The Battle of Midway's Forgotten Heroes That Changed History 

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This very story was told to me by that very pilot, 1Lt James Muri back in 2013 when I had the pleasure to take care of as a nurse here in Billings Mt. It was an honor to treat a hero from that battle, one that I will always remember.

In “The Rising Sun,” it was noted by the author the determined attack by the B-26 crews DID give Nagumo et al a very sobering experience. It definitely chilled the atmosphere on the bridge, the uncomfortable knowledge that the Americans were as dangerously determined as Samurai.

Finally someone covered something on the often forgotten B-26 Marauders and their brave underrated crews.

I remember my father telling me about the B-26's at the Battle of Midway . My dad was a B-26 bombardier/navigator and flew in the 9th Air Force, 391 Bombardment Group flying out of Matching Green England from January to October of 1944. He was credited with 78 combat missions 3 of which his plane "The Miss Behavin" did on D-Day . He was awarded the " Disgusting Flying Cross" by the Air Force snd was proud of those planes . I did actually get to see the only air worthy example of a Marauder at "The Fantasy of Flight "near Tampa Florida . Something I'll never forget .

Dauntless and wildcats ? Yes but don't forget the tragic sacrifice of the Devastators and Vindicators. I read that the U.S. had 41Devastators at the battle of Midway and lost 37 of them.

Yeah I remember reading the account of one of the pilots who flew right down one of the carrier's decks to escape AA fire and chasing Zeros. He mentioned he had the throttle pretty much pressed all the way up to the firewall and injected a heck lot of inches of mercury boost into the engines for a much longer period of time, way over the manufacturer's recommended limits. When pilot landed home and made his report, Pratt & Whitney's on-site representative couldn't believe his ears and had the engines taken off the plane and sent back to the factory stateside to undergo a thorough examination for any signs of the engines tearing themselves apart from the extreme pressures. The engines were taken apart, parts inspected and put back together and ran flawlessly. The engines surprisingly performed better than expected.

YES! Finally someone is taking about those B-26s!

The 22nd Bomb Group was on its way th Austrailia, when four transiting aircraft were sent to Midway. These were early B-26s, much faster than the later B-26s. Top speed around 320mph, IIRC. The A6Ms weren't much faster. I've always wondered, given their speed, and the drag of an external torpedo, if the B-26s would have been better off carrying four 500lb delayed fused bombs. Add to that the fact that they had the fuel to circle around and make their approach from the north or west. Approach the target from 10-12k feet, find a gap in the screen, dive in, level off at 200-500 feet, then drop. None of the altitude/airspeed restrictions mandated by dropping torpedos. They would have been sighted a lot later, not being silhouetted against the horizon. Or not spotted at all.....big sky vs. Small airplane moving fast. I wonder if this was even brought up by the USAF guys. Forget coordinating an attack with the TBFs. They were a lot slower. Read Saburo Sakai's book for the problems they had intercepting B-26s in New Guinea BEFORE Midway. And read "Shattered Sword" to get an idea of the limitations that the Japanese ships AA armament had.

They don't mention the high level bombing by B17s out of midway Island. This caused a delay in launching because of the maneuvering to avoid the bombs dropped. In my opinion the total exceeded the sum of Heroism, Bravery, and Honor by all American Aircrews at Midway

Would you do something about the Malta siege? I'm British and we're forever banging on about the battle of Britain, but in comparison Malta was horrific and everyone that served or lived there are forgotten. The casualty rate among our pilots was ghastly and the living conditions were apocalyptic. It was 4 times longer and more destructive than the London blitz

Why didn't either of the Hollywood movies make reference to the strafing run on Akagi by the B-26? That would have been a good detail to include.

'This is where two of the B 26s would make history '! But no one seems to of heard about it till now, so thanks for informing us. That's the thing I find being in to WW2, you always find fascinating new stories.

My dad was there with a force of B 17s from June 3-7. He was a flight engineer and top turret gunner.

