Dive Bombers at Midway – How the Dauntless SBD Turned the Tide in the Pacific War’s Most Important Battle

Military History Now ^ | 3/8/2020 | Walter Topp

[Vermont Lt]

No kidding. I did not know that. I will have to look that up.

Thanks for the post.

[FatherofFive]

We took our cub scouts to Patriots Point in Charleston SC every other year for a camp out. Scouts were allowed to ‘camp’ on the Yorktown. Amazing weekends. They never closed anything down, and the scouts could roam anywhere. They would sleep in the bunks. Eat in the mess. Great memories and history.

[Bookshelf]

I believe that some of the ships returned to their Kurile Island training ground. It has been stated (but I cannot find the reference) that the sailors and airmen of the fleet that was to take Midway were not allowed to return to the Japanese mainland the rest of the war. Midway was a terrible defeat that the Japanese people were not to know about.

[wgmalabama]

To the bottom of the sea. ;)

[oldvirginian]

“Most wouldn’t explode, even with contact fuses.”

The Mark 13 (aircraft) and Mark 14 (ship launched) torpedoes were the worst pieces of garbage a navy ever went to war with.
Gyroscopes that didn’t work, magnetic igniters that didn’t work, contact igniters that didn’t work, depth controllers that didn’t work....and a Bureau of Ordinance that was convinced the weapons were fine, it was the people using them that were the problem.

[lapsus calami]

 

 

Yessir - Vice Admiral Willis Augustus "Ching" Lee Jr. gave the Japs a lesson on how main battery radar works. Only took a few minutes.

 

 

[bert]

Earlier I didn't have time to dig up the image

This a minute by minute account fthe battle focused on the Japanese general failure

[Americannae1362]

“Can we just have a history discussion without this stuff?”

I thought the comparison of our country being at the precipice at Midway, with the potential impact of the SCOTUS in current events was pertinent.

But I forgot to check with you to get your permission. My bad.

[Vermont Lt]

No, it’s not pertinent.

We all know what’s going on. Bringing it up on unrelated threads is being a boring.

[diatomite]

Miracle at Midway by Gordon W. Prange is also a good Midway book that was heavily researched by the author. It was published in 1983.

[fso301]

A better book is “Shattered Sword” by John Parchall, and Anthony Tully. They make a solid case that Fuchida may have played fast and loose with the truth.

I'm aware of the book but haven't read it yet. Generally because of giving Fuchida the benefit of the doubt of recounting events as he understood them, even if his understanding was incorrect.

[kiryandil]

Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron and his men [Torpedo 8/USS Hornet CV-8] were one of the torpedo plane squadrons that pulled the Japanese CAP down to the deck.

[Oatka]

Pre-war doctrine also held that B-17 bombers could effectively bomb ships from high altitude, but attacks against Japanese ships by Flying Fortresses at Midway scored no hits.

The Japanaese "Betty" horizontal bombers took one Helluva toll on U.S. ships early in the war: USS Pecos (oiler), USS Langley (our first aircraft carrier), USS Houston (Heavy Cruiser - knocked out after turret) just to name a few.

[Robocop5626]

That is a nice museum there. We were in Pensacola a few years back for a crew reunion of Coronado LPD-11 and visited it while there as a group.

[jmacusa]

Those were the battles that saw the sinking of the U.S.S Juneau and the loss of the five Sullivan brothers.

[jmacusa]

The Misubishi GM4 was probably one Japan's best combat aircraft of WW2. It was a versatile aircraft that preformed many roles.

[RedwM]

My brother (RIP) and me built a lot of those when we were kids. LOL

[central_va]

Look we are not going back to normal. Cute history stories are not in order at this point.

[nesnah]

I read your post back when posted, and thought your son would enjoy a 12 ep series on YouTube. I just searched to find it. It’s called “Battlefield”. Very well done in a very chronological analysis of certain battles. The Midway one was excellent.