Aim for that Rising Sun (1942)

Battle of Midway

Ens. Ronald Weber, Dive Bomber Pilot, USS Enterprise

4th June, 1942

When we arrived over the Japanese fleet, it was still untouched. The previous attack from the planes based on Midway Island failed to do any damage on them, and it looks like our ancient torpedo bombers didn't score any hits either. Our planes were just not able to get close to the carrier fleet to attack them. Most of our losses was not because of the anti-aircraft guns from the carrier but instead, it was from the combat air patrol (CAP) and the dreadful Zero fighter. Our current front line fighter, the Wildcat, was not match to the Zero fighter, let alone the slower and less maneuver SBD and TBD bomber, hopefully the new fighter, the Hellcat will fare better against the Zero, but for now, we have to make do with this. Even though the Wildcat is more heavily armed and better protected, the Zero is more maneuverable thus making it a better dogfighter. Most of our current planes stand no chance against them. What is the point of having escort fighter planes when they can’t even protect themselves?

However, the wildcat pilots have employed a new tactic called the ‘Thach weave’ that would counter the superiority of the Zero fighter during dogfights. Due to the lack of agility of the wildcat fighters, the ‘Thach weave’ was invented whereby pairs of fighters would provide cover for the other by flying in a crisscross pattern. Because of ‘Thach weave’, the wildcats were able to give us better support from the Zeros and enabling us to focus our attacks on the carriers. But because this tactic was never used before, only one squadron was able to practise it. Hopefully the Navy will be able to follow up with this tactic as it has shown its effectiveness in just one engagement.

To make matter worse, the torpedoes that were equipped on our bombers were not helping our cause; they were not effective on the Japanese carriers. From where we were flying, we could see the torpedoes being fired against the carriers but the torpedoes were moving very slowly in the water and it seems like it travels way too near to the surface of the water. From what we heard from the other pilots, at least 10 being fired on the Hiryu but none manage to damage it. Furthermore, they said that naval personals on the carrier used the deck machine gun and manage to blow up one of the torpedo. The weapons that we had were just substandard. The Devastator torpedo bombers suffered heavy losses but no hits on the carriers.

However after the failed TBD attacks, luck was on the our side and we fared much better. Somehow, the attacks by the TBD were able to command most of the attention of the deadly Zero fighters and CAP, furthermore, the carriers were not able to launch more fighters into the air as the carriers had to take evasive actions due to the TBD attack. The attacks by both the TBD and SBD had thrown the CAP into disarray. Within a few hours of unrelentless attacks by our fighters, we had scored hits after hits on 3 of the Japanese carriers. From our view point flying overhead of the battlefield, we were able to the horizon blazing with burning oil, thick black smoke billowing out of the engulfed burning Japanese carriers. What joy for us to see such a sight.

No news about the other Japanese carriers. Though we have inflicted heavy loss on the Japanese carrier fleet, we too have suffered a lot, many of our pilots has yet to return.