Photo #: 80-G-312000 Battle of Midway, June 1942 A Douglas SBD-3 "Dauntless" scout bomber warming up on USS Yorktown, in the late morning of 4 June 1942. It is Number 17 of "Scouting" Squadron Five (the temporarily redesignated Bombing Squadron Five), piloted by Ensign Leif Larsen, but was apparently not one of ten "VS"-5 planes launched on a scouting mission shortly before noon on 4 June. Another of the squadron's SBDs succeeded in locating Hiryu, the only Japanese aircraft carrier of the Midway striking force that was still operational. The next plane, at right, is "VS"-5's Number 4, which did fly the scouting mission, piloted by Lieutenant John Nielsen. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 57KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Originally posted 19 March 1999
Coding updated 29 April 2009