I get so tired of Midway videos that don't credit the main pilot responsible for the victory of Midway. As a reminder, in the final couple of meetings of surviving Midway pilots, several took care to stress the role of Jimmie Thach. He arrived over the Japanese fleet with 5 Rookie pilots to protect the Yorktown's torpedo planes. Two of the Wildcats we down with the Devastators and played no role in the battle. Thach was above the torpedo planes with three of his rookies, one of whom died when the Japanese CAP attacked with the sun behind them. Thach then engaged in a dogfight with varying amounts of Zeroes, but for around 15 minutes he and his surviving two rookies flew against ALL the remaining Zeroes. Thach was officially credited with 3 victories, but he stated that he had managed solid hits on over a dozen Zeroes. But given that he and the rookies were fighting the entire CAP, they weren't trying to confirm kills. The reason they managed to stay alive was Thach had them employ the tactic he had devised 18 months earlier that he had brought to Bull Halsey for adaptation by all the American naval fighter squadrons. But Halsey put him off. With their lives on the line, Thach ordered them to employ what he called his Beam Defense, but which has gone down in history as "the Thach Weave." As he had predicted, the Japanese pilots couldn't figure out how to defeat the tactics, and kept trying to defeat the weave well after the last torpedo plane had left the area (unlike the torpedo squadrons from Hornet and Enterprise, several Yorktown Devastators survived the battle, thanks to actually having some fighter support, even if only 6 rather than the 12 Thach wanted to take). When the US dive bombers arrived, several pilots after the battle expressed shock that there was NO CAP over the Japanese fleet. It was only later that the dive bombers learned that Thach and his rookies had been fighting the entire CAP, allowing the dive bombers to attack unmolested. Accounts of Midway tend to overstress the importance of the torpedo planes and even the planes attacking from Midway (the only real contribution of the torpedo planes and Midway bombers - Avengers and B-17s as well as B-26s was to keep the Japanese carriers disorganized and out of position), but Thach's contribution was gargantuan. He manages to get the entire CAP at a much, much lower altitude than they needed to be (testimony from surviving Japanese carrier officers showed that they grasped the US had to have at least three carriers nearby, since they had been attacked by three Devastator squadrons and half of one fighter squadron (which had still managed to kick the CAP's butt). They were asking themselves where the other Wildcats were and where the dive bombers were (people who say the torpedo attacks at surface level took their attention from attacks from altitude simply don't know what they are talking about. They were extremely experienced pilots who knew the dive bombers would hit next and only wanted to shoot down those pesky Wildcats to go back to altitude. So Thach's immediate contribution was to make the Japanese CAP irrelevant. The dive bombers arrived to see a clear sky and no fighters. But not just that: after months of US pilots feeling that they couldn't compete with Japanese pilots, Thach proved that tactics that exploited both the strengths of the Wildcats - such as more sustained gunfire (the Zeroes had great cannons, but they ran out of ammo rather quickly) and better armor - and the weaknesses of the Zeroes (light armor, only a couple of effective guns, and the dog fighting style of the Japanese, which almost assumed a dogfight was more like a samurai sword fight between individuals, rather than a team effort). Several major historians have argued that the advances in aerial combat tactics at Midway were at least as important as thr sinking of the Japanese carriers. Marine pilots avidly absorbed what Thach learned at Midway and used those lessons in a couple of months at Guadalcanal. Like Thach, John Smith (interestingly, Thach's full name was John Smith Thach), Joe Foss, and others emphasized teamwork over the Japanese individualism. If you read Parshall and Tully's SHATTERED SWORD, they explicitly stated that Thach's tactical success at Midway represented a major turning point in the war. Japanese pilots would never dominate America fliers for the remainder of the war. Needless to say, Halsey finally agreed with Thach that the Weave would become an officially authorized tactic. Sorry for chasing this rabbit, but I am constantly flabbergasted at people failing to give Thach credit for his astonishing achievements at Midway. Thach was without any question the finest American carrier pilot of WWII and probably the finest of any nation. We know this because all the top American pilots flew dozens of practice dogfights against one another immediately prior to the war. No one could outfly Thach - not McCambell, not Alex Vraiciu, not even Thach's sometime wingman Butch O'Hare (though O'Hare could make Thach work harder than he normally did). The only reason he did not go on to be one America's top aces was his age: he was 37 at Midway and the Navy began moving him into assignments that led to major leadership posts. Most have heard about the gigantic thousand plane raids the Navy made against mainland Japan in the summer of 1945, raids that were planned and managed by Thach when serving as the aide to Admiral John McCain (thr senator's grandad). In the 1950s he created the anti-submarine service. OK. /off soapbox.

