Posted on 01/10/2019 6:43:08 AM PST by fugazi
How fitting that the last Raider is Doolittle’s co-pilot.
Midway could easily have gone the other way. Navy was still reeling after Coral Sea and Pearl Harbor. Luckily they got the Yorktown sea worthy and loaded with whatever planes available. The Torpedo planes (TBF) were useless as were the high level bombers. Luckily dive bombers showed up as CAP where at sea level chasing planes.
Midway as a Japanese Island would have wreaked havoc.
Just think... In today’s “patriotic” culture, this plan would have been leaked to the NYSlimes & WaPoop the next day...
I’d love to get a copy of a newspaper from the day of reporting that raid.
The IJN lost 4 carriers at Midway. Hiryu, Soryu, Kaga, and Akagi.
It was equivalent to RAF bombing Berlin: largely symbolic, yet powerful.
It was like in the Battle of Britain: The RAF bombed Berlin, disproving Goering’s promise, and psychologically damaging the German fighting spirit.
You are correct. The TBDs, SB2Us, TBFs (debut), B-26s (debut), were ineffective. The SBDs came from 17,000 with the Zeros on the deck, and that was the ballgame.
Our torpedoes were inferior, also. It was largely a matter of lucky, unplanned timing in the diving run.
The Doolittle Raid was very impressive before Alec Baldwin ruined it.
I met Dick Cole recently. It’s pretty humbling for a guy of his stature to thank me for serving.
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