The Battle of Midway

In four minutes, the trajectory of World War II and the fate of the Pacific changed during The Battle of Midway. Discover both how and why with Dr. John Foster, a reference librarian who also has a doctorate degree in history.

[@doctorwoohoo1152]

I think Richard Best remains, and will probably forever remain, the only pilot in history to have sunk an aircraft carrier with a single, perfect strike. That's some feat. Wonderful lecture, thank you very much.

[@mcfontaine]

These talks are always so engaging and well researched, thank you again.

[@tagfu2226]

Actually the Japanese planes were not on the flight deck but on on the hanger deck.

[@Zerox_Prime]

He used misinformation which was discredited in the US in 2005 and in Japan decades earlier.

[@Zerox_Prime]

This must be an old video. Fujita's story of attack flights on the INN carriers when they were divebombed was disproved by USAAF aerial photos, carrier flight logs, and IJN sailor accounts.It was known to be false in Japan decades ago. It took until 2005 to be discredited in the US.

[@derekjohnston5163]

Read "Shattered Sword" and search KZbin for talks by Jonathan Parshall

[@manilajohn0182]

The source of that claim comes from Shattered sword (which cites the official Japanese of WW2 concerning Midway), and is almost completely untrue. Only Akagi had all her attack aircraft in her hangar when she was attacked. Soryu's executive officer stated postwar that Soryu's strike against the American carriers was on the flight deck awaiting the order to launch when Soryu was attacked. Kaga's air officer likewise stated postwar that she had what amounted to approximately 20 aircraft on her flight deck when she was attacked. The authors of Shattered sword were almost certainly aware of these statements; yet, although both of the two officers were mentioned in their book, their postwar statements were not. That Hiryu's strike was also on deck can be established by the fact that while the dive bomber attack ended at 1030, Hiryu began launching her retaliatory strike at 1050. Even the Japanese could not spot 24 aircraft and warm up their engines in just 20 minutes- particularly by the authors' own stated time requirements for doing so. The time frame during which the Japanese could have spotted these aircraft (the time frame between last landing time and the time the carrier was attacked) fully supports the statements of the two officers and the after action reports of some of our aviators. They are Akagi (1010), Kaga (1005), Soryu (0950) and Hiryu (0910). During this period, Japanese flight decks were not blocked by fighters taking off. Both photographic and filmed interview evidence exists which shows that Japanese fighter sections could and did launch from abreast the carriers' islands.

[@johnnyg3166]

The "towers" which are the carriers islands are suppossed to be on the starboard side. That is the "right" side of the vessel (facing forward). All u.s. navy carriers have the usland on the starboard side. Because aviators have a tendency to pull LEFT when landing. Not right. The kaga was correct configiration. It eas the soryu or hiryu that had its island on the port side.

[@MS-gr2nv]

single engine prop planes would roll easier one way than other due to prop/engine torque.... Star is Right (starboard) LOL!

[@philharris2978]

Actually only the Akagi and the Hiryu had the island on the port side.

[@nlmytube]

I believe the bias to the left happens when a right-handed pilot brings his right arm up to cover his face when crashing, pushing the stick to the left.

[@johnnyg3166]

Standard configuration for a carrier island is on the starboard side. (Left/right side doesn’t fit). When a aircraft is landing, if there is a bolter or mishap, a pilots instinctual reaction is to pull to the pilots left, or the port side of the ship. So islands should be located on the starboard side.

[@thejohnbeck]

And to add on, it's because the right hand controls the stick, thus easier to turn left

[@Ken-fh4jc]

I’m surprised he repeated the supposed quote attributed to Yamamoto that he never actually said.

[@Barbac62]

hiryu and akagi were the only carriers with the island on the left side(port).

[@josepharte]

Thank you for putting these lectures on! I love how he gets a lot into the strategic and geopolitical considerations and reasons for the war.

[@glenkelley6048]

As is well known, Midway Island is in the Pacific Ocean, not the Atlantic. TY for an fine presentation.

[@johnnyg3166]

According to official govt records, only 36 pilots were killed on the carriers from the sinkings. The pilots were not in the cockpits. The aircraft were still in the hangar bays waiting to be moved to the flight decks for spotting the next attack. Additionally, 74 pilots were kia in the air (most from hiryu). The real attrition to the Japanese naval air corps came from the Guadalcanal campaign.

[@Solrac1424]

Too biased

[@normdoty]

he comes UP to periscope depth not down to periscope depth ...

[@charlie729]

another great lecture from dr foster, thank you!

[@coachhannah2403]

CRUISER float planes. Tone float plane would have missed the US ships were it launched on time...

[@mikejones9961]

not necessarily courage, may be hatred

[@timothyhorner3152]

It wasn’t small to the airmen not picked up