Very good video! I agree that the personnel of the B26s are a largely forgotten group of great people. That war has so many nearly forgotten people and so many stories of heroics, invention, bravery and luck that resulted in victories. The story of the Battle of Midway should never be told without including one name though. Joseph J. Rochefort was a US Navy officer who spent countless hours with high tech paper and pencils to break the Japanese codes. He wasn't even publicly recognized until 40 years later but his dedication and grueling work saved an uncountable number of lives and reduced the length of that war by Years! I understand that the focus of this video is the B26s and they should not be forgotten. People should always remember the name of the man who made all of this possible. Ya'll Take Care and be safe, John

IIRC, according to Shattered Sword, the B-26 that almost hit Nagumo took off some radio antennas from the bridge. THAT's how close it was! If Nagumo was a little rattled, he had good reason....

The other thing that the attack did was pull the cap down the deck use up fuel and ammo so then it had to land in the arm. Looking at the orders of the day record in the logs this had the Japanese behind the curve as every attack Force the fighters to rearm and left them open for the dive bomb attack after the torpedo bombers again drew the cap down to the deck. Shattered sword the book does a great job of explaining this

Thank you, I’ve been waiting for a long time for someone to do a video on the B-26 Marauder attack at Midway. Especially, the pass down the flight deck and the heroic last dive of the other B-26 that still seems to be an attempted American Kamikaze attack. God Bless these men, heroes all!

These graphics truly are amazing, TJ! I doubt even just a decade ago that these numerous details were even remotely possible! Jim C.

Thanks TJ for the great story. I’ve heard of B-17 in the Battle of Midway but not the B-26. Learnt something from you today.

To illustrate the First Air Fleet's vulnerability in early 1942. During the FAF Indian Ocean raid, nine RAF Blenheim bombers were able to approach the Fleet mostly unobserved, and totally unopposed, until after they had dropped their bombs. The Akagi got first notice of the attack when the bombs started exploding. Blenheim were 100 mph slower, and not nearly as tough than B-26s

Never heard of these heroes and their courage before. God bless them

I am in the middle of binge watching your series! Thanks for all the little known fascinating information!!!! My Dad fought at Okinawa with the Army 711th tank battalion. One of 2 battalions, the other the 714th. I was able to down load the after action reports from his time in service. Only a few times did he ever talk about his time there. Rest in Peace Gentlemen. Thank you for your service and the history and wisdom you taught us.

It amazes me that the naval battle that turned the tide in the war of the Pacific happened only six months in but more than that; the extraordinary sequence of personnel laying their marbles on the table to a) prove that Midway was indeed the target despite insistence it was not AND b) That Nimitz bucked the system, trusting the men he had surrounded himself with. But you're right, with all of the time spent learning about Midway over the years, the contribution of the Marauders slipped my notice. The lost TBM flight was well known but I don't believe I heard about the Marauders, or if I did, did not know their contribution. It's clear that Susie Q set Nagumo on his heels and confused his planning. The indecision that followed had a lot to do with how devastating Best's (and his squadron's) hits were on Akagi.

