The Battle of Midway
Roundtable
The
Hornet Air Group, 4 June 1942
The chart below may be
the most accurate depiction available showing the actual tracks of the various
squadrons and aircraft of the Hornet's air group on the morning of June
4th. This chart is found in The Last Flight of Ensign C. Markland
Kelly, Jr., USNR, copyright 1996 by Bowen P. Weisheit.
CLICK HERE FOR A
REVIEW OF THE BOOK (scroll
down after page opens)
An item of special
interest in the book is a photo on page 7, purporting to show ENS Kelly with
VF-8 launching on the morning of 4 June 1942. For a look at the photo, click here.
This photo was discussed at length on the Roundtable, for
it cannot be the VF-8 escort fighters during the morning launch. There
are no SBDs in the photo despite the fact that the escort was spotted directly
ahead of two SBD squadrons, as seen in this photo.
Additionally, note the shadows of the aircraft and sailors on the flight
deck: the sun is high in the sky, not
where it would have been during the early morning launch. If this is a
photo of VF-8 aircraft, it may be a CAP launch later in the day or possibly on
some other day.
Note: depending on
your browser, these images may or may not display well. You may get
better results by downloading the JPG files and viewing them with your image
program.
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