The Battle of Midway, seventy years ago this week

The Wikipedia account
Return to Midway; Robert Ballard ; Excerpt here.  The book.

Battle of Midway, 4-7 June 1942 Overview and Special Image Selection   "Japanese Combined Fleet commander Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto moved on Midway in an effort to draw out and destroy the U.S. Pacific Fleet's aircraft carrier striking forces, which had embarassed the Japanese Navy in the mid-April Doolittle Raid on Japan's home islands and at the Battle of Coral Sea in early May. He planned to quickly knock down Midway's defenses, follow up with an invasion of the atoll's two small islands and establish a Japanese air base there. He expected the U.S. carriers to come out and fight, but to arrive too late to save Midway and in insufficient strength to avoid defeat by his own well-tested carrier air power."
This page presents a special selection of Battle of Midway views, chosen from the more comprehensive coverage featured in the following pages, and those linked from them:

Parts 2-6 found here.

The Battle of Midway:Turning the Tide in the Pacific--Supplementary Resources

Commemoration of the Battle of Midway   Many links here.
Model of the Yorktown as she now looks at the bottom of the sea, one mile deeper than the Titanic!

War Department film of the battle. Sentimental, but we have missed that feeling for decades.

AIRCRAFT OF THE AIR BATTLE OF MIDWAY  "The biggest single loss of obsolete American aircraft at Midway was sustained by the carrier borne Douglas TBD ‘Devastator’ torpedo bombers of VT-3, VT-6 and VT-8. Thirty five of the forty one Devastators which took part were destroyed. Like the Vindicator the TBD’s were not used in combat after Midway, being replaced by the Grumman Avenger."  (Below)

"The star ship-destroying role at Midway was filled by the Douglas SBD ‘Dauntless’. Both mark 2 and mark 3 versions took part, the earlier as part of VMSB-241 on Midway, the later version flying from all three American carriers as scouts and dive-bombers and sinking or mortally wounding all four IJN carriers and a heavy cruiser."  (Below)

"The front line American fighter at Midway was the Grumman F4F ‘Wildcat’, with VMF-221 flying the mark 3 version from Midway and VF-3, 6 and 8 operating the mark 4 version from all three carriers. Both versions made kills at Midway, and although the F4F's were progressively replaced by F5F Hellcats on fleet carriers, later Wildcat versions including the GM built FM-2 served on escort carriers until the end of the war." (Below)

Here is the real "celebrity" of the early war years, The Japanese Zero fighter.   "The most advanced aircraft of either side at Midway, the Mitsubishi A6M2 Model 21, variously known as the Reisen, 'Zeke' and Zero, was a lethal combination of agility and range flown by battle experienced pilots. The performance advantages were gained at the expense of lighter construction, lack of armor or fuel tank protection and less power than their American opponents."

Mitsubishi A62M Zero in the World War II Gallery at the

 National Museum of the United States Air Force.

This replaces the previous photo of a "Zero" because of the helpful correction by Anonymous, who commented, "Your photograph of a "Zero" isn't actually a Mitsubishi Zero. It's a North American T-6 trainer modified to look somewhat like a Zero for a movie." We first felt the original source was accurate and we thank the commenter for this correction. TD

WW2 Air Corps training film teaching our pilots how to recognize the Japanese Zero
I believe you will all recognize the actor portraying the pilot trainee.

Also seeing first action at Midway: Grumman TBF Avengers  

The Japanese Story of the Battle of Midway (1942)  Complete with precise time lines and still classified secret at that time.

Action Report; Admiral Chester A. Nimitz to Admiral Ernest J. King  Concludes with this report: LESSONS AND CONCLUSIONS FROM THE ACTION. This portion of the report is one reason American air forces got better as the war progressed.