SUSIE-Q must be the bravest b-26 to go into a suicide strafing attack on the deck of Akagi. A fine piece of job TJ3.

The Battle of Midway was all about "operational tempo." The US mounted attack after attack after attack, almost without a break. This took a toll on the Japanese defenders and the B-26's certainly contributed to that. When you are being attacked like that, you have to be lucky every single time while when you are the attacker in that situation you only need to get lucky once and that happened at Midway!

You MUST read Martin Caidin's "Ragged, Rugged Warriors", "The other Midway" chapter, very enlightening on those first hours of the battle.

Just flying the early B26 was dancing with death, it took time to get the bugs out of it.

nice ( new) format , showcasing veterans , as well as improved graphics - more like this please !!

Had that B-26 succeeded in crashing into the island of the Akagi and killing Yagumo, things may have ended up much worse for the U.S. navy. The next senior officer, Admiral Yamaguchi, on the Hiryu, had a much more aggressive personality than Yagumo, who hesitated when reports came about American ships to the northeast of the Japanese fleet. Nagumo waited until the Midway planes had returned to refuel and rearm them for one all-out attack, which doomed the Japanese fleet. If Yamaguchi had assumed command after Nagumo's death, he would have sent out whatever planes were ready to attack the moment the U.S. fleet had been sighted. There was a narrow window of opportunity when this would have been possible prior to the arrival of the first U.S. torpedo planes. As was seen later, when first the Hiryu's 17 dive bombers (Vals) and then her 10 torpedo bombers (Kates) fatally struck the Yorktown, had all four Japanese carriers sent out the approximately 50 Vals that were ready (regardless of having high-explosive instead of armor-piercing bombs), it was very likely that all three of the American carriers would have been fatally damaged. Also, the Vals headed towards the American fleet would probably have spotted the U.S. dive bombers heading for the Japanese fleet, and alerted Yamaguchi to get fighters up high, instead of them being caught low dealing with the U.S. torpedo bombers. It's a good thing that the B-26 missed!

I think I heard something about the B-26 in combat in Midway. Didn't know this happened though! So spooked he decided to defy orders which resulted in the 3 carriers being wide open to the attack down the line, talk about lucky (for the Americans that is)!

those guys likely knew it would be a no return mission,,lockers packed, a quick ltr to mom,the gf,the wife lil sis, with a scapular and prayerbook,medal sad man real sad,brave guys these were

Absolute balls of steel. Sent on a near impossible mission, knew most if not all wouldn't be going home, and went in anyway. No wonder they are often referred to as our finest generation.

This is the most interesting battle of ww2

Thank you for filling in another gap in the history of my Father's and my 4 Uncle's war ! ( As well as many of my neighbors and relatives ! )

Another excellent video! I really like how you present historical facts with such realistic video!

thank you for bringing this history to light for a new generation

Great job. This story is very important in understanding what happened that fateful day.

I believe that one of the TBF's in this attack was actually the very first one off the production line at Bethpage

Tomonnaga the Japanese strike leader radiod back to Nagumo’s strike group that there was need for a 2nd strike. The near miss by the B-26, while heroic, had nothing to do with the decision to launch, or not launch because there was lots of chaos, confusion and indecision on the bridge of the Akagi that morning

For a full account of the B26 & TBF attack and all early war combat read Martin Caiden's amazing book : " The Ragged Rugged Warriors". Suzi Q's survival is even more miraculous than related here. Damage was so severe that the pilots had to hold full aileron and opposite rudder on approach. On rollout the instrument panel fell into the pilot's laps. The statements of the number of hits varies but the crew including the wounded refused to be transported until they examined the damage. It was noted that all propeller blades had bullet holes and the hit count ceased at 400+ on "one side" only! It should be noted that flight engineer & top turret gunner Sargent Gorgoj having been blown out of his turret & wounded by a 20mm explosive round crawled back to his inoperative guns in order to fool the Zeros into thinking his guns were still "hot"! One can only wonder, as with all combat accounts lost to planes & crews that did not return, what heroism occurred. We may never know.

