The First Team · Pacific Naval Air Combat From Pearl Harbor to Midway by Lundstrom, John B. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Dedication Contents Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Special Note Abbreviations and Special Terms PART I The Early Operations

1 Introduction to War

The Fighting Squadrons: Missions, Men, and Aircraft AIR RAID ON PEARL HARBOR X THIS IS NO DRILL Pearl Harbor Aftermath The Sara to the Front

2 “We are in great need of a victory.” The Wake Island Operation

Initial Moves The Disappointment

3 Interregnum

The Weeks of Futility The Samoan Operation—The Yorktown to the Pacific

4 “This Sunday it’s our turn to shoot!” The 1 February Raids

Approach to Battle Task Force 8 in the Marshalls The Yorktown’s Strikes Return to Pearl

5 The Battle off Bougainville: Fighting Three in the South Pacific 6 The Enterprise’s Central Pacific Raids

Return to Wake Island A Visit to Marcus

7 The Lae–Salamaua Raid

Gathering the Forces A Change of Targets Withdrawal and the Lexington Home

8 The Tokyo Raid

Preliminaries—Introducing the Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat The Advent of Fighting Eight Six Hundred Miles from Tokyo

PART II The Battle of the Coral Sea

9 Prelude to Battle

The Yorktown in the Coral Sea, March–April 1942 Fighting Two to the South Pacific

10 Opening Shots

Coral Sea Preliminaries Tulagi Strike Gathering Storm: 5–6 May in the Coral Sea The Inscrutable Enemy

11 7 May 1942

The Battle off Misima Afternoon Reassessment The Japanese Dusk Attack

12 The Carrier Battle of 8 May

The Searches The Attack on MO Striking Force “Hey Rube”—The Attack on Task Force 17 Return of the Strike Groups The Loss of the Lex

13 Coral Sea Aftermath

“We are all short of oil, running like hell.” Task Force 16’s Anabasis to the South Pacific “Desire you proceed to the Hawaiian area.” Coral Sea Combat Lessons

PART III The Battle of Midway

14 Getting Ready for Midway

The Reorganization of Fighting Three The Carriers in Port Midway—The Waiting

15 The Battle of 4 June

The Opening Moves The Attack on Nagumo’s Carriers The Japanese Retaliate Retribution Summary for 4 June

16 Midway—The Pursuit

5–6 June off Midway The Loss of the Yorktown The Sara Back to the Front “How good land will look this time”

17 The “First Team” Graduates 18 Midway Lessons—The F4F-4 Controversy

PART IV Conclusion

Appendixes

1 The Making of Carrier Fighter Pilots

U.S. Naval Flight Training Japanese Naval Flight Training

2 Fundamentals of Aerial Fixed Gunnery 3 Fighting Colors, Insignia, and Markings 4 Naval Flight Formations and the “Thach Weave” 5 Japanese Combat Methods 6 List of U.S. Navy Fighter Pilots 7 Bureau Numbers of Fighter Aircraft

Notes Sources Index