Hamilton Field near San Francisco on Dec. 6, 1941, at 0900: Thirteen B-17s take off at 15-minute intervals for a 15-hour flight to Pearl Harbor. The crossing was long and boring. The young copilot on one B-17, 2nd Lt. Ernest "Roy" Reid, recalled, "We were low on fuel and unarmed as we made our base leg approach to Hickam Field.