Midway

[4129R]

After I saw Ford v Ferrari, I got the taste for going to the cinema, and Midway was on at the same "flea pit" and at £4.99, I thought it worth seeing. It actually cost me more to park (£8.00 for F v F and £6.00 for Midway).

I have taken great interest in the Pacific War, as my father was briefly involved flying Seafires off HMS Implacable May - August 1945, and actually landed on the USS Essex in Aug '45 when he was running out of fuel.

He appears in this Pathe News film at 2.56-3.02 on the extreme left. He was 20 years old then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SVZlWtJ7-c&t=194s

This is a review of his time on the Essex.

http://www.armouredcarriers.com/-document

After he died in 2005, I went to Johnson City to the annual USS Essex reunion in 2006, and they gave me that photo of his wingman, Ken Newton, who ended up in the barrier when his tail hook broke, as Seafires were much lighter than US aircraft, and even though the wire tension was at its slackest (I found this out from the deck commander in 2006), it was still too tight for a Seafire.

Anyway, back to the film, I thought the special effects were excellent, and they got most of the facts accurately, but they missed out on the US torpedoes being useless, being untried in combat.

I met Dallas Isom from Utah in London, he took great interest in Midway, and went to Japan to speak to survivors to see what happened from their point of view. It seems it took ages to change the frames onto the planes that carried torpedoes, as they were armed to bomb Midway, found the carrier fleet, and decided to change to attacking the carriers with torpedoes. Apparently they had to have the frames fitted below deck, 4 planes at a time, and this took ages. With the planes fuelled and armed waiting to take off, by chance the last squadron of SPDs found the carriers, and bingo, they were caught with their pants down, 3 carriers in 5 minutes, changing the whole tide of the War in the Pacific. Dallas Isom wrote a book recently on this subject.

https://www.amazon.com/Midway-Inquest-Japanese-Twentieth-Century-Battles/dp/0253349044

I was just wondering what our friends in the USA thought of this film, was it realistic enough, was it accurate enough? After all it must rank as one of the US Navy's greatest victories. 

It seems most US Europa owners must have had fathers who were involved in all this.

[BDA]

I rarely go to the movies but I'm currently presented with several films I'd like to see, Midway high on my list. It is an incredible story that I'd like to learn more about and even with my very negative view of Hollywood (so many times, I've seen movies based on actual events where the story was rewritten and in the end, not as nearly as interesting as the real story) I plan on seeing it. (Don't tell me how it ends!  )

How interesting that your dad was a Seafire (a plane I had never heard of till today!) pilot during the war. He was obviously a very skilled and brave man! How cool that he is immortalized in that film and the get that picture of his wingman! Probably because of his poor hearing, my dad didn't serve but instead, from what I understand, helped in some way the construction of PBYs and C47s. I have enjoyed talking to people who did serve and was lucky enough to meet a man in my neighborhood who flew in the Flying Tigers (US Army Air Corps, not the AVG) in China. I imagine your dad had interesting stories to tell if he was willing!

[4129R]

I imagine your dad had interesting stories to tell if he was willing!

The best story was about another pilot in his squadron. Seafires from 880 squadron had extra 90 gallon fuel tanks added to give them 3h15m flight time. 1 gallon = 1 minute.

Crossing back the coastline of Japan after a raid, he changed tanks but the line of the next tank ran near the engine, the fuel had vapourised, and the engine cut out. He landed at sea, about 70-80mph impact. Normally you were knocked unconscious when your head hit the gun sight, the plane sank and you drowned. He was lucky, his head hit the gunsight, but he remained conscious. The plane sank to the seabed, he inflated his MaeWest lifebelt, and floated to the surface. Japanese fishing boats set out to get him, but fortunately a US seaplane was circling and saw him go down. The seaplane only had room for 1 passenger, and he had already rescued one downed pilot, but he could not leave the pilot to a certain death. He landed and picked up the RN pilot, squeezed him in, and he returned to his carrier. I met him 61 years later and he still had the mark on the centre of his forehead.   

[BDA]

I'll bet he's happy to have that mark! It could have easily been much worse!