The B-26 had a bad reputation, but my grand father worked on them throughout the war and he would fight anyone who disparaged it. He was so very proud of his planes and though some were shot down, they took on far more punishment than thought possible and had the best survival rate of any bomber in the US Arsenal.

I love the B-26 it a good plane great video too

There's a Robert D Perry digital art print showing Suzie-Q flying over the Akagi

I know the story of 1LT James Muri and the B-26 "Suzie Q" very well. Nice presentation.

You failed to mention that the Navy TBF Avengers were from Hornet's VT-8 Torpedo 8. Before the Midway battle, VT-8 was in the middle of replacing its TBD-1 Devastator torpedo bombers with the newer Avengers. The Hornet had only received 6 of the TBFs before setting sail to Midway. A decision was made to reinforce Midway with the Avengers and withhold the Devastators on the Hornet. History reminds us of the sacrificial attacks made by VT-8 with Ensign George Gay being the only survivor of the carrier attack. Enterprise's VT-6 and Yorktown's VT-3 also made ineffective and equally catastrophic torpedo attacks. Overlooked are the other 2 survivors from the first attack wave of VT-8 Avengers that flew from Midway, Ensign Albert K. Earnest, and Radioman Harrier H. Ferrier (WIA), A third crewmember, Seaman 1st Class Jay D Manning was killed.

Jimmy Doolittle didn’t select the B-26 for his famous raid because of it being a hot aircraft and needed a long prepared airstrip. The reason it was used mostly in Europe. Not that it was a bad aircraft, just didn’t have the characteristics that he needed for that mission. When there were multiple training problems with it at Tampa. “One a day in Tampa Bay” He went down to investigate it. Remember Jimmy Doolittle or should we say Doctor Doolittle (PhD MIT in aeronautical engineering and years of experience at NACA - blind flying). At the base he asked for an aircraft and a pilot, he took the co-pilot’s seat and after checking out the instruments, he never flew one before, they took off. Taking control and doing some standard test maneuvers he made a low pass over the airfield with air crews lining the field to see the actions, at the lowest point of a couple of hundred feet, he feathered one engine then rolled the aircraft. The finish was making a very clean landing, getting out of aircraft, he pronounced it a sound piece of machinery. He had them under his command in Europe which had “Flak Bait” an aircraft that had survived the most missions and it wasn’t alone with other B-26’s in that category. It’s nose is preserved at the Smithsonian showing its mission total.

The B26 attack and near strike on the IJN Akagi was only revealed to me upon reading Shattered Sword (Parshall-Tully, 2005). It was to my delight they included this fine detail in 2019 Midway, and earlier a homage to the early Zenith Transoceanic battery operated shortwave radio where they (fictitiously) show the crew of the Natalus, in port at Pearl Harbor hearing of the Dolittle raid. An actually very good film. Like Rommel in the west, its unfortunate the perspective of Nagumo on the overall conduct of the war is unavailable. To that end much is owed by historians to Admr Ugaki, whos personal war diary spans fifteen volumes.

Tomonaga's report was the key factor in Nagumo's decision although the B-26 & Avenger attacks as well as the efforts of B-17s & Vindicator and Dauntless dive bombers undoubtedly reinforced that decision. Sacrifices of the Hornet, Yorktown, & Enterprise torpedo bombers set up the successful dive bomber attacks.

I knew about B-17 bombers making failed attacks in the Battle of Midway, but I never seen or read anything about B-26 bombers there. Interesting

Fantastic story with a great ending!!! Thanks!

GR8 vid. Super job 👍👍. Whether design work was finished or not, the B-26 had an original requirement for torpedoes. Many thanx.

There were also some, high level bombers that dropped bombs that all missed, because the Japanese could see them and take evasive action. I always felt they also helped keep them distracted and impact the decision to attack the island again.

