Task Force 17 – Rear Admiral Frank J. Fletcher in Yorktown Task Group 17.5 Carrier Group – CAPT Elliott Buckmaster USS Yorktown (CV-5) CAPT Buckmaster CVG-5 – LCDR Oscar Pederson VS-5 LT Wallace Clark Short, Jr. 19 (17) x SBD-3 VF-3 LCDR John Smith Thach 27 (25) x F4F-4 VB-3 LCDR Maxwell Franklin Leslie 18…
EUROPE: Britain launches its first 1000-plane bomber raid – the target: Cologne, Germany. CHINA-BURMA-INDIA: Myitkyina, Burma is again hit by B-17’s. Again no activity is observed and the attacks are discontinued. HQ 7th Bombardment Group transfers from Karachi to Dum-Dum, India. ALASKA: 77th Bombardment Squadron (Medium), 28th Composite Group, based at Elmendorf Field, Anchorage, Territory…
Pacific Theater: ALASKA (11th Air Force): A B-17 flies the first armed reconnaissance from the secretly constructed airfield at Unmak , Aleutian over the Aleutian Chain, but finds no sign of the enemy. XI Fighter Command elements are not deployed at Unmak (P-40’s and P-38’s), Cold Bay (P-40’s), Kodiak (P-39’s), and Elmendorf Field [P-38’s and…
“The Inland Sea of Japan was still veiled in darkness when the anchorage at Hashirajima began to awaken. On board the aircraft carrier Akagi, white-clad crewmen, ghostly in the deep twilight on the forecastle, began raising the ship’s anchors. The clatter of the capstan was overlain with the bright sound of spraying water as the…
KIDO BUTAI First Carrier Striking Force VADM Nagumo Chuichi Chief of Staff: RADM Kusaka Ryunosuke Carrier Division 1 – VADM Nagumo Akagi (flagship) – Captain Aoki Taijiro, commanding 18 x A6M2 carrier fighters (aka Zero) 18 x D3A1 carrier bombers (aka Val) 18 x B5N2 carrier attack aircraft (aka Kate) 6 x A6M2 fighters (6th…
Timeline: SUNDAY, 24 MAY 1942USN – Carriers Hornet and Enterprise move towards Pearl Harbor, where they will quickly be refitted and sent to Midway. The Japanese preparing to attack Midway mistakenly believe these carriers are in the Solomons. Geography: Midway Atoll is part of a chain of volcanic islands, atolls, and sea mounts extending from…
Sunday, 17 May 1942. PACIFIC OCEAN AREA (POA, 7th Air Force): The 7th Air Force is placed on alert in anticipation of a possible attack on Midway. For the next 10 days the old B-18’s on hand are used on sea searches to supplement the B-17’s. VII Bomber Command receives an influx of B-17’s during…
Events of 8 May 1942 Before dawn on 8 May, both the Japanese and the American carriers sent out scouts to locate their opponents. These made contact a few hours later, by which time the Japanese already had their strike planes in the air. The U.S. carriers launched theirs’ soon after 9AM,…
First, go over to EagleSpeak and read this very excellent account of how the US came to be involved in the Pacific to begin with. Then come back for the Battle of the Coral Sea. – SJS Battle of the Coral Sea, 7-8 May 1942 –The Events of 7 May 1942 …
