Dick's 1,600 lb armor piercing bomb struck the flight deck and penetrated to Hangar 2, filled with fully-fueled B5N2 torpedo bombers, as well as the ordnance now lying on deck from the two reloads that had happened. The second missed just astern and jammed her rudder. The first bomb missed amidships and started a fuel leak in Akagi. Navy doctrine said a force of less than 18 dive bombers was useless. They flew across the fleet and dove on Akagi. Instead, he dove right in front of Best with all of VS-6, and most of VB-6 went with him, diving on "Kaga" (the near target. And then McCluskey made a second mistake: dive bomber doctrine called for him and the lead squadron to fly across the fleet and strike the far target (the "Akagi'). Nevertheless, the Enterprise strike group arrived over the Japanese fleet just as the last of the torpedo bombers was being shot down. It was an error that cost us half our young pilots, who ran out of gas trying to get home." I was a good navigator, and I knew when we missed the turn to the north, but we were under radio silence and I couldn't use the gas to speed up and catch up to him and let him know he'd made that mistake. Dick remembered things differently: "We could have struck the Japanese at the same time as the torpedo bombers, and perhaps saved more of them, except McCluskey couldn't navigate around the breakfast table. History records that he flew out to the maximum range without finding the fleet, turned north and found a Japanese destroyer "with a bone in its teeth" that he followed to the fleet. The Enterprise strike group was commanded by Wade McCluskey, recently "fleeted up" from command of VF-6 to Commander Enterprise Air Group, and a man who was flying his first dive bomber mission on 4 June 1942. As he told me, "I looked down at the fires that were still burning, and I swore to myself I would make them pay." On December 7, 1941, he had flown off Enterprise and landed at Ford Island that night. "Dick" Best, the only person I ever met who personally changed history, and the greatest American patriot it was ever my privilege to know (though not the way many might think - read on).ĭick was the commander of Bombing-Six aboard the Enterprise at Midway. I'd like to take this time to remember my friend, the late Richard H. Today is the 73rd anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the battle that changed the course of the war in the Pacific.
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