Scratch Four Flattops
By The central events of the Battle of Midway happened seventy years ago today. A useful timeline:
7:52am (2:52pm EST): Enterprise and Hornet complete launching of torpedo and dive bomber strike packages
9:00am (4pm EST): Yorktown launches strike package
9:20 (4:20 EST): Hornet torpedo bombers sight Japanese task force
9:40 (4:40 EST): Enterprise torpedo bombers sight Japanese task force
10:00 (5:00 EST): Dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise sight Japanese task force
10:22-10:30 (5:22-5:30 EST): Dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown cripple Japanese carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu.
Yorktown and Hiryu would get theirs later in the day, but the initial USN dive bomber strike was one of the most dramatic events of the Second World War.