It was only a token force. Of the 210 aircraft in the Islands, only the thirty-one P-40B's could be considered modern aircraft;

There is disagreement in all sources on the figure of 107 P-40's. Some writers place the figure at 90 and Walter D. Edmonds (in They Fought With What They Had) estimates that there were "only 54 first-line, combat worthy fighter planes to throw against the Japanese on the morning of December 8."