While you are correct that historically, few planes made it up to defend the island (6 to be precise), there were several signs of the attacking force that were ignored, and not nearly as many scouts as could have been in use. Pearl as a scenario is very much a "what if" proposition, using scouts that could have and should have been up, and assuming a state of readiness existed to respond if Japanese forces were sighted. Even assuming an early sighting though, there are several options open to CO's on both sides that could make it interesting. I really do hate to miss this one.