Prof. Greg Jackson

He checks on Bob, confirming what he feared while in the sky.

The gunner is long gone, sinking into that blue clear water alongside their plane.

Our intrepid navigator manages to maneuver underneath the black cushion as zeroes soar overhead.

Here, he waits and prays that his fellow Americans find him before the Japanese do.

It's a slaughter.

Ensign George Gay is the only survivor of Torpedo Squadron 8.

And this is well representative of the whole as one uncoordinated attack after another of American torpedo bombers strike the Kido Butai with disastrous results.

By around 9.30 a.m., aircraft from Rear Admiral Blackjack Fletcher's Yorktown join in.

But of the roughly 47 planes that have taken off so far, only six are still airborne.

And for all that sacrifice, not a single Japanese carrier has been hit.

But as the Japanese Combat Air Patrol fly at a lower altitude to engage these doomed American torpedo squadrons, and as the four Japanese carriers are sufficiently disrupted to slow their next wave's takeoff, Lieutenant Commander Clarence McCluskey's 37 dive bombers from the carrier Enterprise are scanning the horizon.

Ahead, a thin white trail catches the commander's eye, a wake slicing across the ocean.

Hmm, it's a Japanese destroyer.

Could it lead to a Japanese carrier?

He decides to follow.

Back on the American carrier, the Enterprise, the man behind the plan, Chief of Staff Miles Browning, is coordinating radio communications, ensuring Clarence's squadron can attack quickly once the Japanese fleet is found.

He continues to push aggressive action.

Attack!

Attack!

Clarence responds, We'll go as soon as I find the bastards.