The Roundtable
Forum
Official Newsletter of the Battle of Midway Roundtable
12 December 2010
Issue Number: 2010-40
Our 14th Year
~
AROUND THE TABLE ~
MEMBERS’
TOPICS IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Getting the Details Right
2. Japanese CAP vs. Japanese AA?
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1. GETTING THE DETAILS RIGHT ( See issue #37, 38, 39 )
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4 December 2010
From: Mark Horan
Connecticut
co-author, A Glorious Page
In Our History
In regard to the following comment in the most recent Roundtable
Forum:
"Another is the lack of a red center in the American insignia
on the bottom of the wing. It is not widely known, but the Hornet’s TBDs
did not get around to having their red centers purged from the underwing
insignia. Everything else was done, but not those."
This is not true. While the footage taken on or about 15 May 1942
that was used in the movie Torpedo Squadron Eight shows under-wing stars
with red dots, that fact was what allowed me to date the movie footage to the
period 14-15 May. Orders had been
received to delete the red centers of the national stars effective 15
May. Personnel of VT-8 could not, however, paint out the centers on the lower
wing stars on the folded wings in the confined area on the hanger deck.
That is one of the reasons that the aircraft were then brought up to the flight
deck as soon as time allowed: so the wings could be unfolded to allow access to
those stars. It is untrue that the red
centers remained for any period after 15-16 May, let alone by the time the ship
reached Pearl prior to sailing for the Midway operation.
By the way, I corresponded with a number of folks in all of the ship’s
squadrons, but in particular with two of the VT-8 plane captains that
distinctly recalled the need to bring the aircraft up to the flight deck to
repaint the stars. It was done as part
of a scheduled squadron exercise, which is also why the aircrews were all
involved and why the group photos were taken.
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5 December 2010
From: Kent Walters
Arizona
Evidence would
suggest there were "field modifications" or
updates between Coral Sea and Midway including the markings where the
red-roundel centers of the white star insignias were painted with white to
avoid confusion with the Japanese reddish meatball. Also, the
red and white rudder stripes were deleted to remove any notable red colors
on these aircraft. I have not
previously heard of TBD aircraft missing those marking changes on the
bottom of the wings for the BOM, particularly since that surface
would have likely gotten priority for change if the logic for making those
changes was valid.
Perhaps there are
other photos specific to Ens. George Gay's aircraft for the recent art work
renditions by Konley Kelly being discussed, but the aircraft in the color
photos of Torpedo 8 (T-3 and T-5) indicate the outer wing panels on
the lower sides should be light gray in color (just like all the
other lower surfaces) whereas the T-14 model rendition by Kelley portrays
a darker color such as the upper blue. Kelley has chosen
to delete any red roundel in the center of the star on those same lower wing
panels. That aspect would appear
to be correct. In my experience with scale RC competition with a
vintage aircraft, it is always best to use available photos for
a particular aircraft and moment in time (particularly color if
available). Often a problem starts because only one photo exists and
there is no proof of specific color and makings on various hidden surfaces not captured
by the photo. In the early part of WW2, that problem is compounded by
often not having color photos. The "Torpedo 8 in Color" photos
presented in the last Roundtable Forum issue is certainly a valuable
tool for modelers and hopefully serves to resolve questions like
this.
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Ed. note: Kent is the builder and pilot of the
flying scale SBD that graces the cover of No Right to Win—see below. (And if you’re among those who thought
that was an actual full-size Dauntless, you have a lot of company.)
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2. JAPANESE CAP VS. JAPANESE AA?
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6 December 2010
From: Jim Osowski
New Jersey
About the TBD torpedo attacks during the BOM:
I have a picture in my mind of Devastators coming in low, dodging flak and
Zeros at the same time. How did the
Japanese AA gunners not shoot down their own planes? Did the Zeros pull back after their runs and the let the AA take
over at a certain point or did they go all the way and hope for the best? Was an operational procedure followed or was
it a free for all? Whatever happens,
happens?
In Europe, B-17s would face fighters that
would pull away as soon as the flak took over.
Was something like this done during attacks on Japanese ships, either
torpedo or dive bombing?
