On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor, catching America’s Pacific Fleet by surprise. As ships burned and bombs fell, a lone American seaplane took off and turned north on a flight that nearly changed the history of World War II.

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was devastating. The pride of America’s Navy was sunk at anchor and more than two thousand were dead. Yet as quickly as the Japanese had attacked, they disappeared to sail home. Few realized just how close the Americans had come to spotting the Japan’s fleet that day.

It came down to one pilot, a newly commissioned, junior naval officer named Ensign Wesley Hoyt Ruth, who was assigned to Utility Squadron One (VJ-1). Five enlisted men came with him that day. His unit flew long-range scout seaplanes, a type called the Sikorsky JRS-1, a stripped down version of the S-43 “Baby Clipper” flying boats that Pan Am had on its Miami to Cuba passenger runs.

The JRS-1 was an unlikely combat plane. It was unarmed and unprepared for war. Its fuselage was polished aluminum, it wings and tail painted in bright yellow and orange so it could be easily seen in the air – a peacetime paint scheme that was changed once the war began. It was slow, with a cruise speed of just 95 kts, about one third the speed of a fighter plane. It…