The Battle of Midway · Questions and answers
Midway 1942: 107 questions answered
Short answers drawn from the nine chapters of our Battle of Midway collection. Each links to the chapter where the full story and the sources are.
Chapter 1: “AF Is Midway”: Rochefort, Station HYPO and the Codebreakers
What was Station HYPO?
The U.S. Navy’s radio intelligence unit at Pearl Harbor, renamed the Combat Intelligence Unit of the 14th Naval District in 1941, working in the basement of the district headquarters under Cdr. Joseph J. Rochefort. Read chapter 1 →
What was JN-25?
The Imperial Japanese Navy’s general-purpose operational code: a codebook of five-digit groups, each divisible by three, enciphered by adding random five-digit additives with non-carrying arithmetic. Read chapter 1 →
How did the codebreakers strip the additive?
When messages reused the same additives, subtracting enciphered groups cancelled the additive. Recovered additives were then subtracted digit by digit, without borrowing across columns, to reveal the code groups. Read chapter 1 →
When was AF first identified as Midway?
The Corregidor unit (CAST) first correlated AF with Midway on 13 March 1942, according to Frederick Parker; HYPO and Melbourne agreed by April. Read chapter 1 →
Who thought of the water ruse?
According to Donald Showers’s account as used by Parker, Lt. Cdr. W. J. “Jasper” Holmes proposed it at HYPO in mid-May 1942; Layton took it to Nimitz, who approved it. Read chapter 1 →
How was the water ruse sent?
Instructions went to Midway by the secure Oahu–Midway undersea cable; Midway then reported by radio, in plain language, a breakdown of its distillation plant. A Japanese report of it was issued in translation by Melbourne on 22 May. Read chapter 1 →
Did Washington agree that AF was Midway?
Not at first. Between about 15 and 21 May, OP-20-G and the War Plans staff considered Samoa, the U.S. West Coast or Hawaii, and others in Washington favored the Aleutians. The water report ended the dispute. Read chapter 1 →
How did the Americans know the date?
HYPO solved a special Japanese cipher protecting dates and times inside JN-25 messages in late May, giving about 3 June for the Aleutians and 4 June for Midway. Read chapter 1 →
What was Layton’s famous prediction?
That the Japanese carriers would be sighted about 325 degrees, 175 miles from Midway at 0600 on 4 June. Nimitz later said he was only five degrees, five miles and five minutes off. Read chapter 1 →
What did the codebreakers not know?
They could not give the exact positions of the carriers on 4 June, and they had little on Yamamoto’s Main Body. After JN-25c came into effect on 28 May, fresh decrypts largely dried up. Read chapter 1 →
Why was Rochefort removed from HYPO?
In the autumn of 1942, after friction with OP-20-G and the Redman brothers in Washington, he was ordered to Washington and later given command of a floating dry dock. Accounts of the removal come largely from his supporters. Read chapter 1 →
When was Rochefort decorated for Midway?
President Reagan presented the Distinguished Service Medal to his family on 30 May 1986, ten years after his death. NSA inducted him into its Hall of Honor in 2000. Read chapter 1 →
Chapter 2: Plan MI: Yamamoto’s Gamble and Nimitz’s Answer
What was Operation MI?
The Japanese plan to seize Midway Atoll in June 1942 and use the attack to draw the U.S. Pacific Fleet into a decisive battle. It was run together with Operation AL against the Aleutians. Read chapter 2 →
Why did Yamamoto want to attack Midway?
He believed the U.S. carriers had to be destroyed in 1942, before American production outstripped Japan. An attack on Midway, close to Hawaii, was meant to force them to fight. Read chapter 2 →
Did the Doolittle Raid cause the Battle of Midway?
The Navy General Staff had accepted the Midway plan in principle in early April 1942 under pressure from Yamamoto, but the 18 April raid ended remaining opposition and settled its priority. Read chapter 2 →
Was the Aleutian attack a diversion?
The 1943 U.S. Combat Narrative thought it possibly a diversion but more probably cover for occupying Kiska and Attu. Parshall and Tully argue it was a separate, simultaneous objective, not a feint. Read chapter 2 →
How many carriers did Japan commit?
Eight in all: the four fleet carriers of the Kido Butai (Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu), the light carriers Hosho and Zuiho with the Main Body and Invasion Force, and Ryujo and Junyo in the Aleutians. Read chapter 2 →
How many carriers did the United States have at Midway?
