Harry W . Brown ( pilot ) Harry Winston Brown ( May 19 , 1921 – October 7 , 1991 ) was an Army Air Corps second lieutenant assigned to the 47th Pursuit Squadron at Wheeler Field on the island of Oahu during the Japan ese attack on December 7 , 1941 . He was one of the five American pilots to score victories that day . Brown was awarded a Silver Star for his actions , and was the first Texan decorated for valor in the war . By the war ' s end , he was a flying ace . Early life . Brown was born in Amarillo , Texas , and entered the Army Air Corps in September 1940 . He was commissioned at Kelly Field , Texas on August 15 , 1941 and was immediately assigned to the 47th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Field , Hawaii . Pearl Harbor Attack . Brown and another pilot , Johnny Dains , watched as the first wave of Japanese planes flew over . Quickly they decided to head for Haleiwa Field , assuming that the raiders had missed that auxiliary field . They took Brown ' s car and picked up Lt . Bob Rogers along the way , dodging a Japanese pilot intent on strafing the convertible . Dains was shot down and killed by friendly anti - aircraft fire later that day . Brown took off in a Curtiss P - 36 fighter dressed in pajama tops , tuxedo trousers , house - shoes , flight helmet and goggles . ( But for the goggles , his " uniform " can be seen today at the USAF Museum , at Wright - Patterson Field in Dayton , Ohio . ) After he took off , he found that only one . 30 caliber machine gun would function . Brown formed as the lead ship with 2nd Lt . Malcolm " Mike " Moore , from the 46th Pursuit Squadron from Wheeler Field . Together they flew north and engaged two Nakajima B5N 2 " Kate " torpedo bombers from the Japanese aircraft carrier Sōryū . Brown hit one of the planes piloted by PO1c Takeshi Atsumi . Brown later wrote that he saw a " big fire " in Atsumi ' s plane , but lost track of it and assumed it had escaped . Brown last saw it headed west off Kaena Point . The plane was recently found where it crashed , in the channel between Kauai and Niihau islands . Brown managed to shoot down another Kate before the raid was over , though he was not officially credited with the second victory until March 1942 . After Pearl Harbor . In August 1942 he was assigned to the 9th Squadron , 49th Fighter Group based in Australia flying Curtiss P - 40 s . Brown scored his third victory , an Oscar , over Lae , New Guinea during the Bismarck Sea battle on March 4 , 1943 . Brown , by then promoted to Captain , was assigned as a flight leader with the 475th Fighter Group ( " Satan ' s Angels " ) 431st Fighter Squadron , flying the Lockheed P - 38 . Brown scored the Group ' s first three victories , downing three A6M Zero s over New Guinea on August 16 , 1943 and his seventh victory , a Zeke , over Rabaul on October 24 . Following World War II . Brown served as base commander of McGuire AFB , New Jersey prior to leaving the service in August 1948 . Remaining in the Air Force Reserve , he earned undergraduate and masters degrees at the University of Denver and was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant Colonel . Brown served as personnel manager for the Bechtel Company in San Francisco for 10 years and commanded a Reserve air - sea rescue squadron at Lowry AFB , Colorado . He died on October 7 , 1991 in Walnut Creek , California . He is interred at Oakmont Memorial Park , Lafayette , California .