Posted on 06/09/2015 3:00:43 PM PDT by Kartographer
The timeline of battle events, June 4-7: June 4 6 a.m.: Japanese planes being bombing the island, a number are shot down, although the American forces suffer heavy losses. 7 a.m.: American forces strike back with a number of attacks from Navy, Marine Corps and Army Air Force planes, Japanese offensive operations are disrupted. 10:15 to 10:20 a.m..: Three Japanese carriers (Kaga, Soryu and Akagi) are attacked and all eventually will sink. Noon to 2:28 p.m.: Japanese planes from the carrier Hiryu carry out attacks against the Yorktown, it would eventually sink after being permanently damaged. 4:58 p.m.: American dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown critically damage Hiryu, the final remaining Japanese carrier in the battle.
(Excerpt) Read more at sandiego.suntimes.com ...
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A great sea battle and a great American Naval victory. My Dad’s Commander was the sole survivor of the attacking torpedo bombers.
God Bless him. Flying those obsolete Douglass Devastators those guys really didn’t stand a chance against the Zero.
BTW there are a number of these aircraft that have been discovered submerged but within range of salvage that the navy is refusing to allow to be recovered. It'd be a tragedy to our posterity if they were allowed to rust away.
He was determined. He once told his pilots that "if we run out of gas, we'll p*ss in the tanks."
Waldron traded the lives of 29 of his 30 men, including his own, for an American victory in the Pacific. Yes, the Japanese fighters slaughtered the low & slow torpedo bombers - but they were pulled down from their normal "at-altitude" Combat Air Patrol (CAP) positions, burning up precious ammunition and fuel, just in time for the American dive bombers to show up for the party, at 20,000 feet. Too bad, so sad, Japanese fleet.
The FReeper Foxhole Remembers John Waldron and The Battle of Midway (6/4/1942) - June 4th, 2003
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-vetscor/922901/posts
The redoubtable little SBD, “Dauntless’’ Diver Bomber. Saw one at The Smithsonian Air And Space Museum in DC some years back. Was a rather but small compact, tough looking little thing but it packed a wallop.
His name was George Gay.I met him at a model convention in the 70s.What a really nice guy.
The navy museum at pensecola has one of the original battle of midway Speedy3s(SBD-3)as they were called.Those men saved the day and the tide turned during this battle and the japs never recovered their dominance over the pacific again.
Unfortunately the topedo squadrons were the bait and they knew that.Thats why the dive bombers arrived later as we knew the combat air patrol would be down on the deck attacking the topedo bombers.Can you just imagine what every jap on those carriers knew was about to happen when the dive bombers pushed over from 10,000 ft? They knew right then they were screwed bigtime.
Yes, I’ve often thought of what it must have been like for those poor bastards. Here they are running around, decks crowded with people, planes, torpedoes and bombs and they’re taking off torpedoes to re-arm their planes with bombs. Suddenly they look up and here are the Americans, literally about to put the drop on them and there is no where to run. Damn. Must have been a lot Japs losing control in the nether regions at that moment, if you know what I mean. Three carriers sunk in about 20 minutes.
Actually, there were three survivors from Torpedo 8. In the months before the battle, the squadron began converting from the Devastator to the new Avenger. Part of the unit was sent to train on the Avenger while Waldron and tbe rest of Torpedo 8 shipped out on the USS Hornet, still flying the Devastator.
There were hopes the Avenger detachment would catch up with their squadron mates at Pearl Harbor, but the Hornet sailed one day before the new aircraft and their crews arrived. The decision was made to fly them to Midway and operate them from the island’s air strip. The Avenger element actually launched the first attack on the Japanese fleet, with losses that mirrored what Waldron would experience a short time later. Five of the six Avengers were lost and only two crew members survived. I believe that one of them, w(Ret) Cmdr Harry Ferried, is still living. He was a 17-year-old radio operator when he flew into combat and earned a commission after the war. His pilot, Lt Ernest, also survived and went on to command NAS Oceana before retiring. He died in 2009.
The Great Generation. The Japs (using language of the 40’s) never knew what was coming.
Midway was the turning point of the war in the Pacific. It took a combination of our reading the Japanese codes, the valor and sacrifice of many young naval aviators and some incredible good luck. Navy dive bombers were lucky to catch the Japanese planes on their carrier deck being refueled and rearmed. Two Japanese carriers were quickly turned to flaming hulks and sunk. A third Japanese carrier was sunk later.
Wow! I knew about the avengers at midway getting decimated but one aircraft.I didn’t know they were part of the same squadron.I learned something new about the battle of midway.Never too old to learn.Thanks.
What a sense of foreboding they must have had and yes I bet more than a few sh!t themselves.
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