Torpedo 8

Tonight, I started reading the excellent book, A Dawn Like Thunder, The True Story of Torpedo 8 and seeing that I write this at 4am, you can probably guess it is getting two .

Of the many thought provoking things, I've read (Midway just happened), one that hits my gut the hardest thinking of how he must have felt is Tex Gay writes of still having hopes as late as May of the squadron's Avengers arriving in time for battle. In his writings, he states a few times that he feels they'll get the new planes any day now and makes it well known that the Devastators are obsolete.

The second big question is what ever became of Torpedo 8 pilot Eddie "Frenchy" Fayle, who "accidentally" drove a knife into his leg while on a solo search for a ripe pineapple, hours before Hornet was to leave Pearl Harbor for Midway. Sounds like the story of the last man to leave the Alamo, before it fell….

All in all, a great read so far.

BlackSheep said:

The second big question is what ever became of Torpedo 8 pilot Eddie "Frenchy" Fayle, who "accidentally" drove a knife into his leg while on a solo search for a ripe pineapple, hours before Hornet was to leave Pearl Harbor for Midway. Sounds like the story of the last man to leave the Alamo, before it fell….

All in all, a great read so far.

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No more questioning needed - hear it from the man's own lips (and read a text summary - including how he won a Navy Cross on 24 Aug 1942):
Twice Thought Dead, Pilot Endures

Eddy Fayle passed away April 6, 2018.

GreenKnight121 said:

No more questioning needed - hear it from the man's own lips (and read a text summary - including how he won a Navy Cross on 24 Aug 1942):
Twice Thought Dead, Pilot Endures

Eddy Fayle passed away April 6, 2018.

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A few chapters later, he is recognized for his service in the book. I, in case you cannot surmise by my writing, was describing things I found interesting in a book I had only begun to read that night.

Consider that the Torpedo Eight detachment that flew from Midway with their new Avengers lost 5 of 6, and that one barely made it back with one dead aboard.
Unescorted torpedo planes were very vulnerable.

Greg Boeser said:

Consider that the Torpedo Eight detachment that flew from Midway with their new Avengers lost 5 of 6, and that one barely made it back with one dead aboard.
Unescorted torpedo planes were very vulnerable.

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Exactly and some of that has to be placed on the needs of the torpedos. The Japanese officers watching from the carriers were shocked at how low the attack was being flown at and once the Zeros arrived, there was no room to maneuver.