Three: Enterprise and Hornet in Task Force 16 under Spruance, and Yorktown in Task Force 17 under Fletcher. Saratoga reached Pearl Harbor only on 6 June. Read chapter 2 →
Why did Spruance command Task Force 16 instead of Halsey?
Halsey was hospitalized with a severe skin disease (usually described as dermatitis) when TF16 reached Pearl Harbor on 26 May, and he recommended Spruance, his cruiser commander, as replacement. Read chapter 2 →
How long did it take to repair Yorktown?
About three days. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 27 May, received emergency repairs in Dry Dock No. 1 from roughly 1,400 yard workers, and sailed on 30 May. Read chapter 2 →
What was Point Luck?
The rendezvous northeast of Midway where TF16 and TF17 met on 2 June 1942. The 1943 ONI narrative puts it at 32°04′ N, 172°45′ W, about 350 miles from Midway; NHHC says some 300 miles. Read chapter 2 →
Why did the Japanese submarines fail to spot the U.S. carriers?
The submarine cordon between Hawaii and Midway was not on station until after the U.S. task forces had passed, because the Japanese did not expect the Americans to sail so early. Read chapter 2 →
What did Nimitz mean by calculated risk?
His 28 May 1942 letter of instruction told the carrier commanders to avoid exposing their force to superior enemy forces unless there was a good prospect of inflicting greater damage on the enemy. Read chapter 2 →
Was the Japanese force overwhelmingly stronger at Midway?
In total ships, yes, but the plan spread them widely. The four carriers that fought had about 248 aircraft against roughly 233 on the U.S. carriers plus about 120 on Midway. Read chapter 2 →
Chapter 3: The Unsinkable Carrier: Midway Atoll Under Attack, 3–4 June
Who commanded on Midway Atoll in June 1942?
Cdr. (later Capt.) Cyril T. Simard, USN, commanded Naval Air Station Midway and was senior officer. Col. Harold D. Shannon, USMC, commanded the 6th Defense Battalion and the ground and antiaircraft defense. Read chapter 3 →
When did Nimitz visit Midway before the battle?
On 2 May 1942. According to Heinl's Marines at Midway, he flew in by PBY-5A and inspected every installation, and reinforcements followed in late May. Read chapter 3 →
What aircraft were based on Midway on 4 June 1942?
Marine F2A-3 and F4F-3 fighters (VMF-221), SBD-2 and SB2U-3 scout bombers (VMSB-241), six VT-8 TBF Avengers, four Army B-26s, about 17 B-17s and between 16 and 30 PBYs depending on the source. Read chapter 3 →
Who first sighted the Japanese on 3 June?
Midway PBYs. Ens. James P. O. Lyle reported minesweepers at 0904, and Ens. Jewell H. Reid of VP-44 reported a "main body" 700 miles west, which was actually the transport group. Read chapter 3 →
How many planes attacked Midway on 4 June?
The Japanese launched 108 aircraft at 0430 under Lt. Joichi Tomonaga: 36 Type 97 attack planes, 36 Type 99 dive bombers and 36 Zeros. The first bombs fell at 0630. Read chapter 3 →
What happened to VMF-221?
Most of its fighters were shot down by the Zero escort. Fifteen were reported missing (13 F2A-3s and two F4F-3s), Maj. Floyd B. Parks was killed, and only two fighters were fit to fly afterward. Read chapter 3 →
What damage did the raid do?
On Sand Island the seaplane hangar, fuel-oil tanks and dispensary were hit; on Eastern Island the powerhouse was virtually destroyed and the command post was hit. The runways stayed usable. Read chapter 3 →
What did Tomonaga signal after the raid?
About 0700 he radioed Nagumo that a second attack wave was needed, which put pressure on Nagumo to rearm his reserve aircraft for land targets. Read chapter 3 →
Did any Midway-based aircraft hit a Japanese carrier?
No. TBFs, B-26s, Henderson's SBDs, Norris's SB2Us and the B-17s all attacked between about 0705 and 0820, and none hit, despite claims made at the time. Read chapter 3 →
How did Maj. Lofton Henderson die?
He led 16 SBD-2s in a glide-bombing attack on the carriers and was shot down early in the attack with his gunner, Pfc. Lee W. Reininger. He received a posthumous Navy Cross, and airfields on Midway and Guadalcanal were named for him. Read chapter 3 →
Was John Ford really on Midway during the attack?
