Reverend Conehead
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Imagine this. You're sent back in time to December 6, 1941, Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii with nothing but normal civilian clothes that you're wearing, and no modern gadgets like tablets, laptops, smartphones, etc. Your haircut looks normal for that era. You look in every way just like a normal person from that time period. Could you succeed in making a better military outcome of the attack that's to come on the following day?
...
You're just a civilian. You're not some Admiral or General with the authority to order the military to do anything. But you're a 21st century person. You know the attack is coming. You need to convince Admiral Husband E. Kimmel (in command of the Navy) and Lieutenant General Walter Short (in charge of the Army) to get the military ready for the attack. A bunch of P40 planes are sitting ducks parked close to one another on runways. They were set up like that to try to protect them from sabotage. They thought if the Japanese Empire did anything, it would be via a saboteur. They didn't think a real attack would happen, at least not in Hawaii. If you know a lot about the history of that attack, maybe you know the route that the Japanese Navy took to get close to Hawaii undetected. So if you can get either Admiral Kimmel or Lieutenant General to listen to you, you can show them on a globe exactly the route they're on and you say, "If you don't believe me, send out a reconnaissance flight, and they'll find them."
...
So maybe they can send those ships out to sea and spread them out. And they get the P40s all fueled up and hidden, ready to take off and confront the Japanese Zeroes first thing. And have whatever anti-aircraft guns they have all prepped and ready for a fight. If I understand my history correctly, the Japanese would have an advantage with their Zeroes being better quality planes than the P40s. However, the P40s weren't garbage, and the Japanese would have lost the element of surprise. Maybe those P40s get sent up the following morning to intercept the Japanese from an angle they would not expect. Use the element of surprise against them.
...
But could you even convince the Admiral and the Lieutenant General to take you seriously?
...
You're just a civilian. You're not some Admiral or General with the authority to order the military to do anything. But you're a 21st century person. You know the attack is coming. You need to convince Admiral Husband E. Kimmel (in command of the Navy) and Lieutenant General Walter Short (in charge of the Army) to get the military ready for the attack. A bunch of P40 planes are sitting ducks parked close to one another on runways. They were set up like that to try to protect them from sabotage. They thought if the Japanese Empire did anything, it would be via a saboteur. They didn't think a real attack would happen, at least not in Hawaii. If you know a lot about the history of that attack, maybe you know the route that the Japanese Navy took to get close to Hawaii undetected. So if you can get either Admiral Kimmel or Lieutenant General to listen to you, you can show them on a globe exactly the route they're on and you say, "If you don't believe me, send out a reconnaissance flight, and they'll find them."
...
So maybe they can send those ships out to sea and spread them out. And they get the P40s all fueled up and hidden, ready to take off and confront the Japanese Zeroes first thing. And have whatever anti-aircraft guns they have all prepped and ready for a fight. If I understand my history correctly, the Japanese would have an advantage with their Zeroes being better quality planes than the P40s. However, the P40s weren't garbage, and the Japanese would have lost the element of surprise. Maybe those P40s get sent up the following morning to intercept the Japanese from an angle they would not expect. Use the element of surprise against them.
...
But could you even convince the Admiral and the Lieutenant General to take you seriously?