TORA TORA TORA Takes to the skies

Muskogee, OK- March 19 , 2024 Audiences gathered to watch pilots with the CAF’s performing group, TORA TORA TORA, take to the skies at the Muskogee-Davis Regional Airport in Oklahoma. The aircraft were in town for their annual pre-airshow season practice. A spokesperson for TORA, Denise Walker, said, “Our group travels across the country performing reenactments of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. We’ve done as many as 19 shows in a year, but try to keep it at around 12 to 13." Walker said they have two second-generation pilots — Dan Reedy, who flies Zero 114, and Patrick Hutchins, who pilots Zero 111. Several pilots in the group have flown for decades, such as Doug Derr, who has been flying for over 20 years, and Ron Wright, who has been flying for over 30 with Tora.

Kay Anderson, whose husband Mike is a pilot with TORA TORA TORA and owner of Davis Field Aviation, explained that rehearsals had relocated from Conroe, Texas, to Muskogee due to overcrowding. "They started having so many flight schools that it was hard for them to get out and fly with all the schools taking off and landing," she elaborated. "Let’s do it here because we have the FBO (fixed base operatoration). We do fuel, we do maintenance, radios, and hangars."

Master Sergeant Alexander Long, a member of a local chapter of the Civil Air Patrol, expressed his excitement at witnessing the vintage aircraft. "It’s interesting for me and the other cadets to see because it’s part of history," Long remarked. "It’s intriguing to me specifically because I like this era. I would rather go up in the air in these because they’re history."

Learn more about TORA TORA TORA on their website: https://toratoratora.com/show-schedule. Check out when they could be coming to a city near you.

Photos and videos by Kevin Hong/SectorKMedia