Pete Hill
Two-seater Pilot
Registered: January 2006
Location: Murtoa Vic. Australia
Posts: 147
users gallery
|
On June 4th, 1942, the tiny atoll of Midway came under attack by the might of the Japanese Imperial navy. Early in the morning, a formation of 107 Japanese naval planes of the Combined Carrier fleet attacked the small twin atolls of Sand and Eastern. Diving to meet them were the Marine pilots of VMF-221, a fighter unit based on Midway. Comprising 21 obsolete Brewster Buffaloes and seven worn-out Grumman F4F Wildcats, the Marines were ill-equipped for such a fight. One fighter of each type was unfit to fly and shortly after take-off, another Buffalo returned with engine trouble. That left just 25 fighters, under the command of Major Floyd 'Red' Parks to attack the enemy formation. Attacking in three groups, they initially achieved some surprise, downing a few of the Japanese level bombers. But the Zeros promptly rallied and cut the brave Marines to pieces, the Buffaloes suffering by far the worst of it. In all, 16 of VMF-221's fighters were shot down and 14 pilots, including Parks, were killed. In return, they had downed at least 5 of the Japanese attackers (AA gunners on the ground got another four). One important point was the the torpedo bomber squadron of the IJN carrier Hiryu not only lost 5 planes but had several others damaged during the fight over Midway. As a result, later in the day when they were ordered to attack the US carrier Yorktown, they were down to less than half-strength, fielding only ten planes. Thanks to the sacrifice of the Marines, the crew of the Yorktown suffered considerably less than they might have done.
|
The Aerodrome Forum
