Skip to content

This Damn Navy

The Diary of a Naval Aviator
  • Home
  • About James Claire Nolan

Author: 1271941

November 30, 1942 (Monday)

November 30, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS No hops. 20,000 feet bombing hop called off due to heavy overcast. Rained all night and morning.…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 29, 1942 (Sunday)

November 29, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Finished Franz Werfel’s “The Song of Bernadette.” A very moving and exquisite story.

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 28, 1942 (Saturday)

November 28, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS No hops. Got a letter from Mom saying that Noje had pulled out for North Africa last…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 27, 1942 (Friday)

November 27, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Swam most of the morning. The extraordinary news came over the radio this noon that the French…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 26, 1942 (Thursday)

November 26, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Accompanied Tad up to his daily work in the famed “crater” where the Hawaiian Department Headquarters and…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 25, 1942 (Wednesday)

November 25, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Into Fort Shafter this evening after an uneventful day at the squadron (no hops). Stopped off at…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 24, 1942 (Tuesday)

November 24, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS No hops today. Of our three planes, only one has been flying lately, while one is become…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 23, 1942 (Monday)

November 23, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Worked on chart of Jap bases most of the day. It’s going to be a long hard…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 22, 1942 (Sunday)

November 22, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Out to the squadron with Wally in the “Brown Chariot” this morning, after an early swim and…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

November 21, 1942 (Saturday)

November 21, 2017 1271941

Barbers Point NAS Out to the Squadron for the late afternoon hop — bombing over Molokai again. Told Wally Jones,…

Continue Reading →

Posted in: November, 1942

Posts navigation

← Older posts
Newer posts →

A secret for 75 years

Kailua resident James Claire Nolan kept a secret most of his life. A Navy pilot during World War II, he kept a detailed diary and drew pictures throughout the conflict, a practice frowned upon by security-minded authorities. When he died in the early 1990s, he entrusted the pages to his friend and military historian Burl Burlingame of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Burlingame is now Historian at the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

Trained as a navy bomber pilot, Nolan was rushed to the Dutch East Indies as war broke out and returned to Pearl Harbor, where he was pressed into service flying PBY “Catalina” flying boats on patrol.

Later, Nolan served with distinction at the battle of Midway, on Guadalcanal and became the personal pilot for Vice Adm. Aubrey Fitch. Nolan said his proudest moment came when in the summer of ’43 he discovered the slowly sinking bow of USS Helena, sheared off by a Japanese torpedo several days before and covered with desperate survivors. He stuck with the ship until help arrived.

After the war, Nolan joined the US Air Force and continued to fly. In civilian life, he was a historian at Hickam Air Force Base.

We are publishing these diary entries exactly 75 years to the day after these pages were written. Except for very minor spelling and grammatical updates, they are as written — including observations that may seem not “politically correct” these days. It is a look into the mindset of a young man fighting a war across a vast ocean.

This site will remain active for five years. It is sponsored by historical-interpretation company Pacific Monograph.

Categories

  • April, 1942
  • April, 1943
  • August, 1942
  • August, 1943
  • December, 1941
  • December, 1942
  • December, 1943
  • February, 1942
  • February, 1943
  • February, 1944
  • January, 1942
  • January, 1943
  • January, 1944
  • July, 1942
  • July, 1943
  • June, 1942
  • June, 1943
  • March, 1942
  • March, 1943
  • March, 1944
  • May, 1942
  • May, 1943
  • November, 1941
  • November, 1942
  • November, 1943
  • October, 1942
  • October, 1943
  • September, 1942
  • September, 1943
Copyright © 2025 This Damn Navy — Primer theme by GoDaddy