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9,700 | One B-26, piloted by Lieutenant James Muri, after dropping his torpedo and searching for a safer escape route, flew directly down the length of "Akagi" while being chased by interceptors and anti-aircraft fire, which had to hold their fire to avoid hitting their own flagship. As it flew down the length of the ship, the B-26 strafed "Akagi", killing two men. Another B-26, which had been seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire, didn't pull out of its run, and instead headed directly for "Akagi"s bridge. The aircraft, either attempting a suicide ramming, or out of control due to battle damage or a wounded or killed pilot, narrowly missed crashing into the carrier's bridge, which could have killed Nagumo and his command staff, before it cartwheeled into the sea. This experience may well have contributed to Nagumo's determination to launch another attack on Midway, in direct violation of Yamamoto's order to keep the reserve strike force armed for anti-ship operations. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,701 | While the air strikes from Midway were going on, the American submarine "Nautilus" (Lt. Commander William Brockman) found herself near the Japanese fleet, attracting attention from the escorts. Around 08:20, she made an unsuccessful torpedo attack on a battleship and then had to dive to evade the escorts. At 09:10, she launched a torpedo at a cruiser and again had to dive to evade the escorts, with destroyer "Arashi" spending considerable time chasing "Nautilus". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,702 | In accordance with Yamamoto's orders for Operation MI, Admiral Nagumo had kept half of his aircraft in reserve. These comprised two squadrons each of dive bombers and torpedo bombers. The dive bombers were as yet unarmed (this was doctrinal: dive bombers were to be armed on the flight deck). The torpedo bombers were armed with torpedoes should any American warships be located. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,703 | At 07:15, Nagumo ordered his reserve planes to be re-armed with contact-fused general-purpose bombs for use against land targets. This was a result of the attacks from Midway, as well as of the morning flight leader's recommendation of a second strike. Re-arming had been underway for about 30 minutes when, at 07:40, the delayed scout plane from "Tone" signaled that it had sighted a sizable American naval force to the east, but neglected to specify its composition. Later evidence suggests Nagumo did not receive the sighting report until 08:00. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,704 | Nagumo quickly reversed his order to re-arm the bombers with general-purpose bombs and demanded that the scout plane ascertain the composition of the American force. Another 20–40 minutes elapsed before "Tone"s scout finally radioed the presence of a single carrier in the American force. This was one of the carriers from Task Force 16. The other carrier was not sighted. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,705 | Nagumo was now in a quandary. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, leading Carrier Division 2 ("Hiryū" and "Sōryū"), recommended that Nagumo strike immediately with the forces at hand: 16 Aichi D3A1 dive bombers on "Sōryū" and 18 on "Hiryū", and half the ready cover patrol aircraft. Nagumo's opportunity to hit the American ships was now limited by the imminent return of his Midway strike force. The returning strike force needed to land promptly or it would have to ditch into the sea. Because of the constant flight deck activity associated with combat air patrol operations during the preceding hour, the Japanese never had an opportunity to position ("spot") their reserve planes on the flight deck for launch. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,706 | The few aircraft on the Japanese flight decks at the time of the attack were either defensive fighters or, in the case of "Sōryū", fighters being spotted to augment the combat air patrol. Spotting his flight decks and launching aircraft would have required at least 30 minutes. Furthermore, by spotting and launching immediately, Nagumo would be committing some of his reserves to battle without proper anti-ship armament, and likely without fighter escort; indeed, he had just witnessed how easily the unescorted American bombers had been shot down. