Just how mant type of planes were used in Battle of Midway ?

[Glen]

Greetings
I recently saw a posting that 4 B-26 Martins were used in the Battle of Midway ( I never knew that ) Was wondering just how many types /differnt Aircraft were used in the Battle it self. As always I want to thank every body for their responces in advance.

[Elroy13]

This is what I found...

U.S.

Brewster Buffalo
SB2U Vindicators
Devestators
Avengers
Dauntless
Wildcats
PBY
Grumman Duck
B-17E
LB-30
B-26
Curtis Seagull

Japanese:

Zero
Rufe
Kates
Val
Dave
Judy

Check out this link Glen.

http://www.centuryinter.net/midway/air_battle.html

Last edited by Elroy13 on Fri Aug 31, 2007 11:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.

[Dan Johnson II]

US carriers had F4Fs, TBDs and SBDs

Cruisers had float planes.

Midway had Vindicators, TBFs, Buffalos, Wildcats, B26s and B17s that I can recall.

I imagine it was Kates, Vals and Zeros for the Japanese Carriers.

[Jerry O'Neill]

I saw the movie and I know for a fact that T-6's, P-40's, an FH-1 Phantom, some Hellcats and Tom Selleck were all used in the Battle of Midway!

Don't try to call me on this one!
I know!
I SAW the movie!!!!
Jerry

PS: Were any Kingfishers involved at that time?

[tom d. friedman]

i'll have to debate the japanese judy's involvement at midway. that type didn't enter service till at least late 1943. but then i've known to be wrong......... naw!!!!! hey..... i'll back it up with somebody's favorite six pack if i'm proven full of schlitz!!!

[Forgotten Field]

Judy was definitely there. This has been discussed on j-aircraft.com at various times. I think there is even a photograph or two of them doing flight ops off the carriers.

[corsair166b]

Heck, Jerry, for that matter, there is also footage of Corsairs, Hellcats, Mustangs shooting down an Emily flying boat, and all KINDS of other rather innappropriate (to the time period) film footage spliced into the movie 'Midway' that should not be in there....yet despite it all, the STORY is fairly accurate, so I still enjoy watching it...and a helluva cast.

Mark

[tom d. friedman]

guess i'm full of schlitz!! never new the judy was present their!! i learned something today!!

[Tom Crawford]

I agree with Jerry about the T-6's..Tom Selleck and the likes... But that is one great link Trae. Very interesting reading. I would have bet money that TBF's were not yet in service and interestingly land based at that. Overall I think we can all agree that we're thankful the SBD's were there for their place in history.
Tom.

[corsair166b]

I was just gonna mention the TBF's....as I recall, only 6 participated in the battle and 5 of them were shot up so badly as to be useless afterwards.....I think there is a great Craig Kodera painting of them being attacked somewhere out there in the ether....

M

[Russ Matthews]

The six TBF-1s launched from Midway were part of a detachment from VT-8 (USS Hornet) that had been in the midst of transitioning from the Douglas Devastator when they volunteered to take their aircraft out to the scene of the impending battle.

The Avengers flew their mission unescorted and were badly mauled -- losing five of six planes -- with the last one barely returning to the island. Of the crew on board the surviving aircraft, the turret gunner was KIA while the pilot and radioman were both wounded.

I had the honor to meet one of them (radioman Harry Ferrier) at the National WWII museum in New Orleans last June -- to this day he refers to himself and pilot Bert Earnest as "the other sole survivors of VT-8" (a reference to the title of George Gay's book).

For photos of the TBF-1 that brought them home, check out the following link...

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/midway/mid-4a.htm

[SaxMan]

What happened to the damaged B-26s and the TBF? Were they just scrapped on the island, or were they taken away?

[ZRX61]

Just two types...

Ours, & theirs...