"Midway thrust the [Japanese] warlords back on their heels, caused their ambitious plans...to be canceled, and forced on them an unexpected, unwelcome, defensive role," said Samuel Elliot Morison, the U.S. Navy's official historian of World War II.

The Americans "had no right to win. Yet they did, and in doing so they changed the course of a

war", Walter Lord writes in "Incredible Victory."

But it was far from clear at the time that an American win at Midway would change the course of the Pacific war. The only certainty was that much hard fighting lay ahead, Lynch said at the session, which included the public flight of the Museum's rare Douglas SBD Dauntless. The type played a major role in the battle.

Japanese forces had been on a rampage since the attack on Pearl Harbor six months earlier, and had a bold plan to trap and destroy what remained of the American Pacific fleet at Midway. Tokyo would then demand a peace that would allow it to freely control its vast new territory.

American naval commanders had been doing what President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adm.

Ernest J. King, Commander of the U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations, wanted them to do -- being careful not to lose any precious aircraft carriers. It was clear that it would take many months to build new ones.

But Yamamoto also knew that his time was limited. The attack on Pearl Harbor, which he planned, had awakened “a sleeping giant and [filled] him with a terrible resolve,” he reportedly wrote in his diary. He also is said to have written that "In the first six to twelve months of a war with the United States and Great Britain, I will run wild and win victory upon victory. But then, if the war continues after that, I have no expectation of success".

A victory at Midway was vital to Japan. But Yamamoto lost not only all his carriers and many of his most experienced airmen, but a heavy cruiser, 248 aircraft and over 3,000 men as well. It was an epic defeat.​

American losses also were steep -- Yorktown was eventually sunk by a Japanese submarine after being devastated in an air attack; the destroyer USS Hammann was lost; 150 aircraft

were destroyed, and 305 men were killed.

But the dive-bombing role played by SBD Dauntlesses like the Museum's was central, leading

directly to the American win. Four squadrons of Navy SBDs attacked and sank Soryu and Kaga on June 4, and Akagi and Hiryu on June 5. They also damaged two heavy cruisers, with one, Mikuma, finally sinking.

But luck was on the American side. For one thing, SBDs, which dove from high altitude to drop

their bombs, happened to find Japanese carriers just as the carriers’ attention was drawn to TBD Devastator torpedo bombers attacking them from low altitude. Thirty-five of forty-one TBDs were lost. None of their torpedoes hit.

Eighteen of the forty-seven attacking SBDs never made it back to their carriers.

"The role of the Dauntless was huge, and for us as a museum to have one in our collection is

very important," Lynch said in the interview.

The daughter of one of the pilots who flew in the Battle of Midway attended our June 5 presentation about the battle, which included a flight of our Douglas SBD Dauntless.

Dona Sorenson is a daughter of Commander Don Dee Adams (U.S, Navy, retired pictured right), who was a member of Bombing Squadron 8, or VB-8, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hornet (CV-8) during the historic battle of June 4-7, 1942. Don Adams passed away on March 27, 2005, at his home in Coronado, California, at the age of 88.

Dona and her husband James live in Colorado Springs.

The Museum’s presentation was “wonderful,” she said later. “Just to see the plane fly was amazing. I felt very proud that my father was part of that. It was quite a treat for us and it made me very proud.”

According to a profile of him on the Wall of Honor at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., Don won his wings in 1941. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Don received orders to VB-8 and began training in the Curtiss SBC-4 Helldiver. But upon reporting to San Diego, VB-8 traded its SBC-4s for SBDs, says the profile, written by Carol Elizabeth Adams, a sister of Dona Sorenson.

Carol writes that when the Hornet arrived at Alameda, sixteen U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombers was hoisted onto the flight deck. Planes of the Hornet’s air group, including those of VB-8, were put below in the hangar deck to make room. On April 18, 1942, under the under the command of Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, the B-25s attacked Japan.

In early June 1942 the Hornet joined two other carriers, Enterprise and Yorktown, and proceeded to an area northeast of Midway Atoll based on intelligence indicating an imminent Japanese attack. Approaching Japanese carriers were detected early on June 4, and the Battle of Midway began.

Air groups from Enterprise and Yorktown found the Japanese carriers, sinking three of them within minutes.

Only Torpedo Squadron Eight, VT-8, of the Hornet’s air group found the enemy carriers. All VT-8 planes were shot down. Some SBD Dauntlesses of Don’s squadron, VB-8, landed at Midway; several ditched at sea, and several others made it back to the Hornet. All of the group’s Wildcat fighters ditched.

The next day, June 5, Hornet and Enterprise launched dive bombers to find and attack the remaining carrier, Hiryu, whose air group had disabled the Yorktown, which later sank. The Smithsonian profile says Don flew with a group of twelve SBDs searching for the Hiryu, but found only an oil slick. It had already been sunk.

"Flying well beyond safe combat radius but still loaded with bombs as he returned to the Hornet, Don tracked a Japanese destroyer, scoring a near miss but taking a lot of flak," the profile says.

"With dangerously low fuel and pitch-darkness approaching," it says, "Don decided to ditch the plane into the ocean. Suddenly, a searchlight illuminated the sky, and Don made a straight-in approach to the Hornet, his first-ever night carrier landing. He was indeed grateful to Admiral [Raymond A.] Spruance [commander of the U.S. task force at Midway], who, at considerable danger to the task force from possible Japanese submarines, had turned on the searchlight to save those in the air.

