Gah, the scheduler didn’t schedule… Sorry!
Two SBD-3s, S-9 and S-11 of VS-5, fly from the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier against the dark clouds of war and a rising sun, the symbol of the Japanese empire. In this case, the sun is symbolic of hope and the dawn of a new day as the tide turns in the Pacific at the Battle of Midway in June of 1942.
In doing some stuff for grad school; I’ve about decided that I’m going to write a book about the VB and VS squadrons at Midway.
“Six Minutes in June” with CDR Best, CDR Leslie, and CDR McClusky as the central figures.
Because of course an Army officer wants to write about Naval Aviators.
Hey Old NFO;
One of my favorite airplanes. I read and reread the book “Midway” before the movie came out in 1976, Still enjoy that movie.
SPE- That would be interesting! 🙂
Bob- Mine is still the Corsair! 😀
Although it was not a WWII plane, my favorite was and is the Douglas AD-5 seriesN,Q, And W”s. Got lots of hours in those birds . Corsair is #2 though.
Hey Jim , while I’m here, what Airline cum Navy plane was the most beautiful one up there? That is before Uncle added a couple of radomes!
Ev- Super Connie, of course! 😀
A great book and movie about Midway
I’ll admit that I was fascinated by carrier strike aircraft when my uncle was a back seater when I was a kid. Great picture.
“I can run wild for six months … after that, I have no expectation of success.”
Excellent forecast by the admiral.
Rick- Very true!
DB- That it is!
Stretch- Yep… 🙂
When I was a kid they used to have Corsairs and Dauntless on the field at Grosse Isle NAS with the wings folded up.
Saw the from the lake on a friends boat.
Always impressive.
Damn good airplane!
When I visited the Midway a couple of years ago, I had the good fortune to talk to a gentleman who flew SBD’s off the Midway during WWII.
What incredible brave men these were!
And yet they, along with the vets I work with on the Iowa, were “just doing their job”.
Amazing people….
My father in law was a back-seater in SBD’s in the USMC. He said they would mix up with the Hellcats, Sometimes they’d go in first sometimes the Hellcats would lead. It caused the Japanese all sorts of problems finding the proper lead with their triple A. He’s still a big reader, I gave him a copy of Pappy Boyington’s autobiography one year. He met Pappy when Boyington was selling booze at El Toro. Pappy talks about getting bombed when he was captured after being shot down. My father in law remembered going on that raid.
Ed- That was back in the day! 🙂
drjim- Oh so true!
Gerry- That’s a helluva story! All honors to those guys!
Beautiful paintings that may capture the “flavor” of the moment but not the reality. Still like them.