We are still on Clark Airfield on 8th December 1941... The Japanese Naval Air Forces 21st Air Flotilla (consisting of the 1st and Kanoya Air Groups) and the 23rd Air Flotilla (consisting of the 3rd, Takao, and Tainan Air Groups), and the Japanese Army Air Forces 5th Air Force, all based on Formosa, had been preparing for this attack for approximately a month. They had been scheduled to launch their own attack on the American airbases in the Philippines at dawn. But a particularly bad case of ground fog kept them on the ground until around 11:00 am. Now appearing over Clark Field were 27 Mitsubishi G4M bombers, which the Allies would call the "Betty," of the Takao Air Group and 26 G3M bombers, which the Allies would call the "Nell," of the 1st Air Group, their air crews apprehensive, fully expecting that now, eight hours after Pearl Harbor, American interceptors would be waiting for them. The Japanese had anticipated the possibility of resistance. Concerned about their bombers going into combat with American pursuit aircraft, they experimented with ways to extend the range of their new Zero fighters so they could escort the bombers throughout. By adjusting the fuel mixture and the speed, they were able to do so. So a flight of 34 Zeros of the Tainan and 3rd Air Groups, led by Lieutenant Sakai Saburo, who would become Japans best fighter ace, escorted the bombers. Sakai too expected to see a sky filled with P-40 Warhawks. Instead the American pursuit aircraft and bombers were still on the airfield. From an altitude of about 20,000ft, the first "V" of bombers dropped their munitions, followed by the second "V" some 15 minutes later. The attack was exceedingly well executed. At 20,000ft, the antiaircraft guns of Clark Field could not reach them, nor could the P-40s, just taking off. The Nell and Betty bombers lazily dropped their bombs in walking rows or "sticks." Hangars, shops, mess halls, barracks, and supply buildings were smashed. The radio room received a direct hit, knocking out communications completely. The 19ths Flying Fortresses were sitting in nice, neat rows, their silver bodies shining in the sun. Two B-17s had managed to take off, as had Lieutenant Moore and two other Warhawks of the 20th Pursuit, all of which immediately went into maximum climbs, though this made no difference now. Another P-40, making its takeoff run, had its tires blown by bomb shrapnel and had to abort. Four more P-40s were destroyed by bombs as they attempted to take off. And it would get worse. Lieutenant Sakais Zeros shepherded their charges away from any possible American pursuit, then turned around and spent the next hour making repeated low-level strafing runs on Clark Field, specifically targeting the remaining aircraft. But the 20th Pursuit did get those three P-40s into the air. There Lieutenant Randall B. Keator attacked a flight of three Zeros and acquired the distinction of shooting down the first Japanese aircraft over the Philippines; Squadron Commander Lieutenant Moore, in a series of dogfights, destroyed two others. With one brilliantly planned and executed attack and one utterly incompetent, negligent defense by the Americans, the Japanese had destroyed half the Far East Air Force " the largest and most modern Allied air force in the East " and all of its offensive capability. The United States still had 18 B-17 Flying Fortresses and about 45 P-40 Warhawks remaining in the Philippines, but they no longer had anywhere near the numbers to be more than a nuisance to the enemy. The Japanese, with over 400 aircraft available, had almost total air superiority over the Philippines. The Japanese Naval Air Force would use the control of the air gained at Clark Field to expand south. The Americans would never again get enough air replacements back into the Far East to challenge Japanese air superiority. From now on, American, British, Dutch, and Australian forces would have to operate in the constant fear of air attack.