What You Never Knew About the Battle of Midway

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Lt Cmdr. John Waldron, who was the commander of Torpedo 8, was 41 years old when he was killed at Midway. This is just one example of older pilots in combat than Henderson.

My late father in law was a AA gunner aboard the Yorktown. He endured the battle of The Coral Sea and lived through the sinking of the Yorktown at Midway. He told me some stories about his time onboard the Yorktown and both battles. He sadly passed away 2/14/2000. I’m proud and honored of his service. Also very proud of all his shipmates who didn’t make it home and every veteran who served our country from the beginning. God bless you all!

Yamamoto reportedly said that after Pearl Harbor the Japanese Navy could run wild throughout the Pacific for six months. He was only off by 3 days.

The light carrier Shoho was also lost by the Japanese at Coral sea, the only naval asset ever sunk by the ill-fated TBD Devastator.

You've got to imagine that at some point Japanese high command got tired of hearing "we sank the Yorktown.'

The Yorktown was actually attacked three times, the Japanese thought she was three different carriers! This helped the Midway attack!

Squadron commanders early on it the war were typically "older". At the Battle of Midway, John Waldron was 41, Max Leslie was 39, Gene Lindsay, Jimmy Thatch, Lem Massey were all mid to late 30's. Wade McClusky, whom many say won the battle, just turned 40. The commanders who survived then quickly left combat for other roles.

Thanks for the great video. As a general rule, Navy and USMC pilots tended to be a little older, especially in 1942. Halsey was 52 when he trained as a pilot. In the battle, Wade McClusky was 40, Eugene E. Lindsey was 36, and John Thach was 37 to name a few. Air Force General Clarence Tinker led a bomber attack at the battle and was killed at the age of 54.

Captain Fleming did deliver one of the fatal blows to the Mikuma, though posthumously. His plane didn't crash into the ocean, but on the Mikuma's after turrets near a ventilation intake duct as was shown in the famous picture after the attack on that cruiser. The flames from his crashed Vindicator's fuel tanks were then sucked down the vent into one of Mikuma's engine rooms and killed all of the personnel in it, therefore crippling the ship before she sank.

My dad served on an escort carrier in WW2 in the Pacific. I love reliving his experiences.

Video notes: A big thanks to the Commemorative Air Force Airbase Georgia for their commentary in this video. Check them out here and ride their SBD Dauntless! www.facebook.com/CAFAirbaseGeorgia Historical notes: For one, obviously certain models are very difficult to recreate, like specific carrier models. So they may not be perfectly represented here. But they are close! Also, obviously I mentioned the TBD livery in the video. Also, in case you are wondering, the red dot roundels were used at Coral Sea! Then were painted over for Midway. So that is actually also accurate to my knowledge. Other than that, this should be pretty accurate! Hope you guys enjoy, please consider supporting me on Patreon so I can continue to make these videos: patreon.com/TJ3History

I've watched and read just about anything regarring the battle of Midway, and yet it seems there are still so many more details to be discovered regarding this historical event. Another awesome presentation! 👍👏

I remember hearing a story about a SBD dive bomber gunner if I remember correctly his guns either jammed or were out of ammo so the gunner decided to just start throwing whatever he got his hands on at the Japanese zeroes that were on his six Edit: yeah I seen that footage of midway Island I wonder what it felt like for the guy with the camera in the thick of it.

I never knew I would learn about Midway from Freddie Krueger.

Actually, Hornet's strike started off together, but Waldron disagreed with the CAG, who flew off on the wrong heading. Waldron tried to correct him but nobody listened, so he took his squadron in on his own. His CAG, Stanhope Ring, led the infamous "flight to nowhere". His fighter escort ended up in the drink, and his dive bombers essentially mutinied and turned back, some landing at Midway, some eventually finding their way back to Hornet, and more of them crashing into the sea. The death of Torpedo 8 had nothing to do with flight coordination, which was only a problem with Enterprise's group. Even Yorktown's group managed to stay together right up until they reached the Japanese carriers, but the CAG lost contact with the Torpedo planes at the last minute, and only started his attack after the last of them was being shot down. You really need to check Parshall and Tully's "Shattered Sword" or at the very least, check Montmayor or Drachinifel for more detail. Sorry dude.

A really well-made and presented video. Let's take a minute to remember all those brave men on either side lost at Midway, too. I climbed the control tower at Henderson Field on Guadalcanal many years ago; I wonder if it is still there.

In the Pacific the British and Australians also removed the red inner circle from their roundels, who wants be mistaken for the enemy. To prevent friendly fire the British also added the three bars to more closely resemble their US allies.The bars were also blue. The center bar was changed to red on US aircraft after the war.

Side note: Captain Miles Browning, Chief of Staff of Rear Admiral Spruance aboard the USS Enterprise during the Battle of Midway, is the grandfather of Chevy Chase the actor. Also when Admiral Halsey was sidelined in the hospital before the battle, he told RADM Spruance to trust his staff (Spruance's background is in cruisers, not aviation), especially Captain Browning because he knew carrier tactics very well. Captain Browning suggested to RADM Spruance to launch the attack to coincide with when IJN Carriers are recovering the Midway strike force.

I read a book I think was "I Boat Commander" by a Japanese sub officer who had an interesting take on the battle. There was to be a sub picket line in place but the senior commanders ignored the junior commanders and sent older, slower boats to do this job. He said that if the newer, faster boats had been sent, as recommended, they could have been in place to see and report the US carrier force and possibly to interdict it. I have never seen this referred to any where else.