort and were numbered sequentially along Worchester Road, the main street. Curiously, the first house was Quarters
2. Legend among the residents was that Quarters 1 had been destroyed on December 7th. The photo of the Kam Zero,
with buildings that looked much like the officers quarters in the background, lent credence to this legend. A few years
ago, the question of where the Zero crashed and what happened to the plane and it’s pilot were raised again. Using
mostly online resources, I commenced to find out
| Typical Officer's Quarters at Fort Kam |
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| This model is a 1915 "Craftsman" style |
| The Kam Zero in situ |
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| Note similarities between the buildings in the background and the Officer's Quarters pictured above |
The top photo of the two above is a typical set of officer's quarters. These were constructed around 1915 for the
families of the officers assigned to the Coast Artillery regiments billeted at Fort Kam. If you'll look at the Kam Zero
picture immediately below the picture of the quarters, you will see that the rooflines and window arrangements of the buildings
across the street from the crash site are very similar to those of this house. This similarity provided some evidence
to support the claim that the Kam Zero crashed into Quarters #1.
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