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~ NOW
HEAR THIS! ~
NEWS
& INFO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Book Review: Midway 1942
- Link of the Week
- Editor’s Notes
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BOOK REVIEW: MIDWAY
1942
by Mark Stille (Osprey,
2010)
I’ve become dubious
about any new book related to the BOM. With
all of the outstanding latter-day references by the likes of Lundstrom,
Parshall, Cressman and their various co-authors, it seems unlikely that there
would be anything more for anyone to say.
But I still try to maintain an open mind because a new book occasionally
comes along that brings a pleasant surprise.
A Dawn Like Thunder is an example, which at first looked like the
much-told tale of VT-8, but which expanded that story long past Midway to a
level not previously seen. Midway
Inquest and Midway Dauntless Victory, despite their many flaws, also
brought important new insight to various aspects of the battle not fleshed out
by other authors.
So when Commander Mark
Stille’s Midway 1942 was announced on Amazon,
I ordered a copy on the chance it might contain yet another pleasant
surprise. It did, albeit to a minor
degree.
Stille relies heavily
on the aforementioned first-line BOM authors, as evidenced by his “Further
Reading” list at the end of the book.
The influence of Parshall-Tully is evident throughout, with heavy
emphasis on the re-thinking of the BOM found in Shattered Sword. In fact, one Roundtable member told me
that this book’s title should have been Shattered Sword Extra Light.
The “extra light” part
comes from the book’s size and structure: paperback, 7.25 x 9.75 inches, and
only 96 pages between the covers. But
that’s not bad—the limited format forced the author to condense the battle into
is salient facts, and he did a credible job of that. But for those well-versed in the BOM (especially if you’ve read The
First Team, Shattered Sword, and A Glorious Page In Our History)
there is nothing in the text that’s new.
However, the book does excel in one important regard: its graphics. Most prominent are the dazzling original
paintings by Howard Gerrard, especially the close-up on the cover of Tomonaga’s
bullet-riddled Kate lining up on Yorktown amid a hail of AA. The dramatic image is repeated in a two-page
spread inside, as are scenes of the attacks on Hiryu and Mikuma. In addition, full-page color charts nicely
detail the battle’s progress, and full color three-dimensional drawings
illustrate the air attacks like you probably haven’t seen them before (unless
you were there).
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LINK OF THE WEEK
Speaking of Kent Walters’ SBD on the cover of No Right
to Win, here’s another view of it that many of you may not have seen
before. The plane is meticulously
crafted as a replica of 6-B-15 flown from the Enterprise at Midway by
Ensign George Goldsmith. It’s accurate
down to the finest detail possible in a model, save the 2-blade prop which is
dictated by the model’s engine. (It’s
3-bladed on the cover of the book, thanks to some Photoshop wizardry by John
Greaves.)
Click
here for the link of the week.
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EDITOR’S NOTES
~ Computer hint: the e-mail program choice for many of our members is Google’s g-mail, and it’s also what we use here. But the popular on-line e-mail service has
one characteristic that many users find annoying: multiple messages with the
same subject line are all strung together as one message in your in-box. For example, if you send a message to three
people and they all answer you by hitting “reply,” all 4 messages—yours plus
the 3 responses—show up as one item in your in-box. You have to open the message to see all the strung-together
replies, and you cannot delete just one of them. After numerous complaints, Google has added a way to defeat that
feature so that each message is a separate item. To make it happen, log into your g-mail account on-line, click
“Settings” in the upper right corner, and on the next page click “Conversation
View Off” in the Settings list. At the
bottom of the same page, click “Save Changes.”
That will make your in-box look like what you’d expect in just about any
other e-mail application.
~ Your participation in our member survey is
still welcome. Its subject is “the most
memorable scene from or related to the Battle of Midway.” For details, click here, then
scroll down to “Member Survey.”
Responses may be sent through the end of December.
~ This issue is unusually late
due to an overload of other matters that currently demand my attention. Because of that, the next issue will be delayed
until Friday, December 24th. I expect
to make that deadline with no problem.
Meanwhile, please continue to send in your comments and inquiries as
usual. Everything will eventually be
answered or published.
