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Battle of Midway: Slaughter and Sacrifice at Dawn
Battle of Midway: Early Morning Talley Ho!
0530 hours Midway Island
PBY Catalina's, J2F Ducks, SOC Seagulls, and Sikorsky JRS1 (Sikorsky S-43 Flying Boats) start engines and begin preparations to take off at Midway Lagoon. At Midway Air Station the fighters are readied for immediate take off, with the Marines readied for first take off, then the Navy squadrons from the Lexington, Enterprise and Yorktown in that order. Crews are near their aircraft or making last minute stops to the latrine. Admiral Halsey is in operations, which is wooden building on Eastern Island near the runway, waiting patiently for dawn and his planes to take off.
0530 hours Carrier Hiryu
Aircrews take to their planes aboard the decks of the carriers, and final preparations for flight begin. Happily, unlike on the 7th, the seas are moderate today with 5 foot swells. At 0600 a signal is sent by lamp for aircraft to prepare for launch.
0600 Hours
The PBY's begin taking off, followed by the JRS1s, Seagulls and Ducks. The last aircraft is in the air by 0610 hours.
0615 Hours
A Duck, call sign Tare 14, spots the 2nd Bombardment Force a mere 32 miles from Midway heading straight for it at 27 knots. As the observer frantically calls out his spotting report the aircraft drops flares illuminating the enemy fleet.
2nd Bombardment Force
battleships Kirishima (Mikawa), Hiei, Kongo, Haruna, light cruiser Abukuma, destroyers Urukaze, Isokaze, Tanikaze
Meanwhile, aboard the Japanese carriers the first of 90 fighters begin taking off. The first 30 climb at 3,100 feet per minute to their patrol altitude of 15,000 feet, with the entire combat air patrol overhead and in position by 0622 hours. The next 60 fighters form up at 5,000 feet into their combat elements and by 0630 are racing toward Midway at 300 miles per hour, which means they will be overhead in 6 minutes (at 0636 hours)
0617 hours
Halsey receives the report of both Tare 14 and a radar report of many bogies appearing suddenly at a distance of 50 miles, on a bearing 5 degrees North. The Admiral realizes at once that the Japanese carriers are launching and orders an immediate launch of all aircraft with orders to ignore the battleships and hit the carriers.
0619 hours
Peter 8, a PBY, spots the Japanese carrier force 50 miles from Midway and radios a warning that it is launching aircraft. A few seconds later it is set upon by 6 Zero fighters and shot to pieces. All aboard are killed.
0621 hours
American fighters and dive bombers begin taking off in pairs every 15 seconds.
0632 hours – 0645 hours
The Buffalo fighters climb at full military power on a heading to take on the approaching enemy aircraft and slow them down before they reach the bombers. The Buffalos's climb at 2440 feet a minute at 322 miles per hour, reaching 6,000 feet in just over 3 minutes and complete forming up at 0632 hours, mere moments before intercepting the lead Zero's from the Akagi 10 miles from the island.
The combat is short and merciless. The Zero completely outclasses the Buffalo, and the Buffalo also lacks the toughness of the Wildcat. While the American pilots are skilled, they are simply overwhelmed by 24 Zero's that tear into them. However the Navy Aviators of Fighting 2 manage to down 2 of the Zero's before all are shot down, and 6 more Japanese fighters are forced to break off having exhausted their ammunition. However this brief 5 minutes of slaughter keeps a portion of the enemy from reaching the American bombers. Lieutenant Commander Paul Ramsey and three other pilots somehow manage to survive the encounter after bailing out, and Ramsey will receive a Navy Cross for his leadership.
VMSB 231 and its 18 Vindicator's also climb at their best speed. They can only do 1,300 feet a minute and the full squadron finishes assembling at 13,000 feet 10 miles east of Midway at 0633 hours. Luckily for them, cloud cover hides them from the approaching Zero's and they make their way at their best speed of 230 miles an hour toward the reported position of the enemy carriers. Each carries a 500 pound bomb and they will reach their targets in 14 minutes.
VB2 and its 15 SBD Dauntless dive bombers are next in the air, and by 0636 hours are 5 miles west of Midway Atoll at 6,000 feet and climbing. At 10,000 they clear the low lying cloud level that hid them and they begin to form up before heading for the enemy at 0640 hours
VB5 has just completed its take offs and VB6 is taking off when 36 Japanese Zero's roar in. They proceed to rip into the American scout bombers, downing 12 and damaging all 18 of the remainder which results in 8 more of them being forced to ditch not long after. All of the Enterprise and Yorktown bombers are forced to jettison their bombs and make a run for it. However the American gunners manage to claim 3 Zero's in return, including one that blunders into front of the twin 50 caliber machine guns of the SBD's. Another 4 Zero's suffer damage and 20 more exhaust their ammunition. But VB5 and VB6 are out of the fight. American flak manages to damage 6 more of the Japanese fighters and in all of 60 fighters the Japanese have only 20 remain available to fight as the rest have exhausted their ammunition, have been shot down or suffered damage severe enough to take them out of the battle. However half of Browning's strike force has been knocked out of the battle. In all 17 of the American aircrew are recovered, although several are wounded. None of the 5 Japanese pilots shot down survive.