"The next morning," the profile continues, "Don's plane wouldn't start; the spark plugs had been destroyed by overheating. The Hornet returned to Pearl Harbor" after the sinking of the main threat, the four Japanese carriers.

In August 1942, Don was aboard as the Hornet departed Pearl Harbor to help support the U.S. invasion of Guadalcanal, and to search for Japanese carrier forces.

On October 26, 1942, during the October 25-27 Battle of Santa Cruz, planes from the Enterprise bombed the Japanese carrier Zuiho, while planes from the Hornet severely damaged the carrier Shokaku and the heavy cruiser Chikuma. Two other Japanese cruisers were also attacked by planes from the Hornet.

The Hornet itself was struck in a coordinated attack by Japanese dive bombers and torpedo planes. In about 15 minutes, it was hit by three bombs from Aichi "Val" dive bombers. One 'Val,” after being hit by anti-aircraft fire from the Hornet, crashed into the ship’s island, killing eleven men and spreading burning aviation gasoline over the deck.

At the same time, a flight of Nakajima "Kate" torpedo planes attacked Hornet and scored two hits. As the carrier came to a halt, another damaged "Val" crashed into the Hornet's port side near the bow.

"Don had just moved out of the ready room [of the Hornet] when one of the planes hit," the profile says. He and other members of the Hornet's crew was evacuated to the destroyer USS Russell.

While being towed away from the battle, Hornet was struck again, this time by a flight of nine "Kate" torpedo planes. Eight were shot down or failed to score a hit. But the ninth scored a fatal hit on the starboard side. Hornet was ordered sunk.

But nine American torpedoes, many of which didn't explode, and some 400 five-inch rounds from American destroyers failed to sink the ship, and the destroyers left the area when Japanese surface ships approached.

Two Japanese destroyers finished off the Hornet with four torpedoes. One hundred and forty of 2,200 Hornet sailors were lost.

Meanwhile, Japanese planes attacked the Russell "while the crew was standing on its crowded deck, but the firing ended short of where they were standing," according to the profile of Don Adams. The Russell steamed to Noumea, where Don and others boarded the transport USS Rochambeau. It arrived in San Francisco 20 days later.

Don Adams was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his actions at Midway, and a Gold Star instead of a second Distinguished Flying Cross, for "extraordinary achievement" in aerial battle from September 19 to October 16, 1942. This citation said he “completed twenty flights in a combat area where enemy anti-aircraft fire was expected to be effective or where enemy aircraft patrols usually occurred.”

The citation for the Midway DFC notes Don’s participation "in the bombing and strafing of fleeing enemy forces. In the face of heavy anti-aircraft fire, he courageously, without regard for his own safety, attacked the enemy and obtained a near miss which damaged an enemy ship."

That ship, the destroyer Tanikaze, maneuvered rapidly and repeatedly to avoid being hit.

In 1991, thirty years after he retired from the U.S. Navy, Don Adams met the Japanese sailor who directed those maneuvers.

He learned that Masashi Shibata “had climbed to the very top of the ship’s superstructure and signaled the direction of oncoming bomb and torpedo attacks to the ship’s captain on the bridge,” according to the November 2, 1994, edition of the Coronado Eagle newspaper. “Although he exposed himself to almost certain death, both Masashi Shibata and the ship survived the fierce air-sea battle.”

After the war, Shibata built a successful business empire in Japan.

Presentation and Flight Demonstration -- The P-47 Thunderbolt and the Battle for France

On Saturday, July 17, the museum will open early for a special presentation on the P-47 Thunderbolt and its role in the World War II Battle for France. This one-hour event will be held at 9:00 am in the Westpac hangar located on the museum campus. The presentation will be made in front of the museum’s P-47 which will be flown subject to weather conditions and runway availability.

The P-47 Thunderbolt was considered by many to be the best fighter-bomber of World War II. A highly versatile aircraft with excellent handling qualities and extraordinary survivability, the P-47 played a critical role in the Allied invasion of France and the ultimate victory over Germany.

The story of the P-47’s role in the Battle for France will be presented by Lt. Col. Ashby Taylor, USAF (ret.), a fighter pilot with 21 years of service in United States Air Force. Lt. Col. Taylor flew 160 combat missions in Vietnam and attended the USAF Fighter Weapons School and Test Pilot School.

The schedule for the event is as follows:

For more information contact the museum’s Front Desk at 719 637-7559

An American engineer helped design the Junkers Ju 88, a German multi-role plane that served the Luftwaffe in World War II. The design "was initiated by Junkers Chief Designer Ernst Zindel, who was assisted by Wilhelm Heinrich Evers and American engineer Alfred Gassner," according to Wikipedia.

"Evers and Gassner had worked together at Fokker Aircraft Corporation of America where Gassner had been Chief Engineer," Wikipedia says. "Junkers presented their initial design in June 1936, and were given clearance to build two prototypes...."

Another source says "Both men had invaluable experience in the USA working with the latest techniques in modern light metal stressed-skin constructional methods."

Famous British pilot Capt. Eric "Winkle" Brown, who flight-tested many German aircraft immediately after the war, wrote that Junkers was "Anxious to embody state-of-the-art structural techniques with which [it was] not fully conversant," so it "recruited engineers who had gained experience of light-metal stressed-skin construction in the USA. Thus, the Ju 88, on which the first metal was cut in May 1936, owed virtually nothing to any design that had preceded it on the [Junkers] drawing boards."

Rich Tuttle

Docent