| The
Battle of Midway June 3 - 6, 1942 |
READER CONTRIBUTIONS BATTLE OF MIDWAY MODELS: BY JOHN TATE |
LCDR John S. Thach's
Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat"
Commander, Fighting Three
By John Tate
Click on the photo above for more views of the F4F
This Tamiya 1/48th scale Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat has been built to depict the plane flown by LCDR John S. "Jimmy" Thach while flying a strike escort mission on June 4, 1942. Thach, flying F-23 (BuNo 5093), along with five other F4F-4s from Fighting Three, was escorting Yorktown's strike against the Kido Butai, consisting of 17 SBD-3s of Bombing Three (led by LCDR Maxwell F. Leslie) and 12 TBD-1s from Torpedo Three (led by LCDR Lance E. "Lem" Massey).
Mitsubishi A6M2 Type 00
Model 21 "Zeke"
Kaga Kanjo Sentokitai
By John Tate
Click on the photo above for more views of the A6M
This Hasegawa 1/48th scale Mitsubishi Type 00 "Zeke" has been built to depict a plane flown from Kaga Kanjo Sentokitai (Kaga Fighter Unit) at Midway. During the various actions with US attackers on June 4, 11 A6M2s from the four Japanese carriers were shot down and three ditched, with the lose of nine pilots. Kaga Kanjo Sentokitai lost more pilots (four) than any other carrier on the morning of June 4. Additionally, two fugitives (PO1c Yamamoto Akira and PO3c Bando Makoto) from the stricken carrier landed on Hiryu and later participated in her second strike against Yorktown, shooting down no planes with Bando's A6M2 seriously damaged.