Neat history details! I remember a model kit of the navy B-25 but was called PBJ-1 and it seems that B-26 kept their USAAF numbers.

Fascinating and important topic. Well executed video!

I'm a big fan of the B 26, Hotrod bomber of the sky🏌️🤟

Excellent video , film makers and historians should follow your lead . Stories like these need be told . Thankyou

The first Americans to draw blood in the battle were in a PBY Catalina making a night torpedo attack

Great job man

I always wondered why they did not use unguided rockets in these attacks considering how close they had to get. I can assume some of the reasons that I will not get into. At least they worked on guided missiles using trained pigeons that controlled the flight surfaces by pecking at pictures of Japanese ships, they were rewarded when they got the target correct with food. This system was never put into service despite the determination that it would actually work (saw this on the Military Channel).

Strategy every time .... just awesome.

Wow. Incredible story. Thanks.

Outstanding video and presentation.

There were ONLY four B-26s flown from two separate squadrons that flew off the island of Midway. They took off at the same time as six new Avenger torpedo bombers. The four planes did not score any hits (that detonated). The most they did was continue to occupy the Kido Butai preventing them from launching a strike. The most significant planes were the Dauntlass. With the Devastator torpedo bombers taking 2nd place occuping the Kido Butai. The four carriers of the Kido Butai were engaged in operating the CAP over their carriers. No time to spot a strike. That was the MOST significant action of any of the torpedo carrying planes INCLUDING the B-26s. So those 4 planes were not very significant. Even the Wildcats pale by comparison to the Dauntlasses and Devastators in roles. Only other plane worth mentioning is the catalina PBY for its recon role.

Sad, both of our enemies had excellent torpedos, but we were unable to come up with a decent one.

Thanks! Fairly accurate vid, a rarity. Well done!

thank you for talking about the b 26s torpedo bombers because not many people know about it just like a hand full of people know.

Nobody has done the raid on the Oil Refineries at Ploesti yet. One of the B-24's, Strawberry Bitch. That one was on that raid. It is in The Museum of the Airforce.

nice video - I had no idea there were 2 separate attacks near the Akagi like that.

Wow what bravery..... awesome.

Amazing video as usual!

Awesome! ..keep 'em coming!

This was the story that I had wished was in the movie "Midway" (2019), instead of the boat load of inaccuracies that was presented!

I love World War II history but you got me on this 1. Never heard this story. Bravo to you 🧐🤷‍♂️🤔🚀🤟🙋‍♂️💯💥

Very interesting! I knew about the B-26s being involved but I knew nothing else about their involvement.

Outstanding reenactment however it was apparent that the Japanese weren't aggressive enough in the beginning of the war too much wait and see strategy. Although knowing that resources were constantly needed. Good video

great story, many thanks!!😘

Great assessment!

Excellent story. SuzieQ always was a KO.

Worth the watch

Damm good video 1 big thumbs up from a history junkie

A must read to get a real good look into the Battle of Midway, or any battle from the Spanish Civil War to 1943 is the book "The Ragged, Rugged Warriors" every movie about the Battle Of Midway has never told the real story, B-17's, B-26's, TBF-1's all fought in that battle but Hollyweird only states is was just a Naval battle which does not give the real heroes their due during the battle!

nice video TJ!

Amazing 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

Great video

Excellent watch!!!.... I am definitely going to check out war thunder looking forward to seeing you online thank you for the history lesson it's these shows that you tube brings to us that makes you tube so amazing thanks guys God bless America!!!...🇺🇸💪🗽.....✨😇.....

I had no idea that B-26’s were used against the Akagi - thanks for posting this !!!

B26 were also used in the Aleutians - one B26 madea run at the carrier HIJMS RYUJO The pilot attempted to use the torpedo as an impromptu bomb. Diving at the carrier he launched his torpedo at the carrier. At the last second the carrier dipped into trough of a wave and the torpedo passed across the flight deck

That was interesting. Thankyou How about Battle of the Java sea?