Yes. The director filmed the raid from atop a powerhouse and was wounded in the arm. His footage became the 1942 Navy documentary The Battle of Midway. Read chapter 3 →
Why did the costly Midway attacks matter?
They kept the Japanese carriers maneuvering and flying combat air patrol for more than an hour, and they added weight to the case for a second strike on Midway just as the U.S. carriers were launching. Read chapter 3 →
Chapter 4: The Torpedo Squadrons: Waldron, Torpedo 8 and the Price of the Morning
How many torpedo planes attacked the Japanese carriers from the U.S. carriers at Midway?
Forty-one TBD-1 Devastators: 15 from Hornet (VT-8), 14 from Enterprise (VT-6) and 12 from Yorktown (VT-3). Read chapter 4 →
How many of those torpedo planes were lost?
Thirty-seven. Only four, all from VT-6, were recovered aboard a carrier. VT-3's two surviving aircraft ditched near the task force and their crews were rescued. Read chapter 4 →
Did any American torpedoes hit a Japanese carrier on 4 June?
No hits are recorded in Japanese sources. Wartime U.S. reports credited hits to George Gay and to VT-3, but those claims are not supported by the Japanese record. Read chapter 4 →
Who was John C. Waldron?
Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron, born 24 August 1900 and raised in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, commanded Torpedo Squadron Eight. He broke away from Hornet's air group, found the Japanese carriers, and was killed in the attack. Read chapter 4 →
Who was the sole survivor of Torpedo Squadron Eight's attack?
Ensign George H. Gay Jr. of Waco, Texas. He was shot down after dropping his torpedo, spent about 30 hours in the water and was rescued by a Navy PBY on the afternoon of 5 June. Read chapter 4 →
What was the flight to nowhere?
The name for Hornet's morning strike, which, apart from VT-8, never found the enemy. Mitscher's report says the group flew 239 degrees; later research argues it flew about 265 degrees, nearly due west. The question is not fully settled. Read chapter 4 →
Why did Waldron break away from the air group?
He believed the group's course would miss the Japanese carriers. Accounts differ on whether he and Commander Stanhope Ring argued by radio, but VT-8 left the group and attacked alone at about 0920. Read chapter 4 →
What happened to Torpedo Squadron Six?
Lieutenant Commander Eugene E. Lindsey led 14 TBDs against Kaga at about 0940. Ten were lost, including Lindsey's, and four returned to Enterprise. Read chapter 4 →
What was the Thach Weave?
A two-plane defensive maneuver developed by Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach. Its first combat use came at Midway, when his six VF-3 Wildcats escorted VT-3 against heavy Zero opposition. Read chapter 4 →
Did the torpedo attacks pull the Japanese fighters down for the dive bombers?
In part. Parshall and Tully argue that the effect was cumulative: repeated low attacks, VT-3's arrival just before 1020, the lack of radar and the busy flight decks left the Japanese combat air patrol low and scattered when the dive bombers arrived. Read chapter 4 →
Why was the Mark 13 torpedo a problem?
It had to be dropped low and slow, which forced long, predictable approaches, and it often ran too deep or failed to explode. The defects took more than a year to correct. Read chapter 4 →
Chapter 5: Six Minutes at 10:20: The Dive Bombers Strike Akagi, Kaga and Soryu
What time did the American dive bombers hit the Japanese carriers at Midway?
The attack began about 1020 local time on 4 June 1942. The Japanese log records Kaga dive-bombed at 1022, Akagi at 1026 and Sōryū’s hits at 1025–1028. Read chapter 5 →
Why did Nagumo order his reserve aircraft rearmed?
At 0715, after Tomonaga reported Midway needed a second strike and with Midway’s planes attacking him, Nagumo ordered the reserve rearmed with land bombs. No scout had yet reported American ships. Read chapter 5 →
What did the Tone No. 4 search plane report?
At 0728 it reported about ten enemy surface ships; at 0809 five cruisers and five destroyers; and at 0820 that the enemy was accompanied by what appeared to be a carrier. Read chapter 5 →
Were the Japanese “five minutes” from launching when the bombs fell?
