The Roundtable Forum

Official Newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable

7 January 2011

Issue Number: 2011-01

Our 14th Year

~ IN THIS ISSUE ~

1. New For 2011

2. Member Survey: the BOM’s Most Memorable Scene

3. Featured Link: Hornet’s Deck Log

4. Editor’s Notes

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NEW FOR 2011

As announced to all members in a special e-mail message, The Roundtable Forum has taken on a slightly different look for the new year. Additionally, our schedule for publishing new issues has been revised as explained in the message. If you are one of our registered members and did not receive the message, please contact the editor in order to resolve any possible problem concerning your e-mail address. If you are not a member and would like to join us, click here.

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MEMBER SURVEY: THE BOM’S MOST MEMORABLE SCENE

( See issue 2010-38 )

In issue #38 the members were invited to repeat a popular feature from several years ago—a poll on the most memorable scene from the Battle of Midway. With the expanded level of knowledge about the battle that recent books and research has provided, what would be the “most memorable” consensus today, vs. that from the first survey?

The predominant answer back then was three squadrons of SBDs diving on the Japanese carriers; the battle’s signature event that assured its outcome. That was a natural response, particularly from our BOM vets who’d had the most to gain or lose (especially lose) at Midway. Would today’s increased awareness of the true facts of the battle, from the first codebreaking success to the final demise of the Yorktown on June 7th bring a different first choice?

A total of 25 responses were received; a small percentage of our roster but a respectable sampling for a survey like this. Here is the tally, with the number of votes followed by the description of each item:

(1) 4 - The VT painting on our home page, showing TBDs attacking

(2) 4 - Enterprise and Yorktown SBD squadrons attacking three carriers

(3) 3 - Three VB-6 SBDs, with Richard Best in the lead, attacking Akagi

(4) 2 - Howard Ady spotting two Japanese carriers

(5) 2 - USS Hammann alongside Yorktown

(6) 2 - Aerial photo of Hiryu, wrecked and abandoned

(7) 1 - A single SBD in its dive upon a Japanese carrier

(8) 1 - McClusky spotting Arashi and changing course to follow

(9) 1 - A B-26 skimming the Akagi’s flight deck

(10) 1 - The photo of VT-8 airborne over the Hornet for the last time

(11) 1 - John Waldron standing up in his cockpit with Zeros all around him

(12) 1 - A neat line of crewmen’s shoes on the port side of the abandoned Yorktown’s flight deck

(13) 1 - Joseph Rochefort rushing to CINCPAC headquarters with the Japanese op-plan

(14) 1 - Marine SB2U Vindicators taking off from Midway

(15) 1 - A battle-damaged SBD crashing into the sea at the end of its dive

(16) 1 - George Gay’s shredded TBD crossing Soryu’s flight deck

(17) 1 - Marines in doughboy helmets, at the start of the John Ford film

(18) 1 - The photo of 2 VS-8 SBDs over the burning Mikuma

(19) 1 - Jimmy Thach’s view from his F4F of 3 Japanese carriers

(20) 1 - The view into VT-8’s empty ready room on the evening of June 4th

The total of the votes is more than 25 since a few members registered more than one choice.

The result was indeed a departure from that of the earlier survey. Then, it was solidly the SBDs diving on Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu. That was also a prime choice this time, as seen in items 2, 3, and 7 above. However, that count was equaled by the saga of Midway’s TBDs, as seen with items 1, 10, 11, 16, and 20. It would seem that the Roundtable’s focus over the years on the torpedo squadrons plus various topics related to them (Waldron separating himself from the HAG, Gray’s failure to defend the TBDs, what George Gay did or didn’t see, etc.) has influenced our members to think a little bit “outside the box.” That is, while the stunning success of the VSB squadrons on June 4th was certainly the BOM’s centerpiece, there obviously was much more to the battle that might merit consideration among its most important facets. That’s a very good thing, and suggests that the first part of the Roundtable’s motto is being taken to heart: to promote awareness and understanding of the great battle...

Many of the submissions for the survey included worthy commentary, and some of those will appear in subsequent issues. Meanwhile, members are welcome to comment further on this survey and its results.

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FEATURED LINK: HORNET’S DECK LOG

Fred Branyan has sent us a major addition to the Roundtable: the deck log for USS Hornet (CV-8) during the full three days of the BOM, June 4th through the 6th, 1942. While it doesn’t provide anything new to those familiar with the battle, it’s interesting to see the ship’s official record of Midway as documented by each of the on-watch officers of the deck during those 72 hours.

The file will open as a 6-page .pdf document, which you can view with Adobe Acrobat, the free Adobe Reader, or other .pdf readers. Use the “down arrow” button on the Adobe toolbar to advance the pages.

The file has been added to the “Special Features” section on our home page, so you can easily find it in the future.

Click here for the featured link.

Note: if the pages appear on their side (landscape) and you can’t rotate them upright, this should work: download and save the file into a folder in your computer, then close your browser. Find the file using your file management program, like My Computer or Windows Explorer in Windows XP, or Computer in Vista. Click or double-click the file to open it. If you are using the latest Adobe Reader for .pdf files, you’ll have buttons on the toolbar to rotate the image. For some reason, this only works with the file downloaded into your computer, not reading it on-line via your browser. (If you download the file and don’t see the rotate buttons, go to TOOLS – CUSTOMIZE TOOLBARS, and put checkmarks in the two “Rotate” boxes.)

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EDITOR’S NOTES

~ Barrett Tillman found us another interesting You-Tube video. This one is a Japanese documentary on the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, done with impressive computer-generated imagery (CGI). The CGI isn’t all that great with regard to close-ups of personnel aboard the ships or inside cockpits, but the air-to-air combat is really quite dramatic. The stereo sound is also quite good—turn up your speakers. The narration is in Japanese, but that’s not really a problem if you’re basically aware of how Santa Cruz played out (Hornet sunk, Enterprise damaged, Shokaku hit hard). The attention to minor details is quite impressive. For example, note the CGI-scene from overhead the disabled Hornet with destroyer Mustin alongside. To view the video, click here. There are several additional links for similar videos at the end.

~ Bill Shields brought a fascinating on-line magazine article to my attention: ”Flying a National Treasure: the SBD Dauntless,” in the January issue of AOPA Pilot Magazine. It’s a very interesting, well written account of a general aviation pilot getting an opportunity to fly a restored Dauntless belonging to the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) in Atlanta. It’s quite a tale, and I think most members will want to read it through. Note the especially witty remark to the pilot from a CAF official when discussing the possibility bailing out of the beautifully restored antique in an emergency.

~ Speaking of flying SBDs, Happy Birthday to VB-8 pilot and Roundtable veteran contributor Clay Fisher, who will tick off number 92 this month. The nonagenarian tally among our BOM vets is growing, and that’s a very good thing!

YOUR COMMENTS ARE INVITED

Members are always welcome to submit comments or inquiries for publication in the Roundtable Forum. Well-crafted essays or expanded articles on Midway-related subjects are especially invited, including book or media reviews, photos, documents, web links, etc. For guidance with anything you might like to submit, please view our FAQs.