Pearl Harbor Page #17

The trapped man is underwater, muffling his scream. He comes

free, and surfaces gasping. His severed foot floats to the

surface and then the horror really hits them. The sailor

with the flashlight pops up, in the blossoming of blood. He

and another sailor tie a tourniquet around the stump, to stop

the bleeding.

The drama of this has caused the other trapped men to stop

their signaling. Now they start banging, twice as loudly as

before.

EXT. HALEIWA - AUXILIARY AIRFIELD - DAY

Haleiwa is a tiny airfield, tucked among the green volcanic

hills; its barely paved, and it's only permanent building is

a quonset hut. A mechanic named EARL, is out with the

P-40's; and these are spread out, not bunched.

EARL AND THE P-40'S

The planes here have received loving care from Earl -- which

means lots of cursing; as he's wrestling to load an ammo

belt, he yells.

EARL:

Sum-b*tch!

The Buick, bullet holes punched through the truck, slides to

a stop near the planes, and the pilots jump out.

DANNY:

They ready, Earl?

EARL:

They'll all fly, but -- oh, sh*t...

What stops him is the cloud of Zeros and dive bombers,

shrieking in.

DANNY:

Cover!

The guys scatter. There are sandbags around the hut, and

they run there, diving into it's shelter just before the

first strafing pass, when a Zero strafes one of the P-40's

and a dive bomber blasts another. Earl stands up in shock

and fury.

EARL:

You absolute mother-f***in' son of a

b*tch! You shot one of my planes!

Danny pulls him down, as the Zeros roar overhead.

DANNY:

This ain't a little feud, Earl, it's

World War Two!

RAFE:

They're coming around for another pass.

You got extra weapons and ammo?

EARL:

Cock-suckin' right I do!! In the gun

lockers!

DANNY:

You guys get those! Earl, Rafe, come

with me!

Danny, Rafe and Earl run to the planes that got hit and strip

out the 20mm cannons and ammo.

INT. QUONSET HUT - DAY

The other pilots run in, throw open the gun locker, and start

grabbing weapons -- aircraft machine guns, ammo belts, one

even grabs a rifle.

SANDBAGS BY THE SHED

The two groups run back and start to set up.

RAFE:

Danny, over there! We're in a canyon,

they'll come straight down it, we'll get

'em in a crossfire.

Danny, Rafe and Earl run to a gully opposite the shed and set

up there, as the other pilots brace the machine guns against

the sandbags.

The Japanese planes attacks again. This time the lead plane

hits a wall of steel fired from the combined guns; the

bullets chew into the bomb it carries and the plane EXPLODES.

The airborne debris makes the following planes shear off.

Red's standing, firing; he yells at the Zeros --

RED:

D-don't like it when we fight back, do

ya!

Red runs out with his machine gun and keeps firing even when

the planes have passed, trying to shoot them right up the

ass.

DANNY:

Earl! You said the planes were ready

but -- but what?

EARL:

Of the four left, only one is full of

fuel.

RAFE:

Will the others get into the air?

Earl shoots a look to Rafe, then turns to Danny.

EARL:

Danny, I don't like this f***in' guy.

DANNY:

Anthony, Red, stay with the guns! Coma,

you cover the cannons! Joe, Theo, come

with us! Earl, you get on the radio!

We're gonna fight these f***ers.

Two of the pilots, Joe and Theo, run to Danny.

JOE:

How do we do it?

DANNY:

Your call, Rafe.

RAFE:

Get rolling as fast as you can. Stay

low! We'll use the topography to

separate them and then we can take 'em

one on one.

They race toward the planes, and the Japanese attack again.

Seeing the pilots running for the P-40's, the Zeros aim for

them; Rafe and Danny race for the most distant of the planes;

Joe and Theo run for the closer planes, through the dusty

bullet hits.

Theo makes his plane and is just strapping himself in when

bullets stitch his fuselage, wounding him. He still forces

the plane forward. He taxis twenty feet and his cockpit gets

chopped up and the plane arches into a right turn and putters

to a stop, Theo dead at the controls.

Joe doesn't bother to strap in; he hits the throttle hard and

heads down the runway...

The Zeros are on him as he gets ten feet of air at 120 M.P.H.

The Zero's bullets eat his canopy and plane skin; the plane

breaks apart in mid air, spilling in gouts of flame as it

smashes down on the tarmac.

Rafe and Danny have reaches the more distant P-40's and are

revving their engines as they see Joe and Theo's fate. They

throw on their radio headsets.

Their way seems blocked: they've got no runway behind them,

the wreckage of four P-40's scattered ahead of them, and the

Zeros screaming over the low hills to attack them. Now Rafe

and Danny talk through the radio.

DANNY:

It's tight.

RAFE:

Tighter 'n a bulls ass in fly season.

Don't hit the barn.

They gun their engines and roll through the grass on either

side of the runway, dodging the burning planes; they lift

off, clearing the quonset hut by a couple of inches. They

blow right through the strafing fire, and into the sky.

Eight Zeros are all over them.

Earl is in the hut, on the radio and watching through

binoculars.

EARL:

I see six...seven...eight of the

cocksuckers! Don't let 'em hurt my

planes.

Danny's swiveling in his seat, looking left, right, back.

DANNY:

They're all over us!

RAFE:

Bet they don't dust crops in Japan.

Danny understands immediately, following Rafe's tactic as he

breaks into a sharp turn and uses the hut, palm trees, and

low hills to shake the Japs. They fly like crop dusters,

skimming down a foot from the ground, then bobbing up,

banking left and right. The Zeros have divided into two

groups to chase them, their wings clipping tree tops as they

try to follow the Americans.

It feels like a 200 M.P.H. car chase, 20 feet off the ground,

Rafe and Danny skimming and bobbing over the terrain, but

there are too many Japanese.

RAFE:

Danny! Let's play some chicken!

Danny banks in one direction, Rafe in another...

EXT. OVER THE LANDING STRIP - DAY

The two P-40's are screaming, rushing at each other like they

did at the training base back in the states, flying right

into each other's propellers; the Japanese heading after them

realize they're rushing headlong at the other group...

EARL:

Oh sh*t, oh sh*t...

He can't even watch.

At the last instant Rafe and Danny snap a quarter spin so the

planes flash by belly to belly.

Two of the Zeros collide in mid-air, exploding, as the other

Zeros scatter.

EXT. SKIES ABOVE PEARL HARBOR - DAY

Danny and Rafe rejoin each other in the open sky; they've

lost the Zeros. The P-40's are flying smoothly, side by

side. The two pilots look across at each other, going into

battle together. They speak through their radios.

RAFE:

You hear my okay?

DANNY:

Yeah. So you can call me if you need

help.

RAFE:

I got a half a tank. You?

DANNY:

Little less.

He fires a short burst to see if his guns work; they do.

Rafe does the same. Up ahead they see a formation of

Japanese planes, headed toward Pearl.

RAFE:

They're in strafing formation, we'll blow

right through their line.

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