0530 hours Midway Island
PBY Catalina's, J2F Ducks, SOC Seagulls, and Sikorsky JRS1 (Sikorsky S-43 Flying Boats) start engines and begin preparations to take off at Midway Lagoon. At Midway Air Station the fighters are readied for immediate take off, with the Marines readied for first take off, then the Navy squadrons from the Lexington, Enterprise and Yorktown in that order. Crews are near their aircraft or making last minute stops to the latrine. Admiral Halsey is in operations, which is wooden building on Eastern Island near the runway, waiting patiently for dawn and his planes to take off.
0530 hours Carrier Hiryu
Aircrews take to their planes aboard the decks of the carriers, and final preparations for flight begin. Happily, unlike on the 7th, the seas are moderate today with 5 foot swells. At 0600 a signal is sent by lamp for aircraft to prepare for launch.
0600 Hours
The PBY's begin taking off, followed by the JRS1s, Seagulls and Ducks. The last aircraft is in the air by 0610 hours.
0615 Hours
A Duck, call sign Tare 14, spots the 2nd Bombardment Force a mere 32 miles from Midway heading straight for it at 27 knots. As the observer frantically calls out his spotting report the aircraft drops flares illuminating the enemy fleet.
2nd Bombardment Force
battleships Kirishima (Mikawa), Hiei, Kongo, Haruna, light cruiser Abukuma, destroyers Urukaze, Isokaze, Tanikaze
Meanwhile, aboard the Japanese carriers the first of 90 fighters begin taking off. The first 30 climb at 3,100 feet per minute to their patrol altitude of 15,000 feet, with the entire combat air patrol overhead and in position by 0622 hours. The next 60 fighters form up at 5,000 feet into their combat elements and by 0630 are racing toward Midway at 300 miles per hour, which means they will be overhead in 6 minutes (at 0636 hours)
0617 hours
Halsey receives the report of both Tare 14 and a radar report of many bogies appearing suddenly at a distance of 50 miles, on a bearing 5 degrees North. The Admiral realizes at once that the Japanese carriers are launching and orders an immediate launch of all aircraft with orders to ignore the battleships and hit the carriers.
0619 hours
Peter 8, a PBY, spots the Japanese carrier force 50 miles from Midway and radios a warning that it is launching aircraft. A few seconds later it is set upon by 6 Zero fighters and shot to pieces. All aboard are killed.
0621 hours
American fighters and dive bombers begin taking off in pairs every 15 seconds.
0632 hours – 0645 hours
The Buffalo fighters climb at full military power on a heading to take on the approaching enemy aircraft and slow them down before they reach the bombers. The Buffalos's climb at 2440 feet a minute at 322 miles per hour, reaching 6,000 feet in just over 3 minutes and complete forming up at 0632 hours, mere moments before intercepting the lead Zero's from the Akagi 10 miles from the island.
The combat is short and merciless. The Zero completely outclasses the Buffalo, and the Buffalo also lacks the toughness of the Wildcat. While the American pilots are skilled, they are simply overwhelmed by 24 Zero's that tear into them. However the Navy Aviators of Fighting 2 manage to down 2 of the Zero's before all are shot down, and 6 more Japanese fighters are forced to break off having exhausted their ammunition. However this brief 5 minutes of slaughter keeps a portion of the enemy from reaching the American bombers. Lieutenant Commander Paul Ramsey and three other pilots somehow manage to survive the encounter after bailing out, and Ramsey will receive a Navy Cross for his leadership.
VMSB 231 and its 18 Vindicator's also climb at their best speed. They can only do 1,300 feet a minute and the full squadron finishes assembling at 13,000 feet 10 miles east of Midway at 0633 hours. Luckily for them, cloud cover hides them from the approaching Zero's and they make their way at their best speed of 230 miles an hour toward the reported position of the enemy carriers. Each carries a 500 pound bomb and they will reach their targets in 14 minutes.
VB2 and its 15 SBD Dauntless dive bombers are next in the air, and by 0636 hours are 5 miles west of Midway Atoll at 6,000 feet and climbing. At 10,000 they clear the low lying cloud level that hid them and they begin to form up before heading for the enemy at 0640 hours
VB5 has just completed its take offs and VB6 is taking off when 36 Japanese Zero's roar in. They proceed to rip into the American scout bombers, downing 12 and damaging all 18 of the remainder which results in 8 more of them being forced to ditch not long after. All of the Enterprise and Yorktown bombers are forced to jettison their bombs and make a run for it. However the American gunners manage to claim 3 Zero's in return, including one that blunders into front of the twin 50 caliber machine guns of the SBD's. Another 4 Zero's suffer damage and 20 more exhaust their ammunition. But VB5 and VB6 are out of the fight. American flak manages to damage 6 more of the Japanese fighters and in all of 60 fighters the Japanese have only 20 remain available to fight as the rest have exhausted their ammunition, have been shot down or suffered damage severe enough to take them out of the battle. However half of Browning's strike force has been knocked out of the battle. In all 17 of the American aircrew are recovered, although several are wounded. None of the 5 Japanese pilots shot down survive.
- galveston bay
- Word Count: 980