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Nagumo's Bad Day

Griz882

Griz882

Frightening children with the Griz-O-Copter!
pilot
Contributor
“The situation was a carrier pilot's dream. No anti-aircraft, all three (Japanese)carriers heading straight into the wind. Earl Gallaher's 500 pound bomb hit squarely on a plane starting its take-off…Immediately the whole pack of planes at the stern were in flames 50 feet high…My bombs landed exactly on the big red circle forward of the bridge. Seconds later the flames were 100 feet high.” “Ten minutes after the attack I saw a large explosion amidships on the Kaga. Rockets of flame, pieces of steel bolted upward to about three or four thousand feet high.“ - Lt. (Jg.) Norman “Dusty” Kleiss VS-6, Enterprise Air Group.
 
jmcquate

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Pags said:
"It just looked like a beautiful silver waterfall; these dive bombers coming down."
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Didn't a retired O-6 pointy nose guy write a historical fiction book entitled "Silver Waterfall"? Was that a Fuchida quote?
 
jmcquate

jmcquate

Well-Known Member
Contributor
Outstanding, Great the VF guys gave the the VB/VS the credit they deserve. But the weave was brilliant.
 
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kmac

kmac

Coffee Drinker
pilot
Super Moderator
Contributor
jmcquate said:
Outstanding, Great the VF guys gave the the VB/VS the credit they deserve. But the weave was brilliant.
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Did he come up with that before or after Midway?

I also didn’t realize how many hits VB-6 and VS-6 made on Kaga. The Japanese stopped counting apparently after 7. Meanwhile the Akagi took just 1 and still ended up out of action.
 
P

Pags

N/A
pilot
kmac said:
Did he come up with that before or after Midway?

I also didn’t realize how many hits VB-6 and VS-6 made on Kaga. The Japanese stopped counting apparently after 7. Meanwhile the Akagi took just 1 and still ended up out of action.
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If wikipedia is to be trusted he developed it before on his kitchen table with matchsticks and it was first used during midway. The quote above was from Thach recollecting the battle. As his VF were trying in vain to keep Zeros off of the VTs and he was fighting off overwhelming numbers of IJN VFs he caught a glint from above as the first SBDs started their dives.

Japanese damage control was awful to begin with and was exacerbated by the Japanese doctrine of rearming and refueling in the hangar bay. This was further exacerbated by the closed hangar bay designs that trapped fumes.
 
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