The other factor in the success of the dive bombers was the result of the Zero's decimating the torpedo attacks and taking the Zero's away from high cover where they could have paid a heavier toll on the dive bombers. There fate was almost as bad as Midway's flight of 6.

I knew about the Avengers Pyrrhic run, but did not know about the Marauders. Thank you.

Also, the early attacks kept the Japanese fleet off balance which helped set the stage for the following annihilation.

If Nagumo had been killed by the B26 hitting the bridge, perhaps the more aggressive Yamaguchi on Hiryu would have taken over. This may have changed the results. The eventual destruction of the four carriers was quite a combination of separate events that came together in about 4 minutes of time that included a good measure of luck ( and much more pluck and heroism) so you never know what some different decisions on the Japanese part would have done to the battle. The Japanese had been doing quite well up and until Best and McClusky showed up to ruin their day..

Top-Class Upload, Thaaaaaaaankyou 😁👍

Amazing

My father was a radioman/waste gunner on a B-26 in the European campaign. They targeted rail yards and communication depots. As the war wound down, their mission became low level civilian harassment. The machine breaks down if people don’t support it. My father continued to fly to receive his combat pay. He quit the day the plane he was in strafed a young woman on a bicycle in a hay field. Killing soldiers was one thing. There wasn’t enough money in the world to erase the targeting of one young woman on a bicycle.

It's not general knowledge but both Imperial Japan and the US air forces (Army and Navy) were starved of fighters during the Battle of Midway. No Army fighters could take part because there wasn't time to move P-40's by ship and the P-40 didn't have enough ferry range. Aircraft carrier air groups had 36 Dauntless scout bombers/dive bombers, 15 Devastator torpedo bombers, and a mere 18 Wildcat fighters. There were enough fighters for a Combat Air Patrol over the carrier task force or to escort a strike package to the target, but not both. Dauntless dive bombers were pressed into service as anti-torpedo bomber Combat Air Patrol. Most of the fighter aircraft on Midway were Marine Corps Brewster Buffalo flown by pilots with only a few hours in the Buffalo and averaging less than 200 air hours including flight school, so even if there had been sufficient fighters, it would have made little difference. The Devastator was notorious for losses that day but compared to the Avenger and the Marauder the Devastator actually did well. Five out of six Avengers were shot down and the remaining Avenger was damaged beyond repair. Three out of five Marauders were shot down and Susie-Q was damaged beyond repair. The solution was increasing carrier-based fighter squadrons to 27 improved F4F Wildcats (until they could be replaced by Hellcats) and at the end of the war many fleet carriers had two fighter squadrons on board, with the Navy fighters picking up a secondary fighter-bomber role. Midway prompted the US Navy to put more fighters on its carriers.

It's off topic somewhat, but two other bomber types were used by American forces at Midway--Navy PBY and Army B-17 bombers. The Navy planes also launched at least one unsuccessful torpedo attack (?) but the main PBY contribution was finding the Japanese fleet, a task shared by American submarines and American radio direction finding units. The Army B-17 bombers dropped their bombs from high altitude and were almost immune to Japanese anti-aircraft fire and Japanese fighters--lack of Japanese radar and shortage of two-way radios in the Japanese protective fighter screen and high B-17 altitude hindered interception. Adroit maneuver of the Japanese carriers prevented B-17 bomb strikes. Midway was an all-hands operation by the Americans, using everything America could mass on Midway.

Huge thanks to the Commemorative Air Force and CAF Airbase Georgia for their support in making this video. Make sure to check them out here! Airbase Georgia Facebook - facebook.com/CAFAirbaseGeorgia CAF RU-vid - ru-vid.com/show-UCajbMdqv165JZRKjs60E46g CAF Official Facebook - facebook.com/CommemorativeAF