Darwin, Summer 1942
As war waged across the Pacific, one relative backwater saw renewed battle as a veteran Japanese air group duelled with a rookie American unit in the skies of northern Australia. Following the devastating raid on […]
Articles by PE Matt
The German Raiders Thor and Michel
After the loss of the Kormoran on November 19th, 1941, there were no German auxiliary cruisers still afloat anywhere in the Pacific or Indian oceans. Keen to put pressure on the Royal Navy and force it to defend […]
The Battle of Midway: Mikuma’s Nightmare
When word of the American attack in the Kido Butai, and the subsequent destruction of the Kaga, Akagi and Soryu, made its way back to Admiral Yamamoto aboard his flagship Yamato, he was stunned. Information […]
The Battle of Midway: Death of the Hiryū
Just before noon, and before the Japanese began their attacks on her, the Yorktown had launched a search mission consisting of 10 SBD Dauntlesses. After almost three hours one of these aircraft came across the […]
The Battle of Midway: Yorktown Succumbs
The vicious dive-bombing attack by the American SBDs on three of Kido Butai’s carriers had left the Japanese reeling, but not completely out of the fight. One carrier, Hiryū, remained intact having manoeuvred away from […]
The Battle of Midway: the Dive Bomber Attack
The American dive bomber force launched with the torpedo bombers, but each of the three squadrons involved took paths to the target the diverged greatly from the torpedo squadrons, and from each other. The contingent […]
SCR-270/SCR-271 Radar
Following the May 1937 tests of the SCR-268 searchlight-control radar, the US Army expressed an interest in obtaining an early warning air search radar with much longer range. A US Army Signal Corps Laboratories team, […]
Yokosuka D4Y Type 2 Suisei “Judy”
In 1938 Japan acquired one of the prototype Heinkel He 118 dive bombers that the Luftwaffe had rejected in favour of the Junkers Ju 87. Although this aircraft crashed during trials, its overall performance had […]
Battle of Midway: The Torpedo Attack
Task Force 16 – Enterprise and Hornet, under RAdm Raymond Spruance – sailed for Midway on the 29th of May, just two days after Kido Butai departed from Japan. RAdm Frank Fletcher’s Task Force 17, […]
The Battle of Midway: The Island Strikes Back
As the Japanese were pounding Midway, the motley collection of bombers that had cleared the airfield headed in the opposite direction, determined to attack the carrier fleet spotted earlier that morning. In the weeks preceding […]