No. That claim came from Mitsuo Fuchida. Parshall and Tully showed from Japanese records that only CAP fighters were on deck and the counterstrike was still being prepared below. Read chapter 5 →
How did McClusky find the Japanese fleet?
After finding empty sea at his interception point, he kept searching and at 0955 saw the destroyer Arashi racing northeast after depth-charging USS Nautilus. He followed her wake. Read chapter 5 →
Who hit Akagi?
Lt. Richard Best and his two wingmen, Kroeger and Weber, of VB-6. NHHC and Parshall credit Best with the single hit that doomed her; a near miss jammed her rudder. Read chapter 5 →
How many bombs hit Kaga?
Sources differ. The Japanese report lists four hits; NHHC says at least four, probably five; other accounts give seven or more. Kaga was attacked by about 28 SBDs. Read chapter 5 →
What happened to VB-3’s bombs?
A faulty new arming switch released the bombs of four VB-3 SBDs, Leslie’s included, before the attack. The remaining aircraft scored three hits on Sōryū. Read chapter 5 →
Why did single bomb hits destroy such large ships?
Bombs exploded in enclosed hangars full of fueled aircraft, torpedoes and bombs, starting fires and explosions that Japanese damage control could not contain. Read chapter 5 →
When did Akagi, Kaga and Sōryū sink?
Sōryū sank about 1913 and Kaga about 1925 on 4 June; Akagi was scuttled by Japanese destroyer torpedoes about 0500 on 5 June (local time). Read chapter 5 →
How many Japanese sailors died on the three carriers?
Parshall gives 811 in Kaga, 711 in Sōryū and 267 in Akagi, a total of 1,789. Read chapter 5 →
Where did Nagumo go after Akagi was hit?
He left Akagi’s bridge about 1046 for the destroyer Nowaki and transferred his flag to the light cruiser Nagara about 1130. Read chapter 5 →
Chapter 6: Hiryu Strikes Back: Yorktown's Ordeal and the Fourth Carrier
How many times was Yorktown hit on 4 June 1942?
Three bombs from Hiryu's dive bombers shortly after noon, plus two damaging near misses, and two aerial torpedoes from Hiryu's torpedo planes at about 1445. Read chapter 6 →
Who led Hiryu's attacks on Yorktown?
Lt. Michio Kobayashi led the 18 D3A dive bombers of the first strike and Lt. Joichi Tomonaga led the 10 B5N torpedo planes of the second. Both were killed. Read chapter 6 →
How quickly did Yorktown recover from the bomb hits?
She stopped at about 1215. According to the Combat Narrative, boilers were cut back in by 1340 and she was making about 20 knots by 1350. Read chapter 6 →
Who was Charles Kleinsmith?
Yorktown's acting Chief Water Tender, who kept the No. 1 boiler steaming while other uptakes were repaired. NHHC records he was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. Read chapter 6 →
When was Yorktown abandoned?
Captain Elliott Buckmaster ordered abandon ship at 1455 (Combat Narrative), about ten minutes after the torpedo hits, when the list reached about 26 degrees and capsizing seemed likely. Read chapter 6 →
Why did Admiral Fletcher leave Yorktown?
With his flagship stopped and her radar and communications damaged, he moved to the heavy cruiser Astoria early in the afternoon; tactical direction of the carrier battle passed in practice to Spruance. Read chapter 6 →
Who found Hiryu?
A Yorktown scout pair from Scouting Five, Lt. Samuel Adams and Lt. Harlan R. Dickson, at about 1430–1445, about the time Yorktown was torpedoed. Read chapter 6 →
How many bombs hit Hiryu?
Four 1,000-pound bombs (possibly five) from the Enterprise group led by Lt. Wilmer Gallaher, at about 1701–1705. Hornet's later group and B-17s scored no hits. Read chapter 6 →
How did Hiryu sink?
She burned through the night, was abandoned at 0315 on 5 June, torpedoed by the destroyer Makigumo at 0510, and sank at about 0900–0912. Read chapter 6 →
What happened to Yamaguchi and Captain Kaku?
Both chose to remain aboard Hiryu and went down with her on 5 June 1942. Yamaguchi was promoted posthumously to vice admiral. Read chapter 6 →
Were there any survivors from Hiryu's engine rooms?
Yes. Engineers trapped below reached the deck after the ship was abandoned and got away in a cutter; 34 survived about two weeks adrift and were picked up by USS Ballard. Read chapter 6 →
How many men died in Hiryu?
