Midway : What if Scenario..

What if Scenario..

What if Rear Admiral (Select) Mark Mitscher had sent the Hornet's air group in the direction of the PBY sighting (about 238 deg. versus 265 deg.) instead of off to find a possible second group of Japanese carriers?

If the group had stayed together and found the main Japanese carrier force within a reasonable time (even if after a short box search was necessary,) I think they may have damaged at least one carrier. They definitely would have lost more dive bombers and pilots than what actually happened though. They would have had a stronger fighter escort since VF-6 was in the vicinty of the Japanese fleet due to it following VT-8 when it thought it was actually VT-6. 20 fighters, 15 torpedo planes and about 36 dive bombers in a coordinated attack would have split up the Japanese CAP fighters and some of the torpedo planes may have had a better chance to get a hit on a carrier. The attack would have probably still attracted VT-6 to the area due to the smoke being put up by the AA of the screening force as happened when just VT-8 attacked alone.

More Japanese fighters may have been shot down, not allowing them to refuel and re-arm to meet the attacks of the Enterprise dive bombers and the Yorktown air strike when they arrived 30 to 40 minutes later. VF-8 lost all 10 of its planes in the real history due to ditching for running out of gas, so having those planes mixing it up with Jap Zeros would have been a better use of them even if all were shot down or later ditched due to fuel exhaustion.

Comments?

Redhooks

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Re: What if Scenario..

IIRC Hornet launched 34 SBDs. It was the largest group of American bombers sent as one strike that day.

Yes, they should have hit something. No squadron-sized dive bombing attack by SBDs failed to hit a carrier.

Their chance of success is enhanced if they attacked simultaneously with any of the other attacks that morning, such as with VT-6 or with Hornet's VT-8 detachment (I worded it that way because there were three detachments of VT-8 relevant to Midway discussion).

Had this happened, one or perhaps two Japanese carriers might have been hit, probably around 0900. In that instance, Nagumo would probably have been more motivated to get a strike, any strike, away to the sighted American carrier ASAP. The battle might have turned out differently.

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