After long days of anxious waiting, with the people nervous and excited, came the attack on San Francisco. The enemy planes attacked from the West, the South and the North, slipping in silently in large numbers. Poisoned gas was turned loose, bombs were dropped all over the city and most of the important business and Government buildings were destroyed. The destruction was the greatest in history, much greater than the earthquake in 1906. Loss of life was terrific. General Pearson ordered Captain Gordon and Kennelworth to lead the defense of the city, using the Japanese planes which had been taken from the wreck of the "Tokyo J-1." As soon as they got in high altitude over San Francisco, they could see that this was a gigantic attack. Thousands of airplanes were circling the air from every direction. It was evident that the enemy intended to destroy San Francisco very quickly. Captain Gordon and Captain Kennelworth were able to keep in communication thru their Pocket Radio. They agreed that one of them should attack the enemy planes approaching from the North and the other, the planes approaching from the South and West, going as high as they could and if possible getting above the enemy planes and dropping bombs on them. When Captain Gordon got high in the air, he saw another mother ship anchored and with the smaller planes taking off from it. He sailed over and let loose his bombs and destroyed this ship. Other ships were coming from every direction by the thousands. He sailed over them letting loose his bombs cautiously. Captain Kennelworth also encountered planes by the thousands coming across from the West and succeeded in bringing down numbers of them. Finally, the enemy planes turned on him and when he saw that escape seemed almost impossible, decided to try to race back to headquarters. The enemy planes were firing on him. One wing of his plane was damaged, then a propeller was broken and as his plane was crashing to the earth, he felt that he was sure to lose his life; tried to steer the best he could and finally, seeing that he was going to land on a smooth spot where there were no trees or buildings, he crawled out on top of one of the wings. A few minutes after the crash he regained consciousness, finding himself uninjured with only a few minor scratches. Fortunately he was near one of the army bases and made his way quickly there. He could see to the West that San Francisco was in flames and knew that the destruction was complete. His first thought was what had happened to his old pal, Robert Gordon. Feeling in his pocket and finding his radio safe, he sent the distress signal which they had always used, asking "Are you alive and where are you?" Minutes went by and no reply. He was heartsick and feared that Robert had lost his life. He slowly made his way to headquarters and reported what had happened.