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,707 | Japanese naval doctrine preferred the launching of fully constituted strikes rather than piecemeal attacks. Without confirmation of whether the American force included carriers (not received until 08:20), Nagumo's reaction was doctrinaire. In addition, the arrival of another land-based American air strike at 07:53 gave weight to the need to attack the island again. In the end, Nagumo decided to wait for his first strike force to land, and "then" launch the reserve, which would by then be properly armed with torpedoes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,708 | Had Nagumo elected to launch the available aircraft around 07:45 and risked the ditching of Tomonaga's strike force, they would have formed a powerful and well-balanced strike package that had the potential to sink two American carriers. Furthermore, fueled and armed aircraft inside the ships presented a significant additional hazard in terms of damage to the carriers in an event of attack, and keeping them on the decks was much more dangerous than getting them airborne. Whatever the case, at that point there was no way to stop the American strike against him, since Fletcher's carriers had launched their planes beginning at 07:00 (with "Enterprise" and "Hornet" having completed launching by 07:55, but "Yorktown" not until 09:08), so the aircraft that would deliver the crushing blow were already on their way. Even if Nagumo had not strictly followed carrier doctrine, he could not have prevented the launch of the American attack. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,709 | The Americans had already launched their carrier aircraft against the Japanese. Fletcher, in overall command aboard "Yorktown", and benefiting from PBY sighting reports from the early morning, ordered Spruance to launch against the Japanese as soon as was practical, while initially holding "Yorktown" in reserve in case any other Japanese carriers were found. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,710 | Spruance judged that, though the range was extreme, a strike could succeed and gave the order to launch the attack. He then left Halsey's Chief of Staff, Captain Miles Browning, to work out the details and oversee the launch. The carriers had to launch into the wind, so the light southeasterly breeze would require them to steam away from the Japanese at high speed. Browning, therefore, suggested a launch time of 07:00, giving the carriers an hour to close on the Japanese at . This would place them at about from the Japanese fleet, assuming it did not change course. The first plane took off from Spruance's carriers "Enterprise" and "Hornet" a few minutes after 07:00. Fletcher, upon completing his own scouting flights, followed suit at 08:00 from "Yorktown". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,711 | Fletcher, along with "Yorktown"s commanding officer, Captain Elliott Buckmaster, and their staffs, had acquired the first-hand experience needed in organizing and launching a full strike against an enemy force in the Coral Sea, but there was no time to pass these lessons on to "Enterprise" and "Hornet" which were tasked with launching the first strike. Spruance ordered the striking aircraft to proceed to target immediately, rather than waste time waiting for the strike force to assemble, since neutralizing enemy carriers was the key to the survival of his own task force. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,712 | While the Japanese were able to launch 108 aircraft in just seven minutes, it took "Enterprise" and "Hornet" over an hour to launch 117. Spruance judged that the need to throw something at the enemy as soon as possible was greater than the need to coordinate the attack by aircraft of different types and speeds (fighters, bombers, and torpedo bombers). Accordingly, American squadrons were launched piecemeal and proceeded to the target in several different groups. It was accepted that the lack of coordination would diminish the impact of the American attacks and increase their casualties, but Spruance calculated that this was worthwhile, since keeping the Japanese under aerial attack impaired their ability to launch a counterstrike (Japanese tactics preferred fully constituted attacks), and he gambled that he would find Nagumo with his flight decks at their most vulnerable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,713 | American carrier aircraft had difficulty locating the target, despite the positions they had been given. The strike from "Hornet", led by Commander Stanhope C. Ring, followed an incorrect heading of 265 degrees rather than the 240 degrees indicated by the contact report. As a result, Air Group Eight's dive bombers missed the Japanese carriers. Torpedo Squadron 8 (VT-8, from "Hornet"), led by Lieutenant Commander John C. Waldron, broke formation from Ring and followed the correct heading. The 10 F4Fs from "Hornet" ran out of fuel and had to ditch. