American attack
The American attack on the Japanese force was planned as a combined assault, mixing low-level torpedo bombers with high-level dive bombers. Escorted by fighters, the idea was for them to attack at the same time in order to overwhelm the defenders. Instead the squadrons became separated, and some of Hornet's inexperienced units missed the battle.
The torpedo bombers were the first to reach the Japanese force. Flying in at low level, they were badly mauled by fast, manoeuvrable Japanese Zero fighters. Between 9.30 and 10.24am, 47 out of 51 American torpedo planes were shot down.
Nagumo must have believed he had won the battle. So far he had weathered numerous attacks, emerged unscathed and delivered a heavy blow to the Midway air base. Now he would launch a big strike and finish off the Americans.
But it was the Americans who had all the luck that day. The dive-bombers from the Enterprise were lost, but found their target by following a Japanese destroyer, which was steaming at high speed to rejoin the carriers after driving off an American submarine. Its broad white wake signposted the way to the target.
'... the Americans had all the luck that day.'
The bombers arrived over the Japanese carriers just as the last American torpedo planes were being shot down. The Zero fighters were thus out of position, unable to counter Enterprise's dive-bombers. Exploiting an empty sky and a perfect position, the experienced pilots carried out a text-book dive-bombing attack on the big Japanese ships.
The Japanese were caught unawares because they did not have radar, relying instead on the human eye to spot the threat. It was not enough. In five minutes the carriers Kaga and Akagi had been hit, starting uncontrollable fires. Their decks were cluttered with bombs, torpedoes and hoses charged with high octane fuel, while every plane was a huge petrol bomb waiting to explode. It took only three or four 1,000lb bombs to set these massive ships ablaze.
Yorktown's bombers followed, and dealt with the carrier Soryu. Only the carrier Hiryu escaped, hidden in a convenient rain squall.
Within minutes Nagumo had ordered the forces on Hiryu to launch a hastily assembled half-strength strike of 40 planes. They headed for Yorktown, the only American carrier the Japanese actually located during this battle.
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