Sources based on Parshall and Tully give 389 or 392, including Yamaguchi and Kaku, not counting aircrew lost in the day's strikes. Read chapter 6 →
Chapter 7: Pursuit and the Last Blows, 5–7 June: Spruance Turns East, Mikuma and the Loss of Yorktown
Why did Spruance turn east on the night of 4 June 1942?
To avoid a night surface action with superior Japanese forces while staying close enough to support Midway at dawn. He held an easterly course until midnight, turned north, and came back west at 0200 (ONI Combat Narrative). Read chapter 7 →
Were the Japanese looking for a night battle?
Yes. NHHC records that Nagumo steamed east with two battleships, two heavy cruisers and destroyers, and Kurita’s four heavy cruisers were sent to bombard Midway. Finding nothing, they were recalled. Read chapter 7 →
When did Yamamoto cancel the Midway operation?
In the early hours of 5 June 1942. Parshall and Tully give the time of the cancellation order as 0255. Read chapter 7 →
How did Mikuma and Mogami collide?
When Kumano sighted the U.S. submarine Tambor, the cruisers made an emergency turn. Mikuma turned too far and Mogami rammed her, losing about 40 feet of bow (NHHC). Read chapter 7 →
Who was the only Medal of Honor recipient for Midway?
Capt. Richard E. Fleming, USMCR, of VMSB-241, for his attacks on 4 and 5 June 1942. He was killed attacking Mikuma on 5 June. Read chapter 7 →
Did Fleming crash his plane into Mikuma’s turret?
Probably not. The Combat Narrative, his citation and Japanese records have him crashing into the sea; the wreckage on Mikuma’s after turret in 6 June photos is most likely part of her own mainmast. Read chapter 7 →
How was Mikuma sunk?
By three carrier dive-bomber strikes on 6 June. The Enterprise strike scored five hits that set off her torpedoes; she sank that evening with about 700 dead, per Combinedfleet.com. Read chapter 7 →
Why did Spruance stop the pursuit on 6 June?
His destroyers were critically low on fuel and he was nearing the range of Wake-based aircraft. He later wrote that going on west would probably have brought him into Yamamoto’s superior forces. Read chapter 7 →
How close did the Navy come to saving Yorktown?
Close. The minesweeper Vireo took her in tow on 5 June, and on 6 June Buckmaster’s salvage party had reduced her list and put out a fire before I-168 attacked. Read chapter 7 →
How many men did USS Hammann lose?
NHHC’s H-Gram gives 81 of 251 aboard. Many were killed in the water by an underwater explosion, probably her own depth charges, after she sank. Read chapter 7 →
When did Yorktown sink?
At 0501 on 7 June 1942, in about 3,000 fathoms at 30°46′N, 167°24′W, according to the ONI Combat Narrative. Read chapter 7 →
What happened in the Aleutians during Midway?
Japanese carrier aircraft raided Dutch Harbor on 3 and 4 June, killing 43 Americans (NPS), and Japanese forces occupied Kiska on 6 June and Attu on 7 June. Read chapter 7 →
Chapter 8: The Human Cost: The Dead, the Executed Airmen, the Rescued and the Hidden Defeat
How many Americans died at the Battle of Midway?
NHHC gives about 307 U.S. personnel killed, including the crews lost in Yorktown and Hammann, aviators, the Midway garrison, and three airmen killed after capture. Read chapter 8 →
How many Japanese died at Midway?
Parshall and Tully’s ship-by-ship count is 3,057 dead, 2,181 of them aboard the four carriers. NHHC says simply that over 3,000 Japanese sailors died. Read chapter 8 →
Did Midway wipe out Japan’s veteran pilots?
No. About 110 Japanese aircrew were killed, just under a quarter of those embarked; NHHC notes more than 75 percent of the aviators survived. Most Japanese dead were shipboard crew. Read chapter 8 →
How many aircraft did each side lose?
The U.S. lost about 145 to 150 aircraft depending on how they are counted. Japan lost all 248 aircraft of its four carriers, plus some floatplanes. Read chapter 8 →
Which American airmen were captured and killed at Midway?
Ens. Wesley Osmus of VT-3, taken aboard the destroyer Arashi, and Ens. Frank O’Flaherty and AMM1c Bruno Gaido of VS-6, taken aboard the destroyer Makigumo. Read chapter 8 →
How do we know what happened to the captured airmen?