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,714 | Waldron's squadron sighted the enemy carriers and began attacking at 09:20, followed at 09:40 by VF-6 from "Enterprise", whose Wildcat fighter escorts lost contact, ran low on fuel, and had to turn back. Without fighter escort, all 15 TBD Devastators of VT-8 were shot down without being able to inflict any damage. Ensign George H. Gay, Jr. was the only survivor of the 30 aircrews of VT-8. He completed his torpedo attack on the aircraft carrier "Sōryū" before he was shot down, but "Sōryū" evaded his torpedo. Meanwhile, VT-6, led by LCDR Eugene E. Lindsey lost nine of its 14 Devastators (one ditched later), and 10 of 12 Devastators from "Yorktown"s VT-3 (who attacked at 10:10) were shot down with no hits to show for their effort, thanks in part to the abysmal performance of their unimproved Mark 13 torpedoes. Midway was the last time the TBD Devastator was used in combat. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,715 | The Japanese combat air patrol, flying Mitsubishi A6M2 Zeros, made short work of the unescorted, slow, under-armed TBDs. A few TBDs managed to get within a few ship-lengths range of their targets before dropping their torpedoes—close enough to be able to strafe the enemy ships and force the Japanese carriers to make sharp evasive maneuvers—but all of their torpedoes either missed or failed to explode. The performance of American torpedoes in the early months of the war was extremely poor, as shot after shot missed by running directly under the target (deeper than intended), prematurely exploded, or hit targets (sometimes with an audible clang) and failed to explode at all. Remarkably, senior Navy and Bureau of Ordnance officers never questioned why half a dozen torpedoes, released so close to the Japanese carriers, produced no results. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,716 | Despite their failure to score any hits, the American torpedo attacks achieved three important results. First, they kept the Japanese carriers off balance and unable to prepare and launch their own counterstrike. Second, the poor control of the Japanese combat air patrol (CAP) meant they were out of position for subsequent attacks. Third, many of the Zeros ran low on ammunition and fuel. The appearance of a third torpedo plane attack from the southeast by VT-3 from "Yorktown", led by LCDR Lance Edward Massey at 10:00 very quickly drew the majority of the Japanese CAP to the southeast quadrant of the fleet. Better discipline and the employment of a greater number of Zeroes for the CAP might have enabled Nagumo to prevent (or at least mitigate) the damage caused by the coming American attacks. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,717 | By chance, at the same time VT-3 was sighted by the Japanese, three squadrons of SBDs from "Enterprise" and "Yorktown" were approaching from the southwest and northeast. The "Yorktown" squadron (VB-3) had flown just behind VT-3, but elected to attack from a different course. The two squadrons from "Enterprise" (VB-6 and VS-6) were running low on fuel because of the time spent looking for the enemy. Air Group Commander C. Wade McClusky, Jr. decided to continue the search, and by good fortune spotted the wake of the Japanese destroyer , steaming at full speed to rejoin Nagumo's carriers after having unsuccessfully depth-charged U.S. submarine , which had unsuccessfully attacked the battleship . Some bombers were lost from fuel exhaustion before the attack commenced. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,718 | McClusky's decision to continue the search and his judgment, in the opinion of Admiral Chester Nimitz, "decided the fate of our carrier task force and our forces at Midway ..." All three American dive-bomber squadrons (VB-6, VS-6, and VB-3) arrived almost simultaneously at the perfect time, locations and altitudes to attack. Most of the Japanese CAP was directing its attention to the torpedo planes of VT-3 and was out of position; meanwhile, armed Japanese strike aircraft filled the hangar decks, fuel hoses snaked across the decks as refueling operations were hastily being completed, and the repeated change of ordnance meant that bombs and torpedoes were stacked around the hangars, rather than stowed safely in the magazines, making the Japanese carriers extraordinarily vulnerable. