US Navy pilot Lieutenant Commander John Waldron's TBD-1 Devastator aircraft taking off of carrier USS Hornet during the Battle of Midway, Pacific Ocean, 4 Jun 1942

Caption     US Navy pilot Lieutenant Commander John Waldron's TBD-1 Devastator aircraft taking off of carrier USS Hornet during the Battle of Midway, Pacific Ocean, 4 Jun 1942 ww2dbase
Photographer    Unknown
Source    ww2dbaseUnited States Navy via Wikimedia Commons
Link to Source    Link
More on...   
TBD Devastator   Main article  Photos  
Battle of Midway and the Aleutian Islands   Main article  Photos  Maps  
Photo Size 605 x 421 pixels
Photos on Same Day 4 Jun 1942
Photos at Same Place Pacific Ocean
Added By C. Peter Chen
Licensing  Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government".

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Visitor Submitted Comments

1. Didier says:
5 Sep 2010 03:32:41 PM

Last picture of him.

He didn't come back. He left with 14 other TBD and none of them came back. All died but one man.

Very valuable picture.
2. Commenter identity confirmed Bill says:
20 Nov 2010 10:51:18 AM

Lt. Cdr. John Waldon, Skipper of VT-8 and
crewman Horace Franklin Dobbs takeoff from USS Hornet, June 1942 Battle of Midway.

Ensign George Gay of VT-8 was the only man
to survive.
3. Didier says:
28 Feb 2011 07:18:44 AM

They did change history
4. Anonymous says:
14 Mar 2011 10:59:06 AM

No they didn't, the attack was not successful. It was the Dauntlesses that sunk the carriers. These torpedo planes were carrying defective torpedoes in the futile attack.
5. Anonymous says:
29 Mar 2011 10:07:29 AM

Yes, they did change history.
6. Anonymous says:
19 Mar 2012 01:01:23 AM

Oh FFS, the TBD's, in their sacrifice, tied up the Japanese CAP...they were supposed to attack at the same time as the SBD dive bombers, but came in too early. However, in shooting down the vulnerable torpedo bombers, the CAP's Zeros couldn't get to the Wildcats and Dauntlesses in time to prevent them destroying the majority of the Japanese carriers with bombs.

Midway 101, sheesh!

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