Almost entirely from Japanese records and postwar Japanese accounts reported by historians. No responsible Japanese officer survived the war, so there was no trial, and dates and details vary between sources. Read chapter 8 →
How did O’Flaherty and Gaido die?
According to Japanese accounts reported by NHHC, they were weighted and thrown overboard at night to drown, about 9 June or 15 June 1942 depending on the source. Read chapter 8 →
When was George Gay rescued?
Gay, the only survivor of VT-8’s TBD attack, was picked up by a Midway PBY on 5 June after more than 30 hours in the water. Read chapter 8 →
Who were the last Midway aviators rescued at sea?
Douglas Cossitt and Albert Winchell of VT-6, recovered by a VP-24 PBY on 21 June 1942 after 17 days in a raft about 360 miles from Midway. Read chapter 8 →
Were any Japanese taken prisoner at Midway?
Yes, 37: two Mikuma survivors picked up by the submarine Trout on 9 June, and 35 Hiryu engineers rescued by USS Ballard on 19 June. Read chapter 8 →
How did Japan handle news of the defeat?
The Navy claimed a victory, told the full truth only to the Emperor, isolated the wounded, barred survivors from contacting family and dispersed them to distant posts. Read chapter 8 →
How many men died when Hammann sank?
NHHC gives 81 of her 251-man crew. Many were killed when her depth charges exploded as she sank. Read chapter 8 →
Chapter 9: Turning Point? Memory, Myth, the Wrecks and Midway Today
Was Midway the turning point of the Pacific War?
It ended Japan's offensive in the Central Pacific and destroyed four of its six best carriers, and the Navy calls it a turning point. Many historians add that U.S. industrial strength had already made Japan's defeat likely; Midway decided how and how soon. Read chapter 9 →
Did Midway wipe out Japan's veteran carrier pilots?
No. NHHC notes that more than 75 percent of Japanese aviators survived. The heavier losses were four carriers, 248 aircraft and many skilled hangar and maintenance crews; most veteran pilots died later in the Solomons. Read chapter 9 →
Were the Japanese carriers five minutes from launching their counterstrike at 10:20?
No. That story comes from Mitsuo Fuchida's memoir. Parshall and Tully, using Japanese records, showed the strike aircraft were still in the hangars and the decks were being used for fighter operations. Read chapter 9 →
When and how was the wreck of USS Yorktown found?
In May 1998 (accounts give 18 or 19 May) by Robert Ballard's expedition with National Geographic and the U.S. Navy, at about 16,650 feet, using sonar and the Navy's Advanced Tethered Vehicle. Read chapter 9 →
Who found Kaga and Akagi?
The research vessel Petrel, operated by Paul Allen's Vulcan Inc., in October 2019, at about 5,400 meters (more than 17,000 feet) inside Papahānaumokuākea. Read chapter 9 →
What did the 2023 Nautilus expedition do?
Between 8 and 12 September 2023, E/V Nautilus and ROV Atalanta made non-invasive video surveys of Yorktown, Kaga and Akagi below 5,100 meters, spending more than 43 hours at depth, including Akagi's first visual survey. Read chapter 9 →
Have Soryu and Hiryu been found?
No discovery of either carrier had been announced as of October 2026. Read chapter 9 →
Can I visit Midway Atoll?
Not at present. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the refuge and memorial are closed to public visitation and offers virtual tours instead. The last visitor program ran from 2008 to 2012 and was suspended in 2013. Read chapter 9 →
What is the Battle of Midway National Memorial?
Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial on 13 September 2000. It is administered by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Read chapter 9 →
Did John Ford's film of the battle win an Oscar?
Yes. The Battle of Midway (1942), shot by Ford on Midway during the 4 June raid, was one of four films to win the Academy Award for Best Documentary that year. Read chapter 9 →
Did the museum ship USS Midway fight in the battle?
No. USS Midway (CV-41), now a museum in San Diego, was named for the battle and commissioned on 10 September 1945, after the war ended. Read chapter 9 →
Is any aircraft that flew in the battle still in existence?
SBD-2 Dauntless BuNo 2106, flown by VMSB-241 at Midway, is displayed at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola; NHHC calls it the only known surviving aircraft from the battle. Read chapter 9 →