BUFFALO, NY - As we mark the landmark 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, we take a look back at Western New York's connection to the air defense stationed at Hickam and Wheeler Fields on December 7, 1941.
The first and only planes in the air (14 out of the 223 planes stationed on two bases near Pearl Harbor) were Curtiss P-36's built at the Curtiss Plant 1 on Kenmore Avenue at Vulcan street in Buffalo, along with Curtiss P-40's built in Plant 2 on Genesee Street in Cheektowaga.