Скачать или смотреть The HORROR That Made 4 Japanese Carriers Sink in ONE Day at Midway in WWII

June 4, 1942. Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky commanded thirty-two Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers in the most devastating fifteen minutes in naval aviation history—hunting blind with fuel gauges showing critical levels northwest of Midway Atoll.

Armed with seventy-degree dive tactics perfected through 400 practice drops, McClusky detected a lone Japanese destroyer's white wake at 4,000 yards while his aircraft had fifteen minutes of fuel remaining.

The four Japanese carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu—carried 248 aircraft and Japan's most experienced naval aviators with 800+ combat hours, enough striking power to dominate the Pacific for another year.

McClusky calculated a split-force attack using visual navigation alone, dividing his squadrons between two carriers while American torpedo bombers drew every Zero fighter to sea level.

Four carriers burning within four minutes. Three bombs hit Akagi's hangar, detonating ready ordnance. Four bombs consumed Kaga's flight deck among fueled aircraft. Three bombs destroyed Soryu's engine uptakes. Four bombs eliminated Hiryu that evening.

The engagement that eliminated sixty percent of Japan's carrier strength—a tactical breakthrough that proved dive bombers could achieve strategic decision independently and reshaped Pacific naval warfare forever. Cost: one navigator following a destroyer's wake at the moment fuel reached critical.

Based on US Navy after-action reports and Naval Historical Center documentation.


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