Britain avoids 'Second Pearl Harbor'

4th April 1942: A large Japanese strike force headed for the Royal Navy base on Ceylon is spotted at the very last moment

Royal Canadian Air Force Squadron Leader Leonard Birchall, the "Saviour of Ceylon", aboard a Catalina aircraft before being shot down and captured.

The British base of Colombo on Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was now the last significant Allied naval base in the Indian Ocean, the next link in the chain west of Singapore. If Ceylon fell not only would operation…