Prof. Greg Jackson

20 minutes go by, and now the planes are low on fuel.

But finally, fortune favors them.

Clarence's dive bombers spot a Japanese carrier, the Kaga.

To her right is the Akagi.

Swooping down alongside Lieutenant Richard Dick Best's bombing six from the Enterprise, these American flyboys hope to succeed where their numerous dead or dying friends in the waters below met failure.

It's just after 10 a.m., still June 4th, 1942.

Lieutenant Commander Clarence McCluskey and his 37 SBD Dauntless dive bombers are flying alongside Lieutenant Richard Dick Vests and Wilmer Earl Gallagher's squadrons.

Perfectly focused, Clarence radios his fellow pilot.

At 1,800 feet, Earl releases his bomb over the Kaga, pulling his plane up quickly, but not without lingering just a moment longer than protocol.

He's desperate to know.

As he struck this foe that destroyed Pearl Harbor, he watches right until the bomb explodes on the Kaga's deck.

Clarence couldn't be happier, and more bombs follow, slamming into the flight deck, crumpling the once-mighty aircraft carrier.

Japanese commanders aboard the Akagi are so transfixed by their neighbor next door, they don't even see the attack on their own ship coming.

Dick and his bombing six are on it.

Thanks to the sacrifice of those earlier waves of American torpedo bombers, like the one that left George Gay the lone survivor, Japanese Zeros are circling low, effectively defending at the wrong altitude.

Dick and two of his fellow bombers take advantage of this.

Flying in a V formation, the three American aircraft approach from the AB.

They've got a small target, the width of the Akagi, not its length.

This is going to be tricky.

Sinking to 1,500 feet, Dick releases his cargo.