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,719 | Beginning at 10:22, the two squadrons of "Enterprise"s air group split up with the intention of sending one squadron each to attack "Kaga" and "Akagi". A miscommunication caused both of the squadrons to dive at "Kaga". Recognizing the error, Lieutenant Richard Halsey Best and his two wingmen were able to pull out of their dives and, after judging that "Kaga" was doomed, headed north to attack "Akagi". Coming under an onslaught of bombs from almost two full squadrons, "Kaga" sustained three to five direct hits, which caused heavy damage and started multiple fires. One of the bombs landed on or right in front of the bridge, killing Captain Jisaku Okada and most of the ship's senior officers. Lieutenant Clarence E. Dickinson, part of McClusky's group, recalled: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,720 | Several minutes later, Best and his two wingmen dove on "Akagi". Mitsuo Fuchida, the Japanese aviator who had led the attack on Pearl Harbor, was on "Akagi" when it was hit, and described the attack: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,721 | Although "Akagi" sustained only one direct hit (almost certainly dropped by Lieutenant Best), it proved to be a fatal blow: the bomb struck the edge of the mid-ship deck elevator and penetrated to the upper hangar deck, where it exploded among the armed and fueled aircraft in the vicinity. Nagumo's chief of staff, Ryūnosuke Kusaka, recorded "a terrific fire ... bodies all over the place ... Planes stood tail up, belching livid flames and jet-black smoke, making it impossible to bring the fires under control." Another bomb exploded underwater very close astern; the resulting geyser bent the flight deck upward "in grotesque configurations" and caused crucial rudder damage. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,722 | Simultaneously, "Yorktown"s VB-3, commanded by Max Leslie, went for "Sōryū", scoring at least three hits and causing extensive damage. Gasoline ignited, creating an "inferno", while stacked bombs and ammunition detonated. VT-3 targeted "Hiryū", which was hemmed in by "Sōryū", "Kaga", and "Akagi", but achieved no hits. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,723 | Within six minutes, "Sōryū" and "Kaga" were ablaze from stem to stern, as fires spread through the ships. "Akagi", having been struck by only one bomb, took longer to burn, but the resulting fires quickly expanded and soon proved impossible to extinguish; she too was eventually consumed by flames and had to be abandoned. As Nagumo began to grasp the enormity of what had happened, he appears to have gone into a state of shock. Witnesses saw Nagumo standing near the ship's compass looking out at the flames on his flagship and two other carriers in a trance-like daze. Despite being asked to abandon the ship, Nagumo did not move and was reluctant to leave the "Akagi", just muttering, "It's not time yet." Nagumo's chief of staff, Rear Admiral Ryūnosuke Kusaka, was able to persuade him to leave the critically damaged "Akagi". Nagumo, with a barely perceptible nod, with tears in his eyes, agreed to go. At 10:46, Admiral Nagumo transferred his flag to the light cruiser . All three carriers remained temporarily afloat, as none had suffered damage below the waterline, other than the rudder damage to "Akagi" caused by the near miss close astern. Despite initial hopes that "Akagi" could be saved or at least towed back to Japan, all three carriers were eventually abandoned and scuttled. While "Kaga" was burning, "Nautilus" showed up again and launched three torpedoes at her, scoring one dud hit. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,724 | "Hiryū", the sole surviving Japanese aircraft carrier, wasted little time in counterattacking. "Hiryū"s first attack wave, consisting of 18 D3As and six fighter escorts, followed the retreating American aircraft and attacked the first carrier they encountered, "Yorktown", hitting her with three bombs, which blew a hole in the deck, snuffed out all but one of her boilers, and destroyed one anti-aircraft mount. The damage also forced Admiral Fletcher to move his command staff to the heavy cruiser . Damage control parties were able to temporarily patch the flight deck and restore power to several boilers within an hour, giving her a speed of and enabling her to resume air operations. "Yorktown" hoisted a flag signal to indicate a speed of 5 knots. Captain Buckmaster had his signalmen hoist a huge new (10 feet wide and 15 feet long) American flag from the foremast. Thirteen Japanese dive bombers and three escorting fighters were lost in this attack (two escorting fighters turned back early after they were damaged attacking some of "Enterprise"s SBDs returning from their attack on the Japanese carriers). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,725 | Approximately one hour later, "Hiryū's" second attack wave, consisting of ten B5Ns and six escorting A6Ms, arrived over "Yorktown"; the repair efforts had been so effective that the Japanese pilots assumed that "Yorktown" must be a different, undamaged carrier. They attacked, crippling "Yorktown" with two torpedoes; she lost all power and developed a 23-degree list to port. Five torpedo bombers and two fighters were shot down in this attack. