[ARC5] A.R.C. engineer visit to COMAIRPAC, Pearl Harbor Dec 1942

[Robert Eleazer]

The only carrier that did everything right at Midway was the USS Yorktown.

Both the Enterprise and Hornet took the data on the IJN position and concluded they needed to fly about 220 degrees to intercept it.  The Yorktown concluded that they need a course more like 270 degrees, and Lt Cmdr Waldron of the Hornet's VT-8 reached the same conclusion independently (there was no coordination!)  After being argued down on the Hornet Lt Cmdr Waldron agreed to fly the 220 deg course with the others and then about 30 min after launch turned to the 270 deg course and hit the IJN fleet dead nuts while the rest of the Hornet AG never found it that day.

Both the Hornet and the Enterprise not only flew the wrong course but also kept their F4F's up high, where they had no effect on the battle.

The Yorktown Air Group flew the correct course to hit the IJN but left a bit later than the others, by design.  They also assigned a number of their F4F's to stay down low and cover the torpedo bombers, a tactic that had worked so well at Coral Sea.  But with the other two carrier's Wildcats basically wandering around and useless to the battle the Yorktown's were badly outnumbered, as in 4 to 1 odds.

YE/ZB range was UHF and hence dependant on the curvature of the Earth in terms of range.  Pilots were instructed to climb and when they received the signal they had a chart that showed X thousand feet = Y miles from carrier.  The transmitted frequency and codes (e.g. Morse letter A = 030 deg bearing from carrier) were changed not only daily but on multiple times during the day.  Of course the F4F's could not change the received frequency but only the "IF Frequency."

Wayne 
WB5WSV   

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