{"id":9455423,"date":"2026-08-04T17:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=9455423"},"modified":"2026-08-04T17:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T15:08:10","slug":"tbd-devastator-torpedo-squadron-8-midway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/tbd-devastator-torpedo-squadron-8-midway\/","title":{"rendered":"Die Torpedobomber, die in Midway sterben sollten"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n\r\n<p>On the morning of 4 June 1942, forty-one obsolete torpedo bombers lumbered off three American carriers toward the Japanese fleet. Their aircraft were too slow, their torpedoes barely worked, and most of them had no fighter escort. Within an hour, all but a handful had been shot into the sea, and not one of their torpedoes had found a target.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It was one of the most one-sided slaughters in the history of air combat. It was also, in a way nobody could have foreseen, the moment that won the Battle of Midway. This is the story of the Douglas TBD Devastator, and the men who flew it to its death.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0;border-radius:8px;border:1px solid #e5e5e5\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:18px\">Kurzinfo<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px;line-height:1.8\"><li><strong>Flugzeug:<\/strong> Douglas TBD Devastator, U.S. Navy torpedo bomber; first flew 1935<\/li><li><strong>Erste Male:<\/strong> the Navy\u2019s first all-metal monoplane, first fully enclosed cockpit, first with hydraulic folding wings<\/li><li><strong>Crew:<\/strong> three &mdash; pilot, bombardier, radioman\/gunner<\/li><li><strong>Das Problem:<\/strong> by 1942 it was desperately slow, and its Mark 13 torpedo was riddled with defects<\/li><li><strong>Midway:<\/strong> 41 launched, zero torpedo hits, only 6 returned<\/li><li><strong>Torpedo Squadron 8:<\/strong> all 15 aircraft lost; one man, Ensign George Gay, survived<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Yesterday\u2019s Wonder Weapon<\/h2>\r\n<p>When it first flew in 1935, the Devastator was a marvel. It was the most advanced aircraft in the U.S. Navy: the first all-metal monoplane to fly from its carriers, the first with a fully enclosed cockpit, the first with wings that folded at the touch of a hydraulic control. For its day, it was the future.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>But aviation moved fast in the late 1930s, and by the time war came the Devastator was a relic. Its top speed was barely 200 mph, and to launch a torpedo it had to slow to under 115 mph and fly dead straight and level toward the enemy. Against modern anti-aircraft guns and the nimble Mitsubishi Zero, that was very nearly a suicide profile.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1055799052  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/tbd-devastator-torpedo-drop.jpg\" alt=\"TBD Devastator dropping a Mark 13 torpedo\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Devastator releases a Mark 13 torpedo in a 1941 exercise. To aim it, the crew had to fly low, slow and straight \u2014 a fatal combination against a defended fleet. Photo: U.S. Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Charge of Torpedo Eight<\/h2>\r\n<p>At Midway, the American torpedo squadrons went in anyway. The attacks were poorly coordinated; some squadrons lost their fighter escort and pressed on alone. Lieutenant Commander John Waldron, leading Torpedo Squadron 8 off the USS Hornet, knew what he was asking of his men. The night before, he had told them plainly what the mission might cost.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #d32f2f;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;If there is only one plane left to make a final run-in, I want that man to go in and get a hit. May God be with us all. Good luck, happy landings, and give \u2019em hell.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Lt. Cdr. John C. Waldron<\/strong> &mdash; commander of Torpedo Squadron 8, in his message to his men on the eve of Midway<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Waldron led all fifteen of his Devastators straight at the Japanese carriers. Every one was shot down. Of the thirty men who took off, only one lived: Ensign George Gay, who ditched his burning aircraft, hid beneath a floating seat cushion, and watched the rest of the battle unfold around him from the water.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=226335067  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/torpedo-squadron-8-pilots.jpg\" alt=\"Pilots of Torpedo Squadron 8\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The pilots of Torpedo Squadron 8 aboard USS Hornet, mid-May 1942. Three weeks later, all but one of them were dead. Photo: U.S. Navy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yXdfUD9uewY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Sacrifice That Turned the War<\/h2>\r\n<p>The torpedo bombers scored nothing. But their doomed charge did something no one had planned. To slaughter the low, slow Devastators, the Japanese fighter cover dove down to sea level, and the carriers spent precious minutes twisting away from torpedo runs, their decks in chaos. The sky above was left wide open.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Into that opening, minutes later, fell the American dive bombers &mdash; the Dauntless squadrons that had found the enemy at last. Almost unopposed, they planted their bombs on three Japanese carriers in the space of a few devastating minutes. A fourth followed that afternoon. The heart of Japan\u2019s carrier fleet was gone, and the Pacific war had turned &mdash; on the backs of the men who never scored a hit.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;I sat in the middle of the largest, and certainly the most decisive naval battle in history. I\u2019m right smack in the middle of it, all day and all night.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Ensign George Gay<\/strong> &mdash; the sole survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8, recalling the battle from the water<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>George Gay floated for some thirty hours before a flying boat found him. He lived to become the most famous enlisted-turned-officer survivor of the battle, and he never stopped honoring the men who did not come back.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"display:flex;justify-content:center;margin:2em 0\"><blockquote class=\"reddit-embed-bq\" data-embed-height=\"500\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/navalaviation\/comments\/10lo5q9\/last_few_hours_of_life_for_the_air_crews_of_the\/\">The last hours of the crews of Torpedo Squadron 8<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.reddit.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Devastator was quietly withdrawn within weeks, replaced by the far superior Grumman Avenger. Not one survives on dry land today. But its memory endures, because at Midway it proved a hard truth of war: sometimes the aircraft that fails, and the men who die in it, buy the victory for everyone who comes after.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A7iod8O_ga0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p style=\"font-style:italic;color:#777;font-size:14px\">Sources: Wikipedia; U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command (oral history of George Gay); Parshall &amp; Tully, <em>Shattered Sword<\/em>; U.S. Naval Institute.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">\u00c4hnliche Beitr\u00e4ge<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/great-marianas-turkey-shoot-battle-philippine-sea-1944\/\">The Day Japanese Naval Aviation Died<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/grumman-tbm-avenger-restauration-erstflug\/\">Der R\u00e4cher kehrt nach 17 Jahren zur\u00fcck<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/de\/saburo-sakai-zero-ace-guadalcanal-verwundeter-flug\/\">Durch den Sch\u00e4del geschossen, flog er weiter<\/a><\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Einundvierzig veraltete Devastator-Schiffe griffen die japanische Flotte bei Midway an und wurden vernichtend geschlagen. Ihr Opfer entschied die Schlacht.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":9454838,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9455423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>TBD Devastator: The Torpedo Bombers of Midway<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Forty-one obsolete TBD Devastators charged the Japanese fleet at Midway and were slaughtered \u2014 but their sacrifice won the battle.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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