The Reenactment of
the Battle of Midway
• • •
Over the years, air show spectators have been thrilled by various reenactments
of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Our show featured a version of this last year
(pictured above).
This year we enter new territory with the First Time Ever reenactment
of the Battle of Midway. No air show has ever attempted this before. So you
will witness a first!
The Battle of Midway took place in the Pacific on June 4-7, 1942, almost four
months to the day that the Japanese managed to destroy or disable most of our
Pacific Fleet. The aircraft carriers assigned to the Pacific Fleet (4) were not
at Pearl Harbor. This was the major reason whythe boming of Pearl Harbor did not
lead to the invasion of the U.S.
In late May 1942, four Japanese carriers, each with a cruiser flotilla, departed
Japan headed east toward Midway to attack and subdue the U.S. forces there.
U.S. Naval Intelligence deciphered a Japanese code and determined what the four enemy
carriers were about to do. The three remaining U.S. aircraft carriers in the Pacific
(Yorktown, Enterprise & Hornet) sailed into the area northeast of Midway looking for
the Japanese Fleet.
After days of playing "hide and seek", on June 4th, a U.S. Navy patrol plane sighted
the Japanese armada. Then the attacks and counterattacks began and continued for four
days. The outcome of this attack will be the subject of our "Reenactment of the
Battle of Midway", the penultimate act of our Saturday and Sunday air shows.
The script for the narration of the Midway event was written by Alan Armstrong, an
aviator, author and attorney, who will fly his Japanese "Kate" torpedo bomber in the
reenactment. Look for the green aircraft with the long black torpedo on the underside
of the aircraft. The narration will be provided by our Air Announcer, Hugh Oldham.
The aircraft will be choreographed by our Air Boss, George Cline.
