| The
Battle of Midway June 3 - 6, 1942 |
READER CONTRIBUTIONS BATTLE OF MIDWAY MODELS: BY KEN DURLING |
LT Kobayashi Michio's
Aichi D3A1 Type 99 "Val"
Hiryu Kanjo Bakugekikitai
By Ken
Durling
This Hasegawa 1/48th scale Aichi D3A1 Type 99 "Val" has been built to depict the plane flown by LT Kobayashi Michio, Commander of Hiryu's Bombing Squadron on June 4, 1942. Kobayashi, flying BII-201, along with his gunner, WO Ono Yoshinori, led the first counter attack by Hiryu against Yorktown on the afternoon of June 4. This strike composed of 18 D3A1s, divided into two nine plane Chutai (the rough equivalent of US divisions) and six A6M2 Zeros.
Kobayashi's little group took of from Hiryu between 1050 and 1058, about half an hour after three US carrier based dive bomber squadrons hit Akagi, Kaga and Soryu. At 1100 Task Force 17 was only 95 miles away.
Because of better visibility near the water, Kobayashi only very gradually gained altitude. At about 1130, six US planes were spotted, originally identified at torpedo planes. The six escorting Zeroes broke off to deal with this flight, which turned out to be SBDs returning to Enterprise after their attacks. After a brief battle, two damaged Zeros returned to Hiryu while the other four struggled to catch up with Kobayashi.
At about 1140-1150, Yorktown launched two divisions of six F4F-4 "Wildcats" as a relief CAP. Within mere minutes of the launch of the relief CAP, Yorktown detected on radar "unidentified planes bearing 255 degrees, distance 32 miles." LCDR Oscar Pederson, Commander, Yorktown Air Group (CYAG), the acting Fighter Director Officer (FDO), immediately notified the CAP, still straining to reach their patrol altitude. Because of this, instead of vectoring all 12 F4Fs to intercept, Pederson had to send individual sections to attack. At ll58, Pederson instructed LT(jg) Richard G. Crommelin's division to intercept "fifty bogeys at 'Angels 10', bearing 255 degrees." However, this division was already fragmented in its attempts to gain altitude.
Task Force 16 was about 30 miles to the northwest of Yorktown. LCDR Leonard J. 'Ham' Dow, Enterprise's FDO, vectored eight F4Fs of Hornet's Fighting 8, flying at 20,000 feet to the west of Task Force 16, to intercept the planes. One division of four planes under LT Warren W. Ford acknowledged the order and moved north. However, LT Edward J. O'Neill, leading the other division of four fighters, did not get the order due to a faulty radio, nor did LT(jg) Lawrence C. French, leader of the second section. According to doctrine, O'Neill's wingman, ENS Carlton B. Starkes, who heard the orders, tried to take over lead of the flight. However, O'Neill would not relent. Therefore, Starkes contacted French's wingman, ENS James C. Smith, and raced off to help Yorktown, much to the amazement of O'Neill and French, who continued to circle over their assigned station. Therefore, six "Wildcats" from Hornet and 12 from Yorktown, neither in good position, set out to intercept Kobayashi. Later, a division of four "Wildcats" from Enterprise's Fighting 6 would also engage this flight.
The Japanese strike group made visual contact with Task Force 17 at 1155, about 25 miles away. Still at a relatively low altitude, the eighteen "Vals" began a shallow climb to gain attack position. At 1200, Kobayashi sent this message:
We are attacking the enemy carrier. 0900 [0900, June 5, Tokyo Time]
At the same time, the first F4Fs, led by LT(jg) Arthur J. Brassfield made contact with the planes, about 15 miles from Yorktown, about two to three thousand feet above them. In the next few minutes, a wild, epic dogfight ensued. Several of the D3A's, including, apparently, the one flown by Kobayashi, engaged several of the F4Fs! During this dogfight it appear that Kobayashi jettisoned his bomb in order to engage the intercepting F4Fs. The four remaining A6Ms strained to catch up and join the melee`. By 1210, seven "Vals" had survived the intercept to gain position to attack Yorktown.
Number One. Am bombing enemy carrier. 0910
The first attacker, carrying a 242-kilogram "land bomb" was chopped into three large pieces by anti-aircraft, with its bomb tumbling onto the flight deck. A minute later, the second Type 99 plane attacked and was struck by anti-aircraft, with the plane and bomb falling into Yorktown's wake. The third attacker, PO2c Tsuchiya Takayoshi, of the 3rd Shotai, 1st Chutai (3rd section, 1st division in US Naval terms), scored a near miss with his 250-kilogram semi-armor-piercing bomb. Tsuchiya escaped back to Hiryu by staying at low level.
While the first three attackers approached west, astern of Yorktown, a second group of planes approached from the south. Four "Vals" from 2nd Chutai approached in a "line-abreast" off Yorktown's starboard side.
The first of this second group to dive was PO1c Matsumoto Sadao, of 1st Shotai. His attack commenced not long after Tsuchiya's near miss, scoring, like the Tsudchiya, a near miss astern of Yorktown. Next to attack was WO Nakazawa Iwao, with ENS (Special Service) Nakayama Shimematsu, leader of 2nd Shotai, in the rear seat. At about 1214, Nakazawa's 250 kilogram semi-armor-piercing bomb hit the flight deck amidship about 10 feet from the island. This hit damaged the fireroom uptakes for three boilers, meaning only one boiler was still in operation. Yorktown's speed dropped to six knots. Next was WO Nakagawa Shizuo, 3rd Shotai leader, who scored with his 250-kilogram bomb on the number one elevator. This was the third and last hit scored. The seventh and last pilot to attack was PO1c Seo Tetsuo, of the 2nd Shotai. His bomb was a near miss off Yorktown's starboard beam.
During the dive bombing attack, one of the "Vals" circled at 500 feet. One of VF-3s planes, piloted by LT(jg) Elbert S. McCuskey, made a run on this D3A, probably Kobayshi's plane, but he had already run out of ammunition. Kobayashi survived to send this, his final message:
Number Two. Fires break out on carrier. 09011
While Kobayashi survived this initial attack, he was shot down moments later by two pilots from VF-6, LT(jg) Thomas C. Provost, III and ENS James A. Halford, Jr.
LT Kobayashi's flight originally numbered 18. Seven of those planes survived with a bomb load to attack Yorktown. Of those seven, three scored direct hits and two near misses, and impressive total. Of the 18 dive bombers and four fighters that reached Task Force 17, US fighters shot down 11 bombers and three fighters for the loss of one fighter from Fighting 8. In addition, US anti-aircraft fire accounted for two more dive bombers.
NOTES
Model
This model of LT Kobayashi's D3A1 "Val" was built using the new (June 1998) Hasegawa 1/48th scale model of the aircraft. Markings were ascertained from Mark Horan's research, and were executed using a combination of the kit's Hinomarus and rank/command stripes, with painted blue fuselage stripes and tail codes from various kits. The upper surface green is PollyScale's IJN Green, lightened variously to show some weathering, and the lower surfaces are PollyScale's IJN Sky Grey. The cowling was painted with PollyScale's NATO Tri-Color Black.
The kit was built straight from the box with the following exceptions:
The kit's seats had to be replaced, being grossly under scale - the only defect in this otherwise beautiful kit. I modified the pilot's seat and placed it in the gunner's position, and for the pilot's seat I modified a Cooper Details WWII resin aircraft seat, and added a lap belt.
The kit's exhausts and pitot tube were replaced with stainless steel tubing.
Account of the Flight
The account above is largely based upon the excellent work of John B. Lundstrom's The First Team: Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway. For a more detailed account of this action, read this outstanding book.