Armchair Dragoons Forums
The Reference Desk => History and Tall Tales => Topic started by: besilarius on March 19, 2021, 01:16:45 PM
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https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2012/may/mitscher-and-mystery-midway?
Mitscher was a well regarded aviator throughout his career.
He was not thought of as being very curious or intellectual. When the first CIC was being developed, the sea story was he came out of the space muttering, "Christ I'm confused.". And never entered it again.
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That is an interesting and reasonable theory, which are attributes no other theory I've heard about has. On the other hand, sending them 50 or 100 miles behind the location of the known carriers pretty much guarantees VF-8 runs out of fuel if they stay with the Dauntlesses too long. VT-8 was flying Devastators; had they not committed mutiny, I think they would have been out of fuel before reaching that search distance as well.
There the planes of her air group were struck below to the hangar deck, so she could take aboard 16 Mitchell B-25 bombers for an Army Air Forces raid on Tokyo led by Lieutenant Colonel “Jimmy” Doolittle. [...] The Battle of Midway was therefore her first action against an enemy force.
???
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The US aviators had a long learning curve after Pearl Harbor. Peace time practices had to be left. Behind.
You might enjoy Lindstrom's The First Team. It is probably too detailed for a casual reader.