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,726 | News of the two strikes, with the mistaken reports that each had sunk an American carrier, greatly improved Japanese morale. The few surviving aircraft were all recovered aboard "Hiryū". Despite the heavy losses, the Japanese believed that they could scrape together enough aircraft for one more strike against what they believed to be the only remaining American carrier. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,727 | Late in the afternoon, a "Yorktown" scout aircraft located "Hiryū", prompting "Enterprise" to launch a final strike of 24 dive bombers (including six SBDs from VS-6, four SBDs from VB-6, and 14 SBDs from "Yorktown"s VB-3). Despite "Hiryū" being defended by a strong cover of more than a dozen Zero fighters, the attack by "Enterprise" and orphaned "Yorktown" aircraft launched from "Enterprise" was successful: four bombs (possibly five) hit "Hiryū", leaving her ablaze and unable to operate aircraft. "Hornet"s strike, launched late because of a communications error, concentrated on the remaining escort ships, but failed to score any hits. "Enterprise" dive bomber Dusty Kleiss struck "Hiryū" on the bow, essentially crippling her. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,728 | After futile attempts at controlling the blaze, most of the crew remaining on "Hiryū" were evacuated and the remainder of the fleet continued sailing northeast in an attempt to intercept the American carriers. Despite a scuttling attempt by a Japanese destroyer that hit her with a torpedo and then departed quickly, "Hiryū" stayed afloat for several more hours. She was discovered early the next morning by an aircraft from the escort carrier , prompting hopes she could be saved, or at least towed back to Japan. Soon after being spotted, "Hiryū" sank. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi, together with the ship's captain, Tomeo Kaku, chose to go down with the ship, costing Japan perhaps its best carrier officer. One young sailor reportedly tried to go down with the ship with the officers, but was denied. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,729 | As darkness fell, both sides took stock and made tentative plans for continuing the action. Admiral Fletcher, obliged to abandon the derelict "Yorktown" and feeling he could not adequately command from a cruiser, ceded operational command to Spruance. Spruance knew the United States had won a great victory, but he was still unsure of what Japanese forces remained and was determined to safeguard both Midway and his carriers. To aid his aviators, who had launched at extreme range, he had continued to close with Nagumo during the day and persisted as night fell. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,730 | Finally, fearing a possible night encounter with Japanese surface forces, and believing Yamamoto still intended to invade, based in part on a misleading contact report from the submarine , Spruance changed course and withdrew to the east, turning back west towards the enemy at midnight. For his part, Yamamoto initially decided to continue the engagement and sent his remaining surface forces searching eastward for the American carriers. Simultaneously, he detached a cruiser raiding force to bombard the island. The Japanese surface forces failed to make contact with the Americans because Spruance had decided to briefly withdraw eastward, and Yamamoto ordered a general withdrawal to the west. It was fortunate for the U.S. that Spruance did not pursue, for had he come in contact with Yamamoto's heavy ships, including , in the dark, considering the Japanese Navy's superiority in night-attack tactics at the time, there is a very high probability his cruisers would have been overwhelmed and his carriers sunk. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,731 | Spruance failed to regain contact with Yamamoto's forces on 5 June, despite extensive searches. Towards the end of the day, he launched a search-and-destroy mission to seek out any remnants of Nagumo's carrier force. This late afternoon strike narrowly missed detecting Yamamoto's main body and failed to score hits on a straggling Japanese destroyer. The strike planes returned to the carriers after nightfall, prompting Spruance to order "Enterprise" and "Hornet" to turn on their lights to aid the landings. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,732 | At 02:15 on the morning of 5 June, Commander John Murphy's , lying west of Midway, made the second of the submarine force's two major contributions to the battle's outcome, although its impact was heavily blunted by Murphy himself. Sighting several ships, neither Murphy nor his executive officer, Edward Spruance (son of Admiral Spruance), could identify them. Uncertain of whether they were friendly or not and unwilling to approach any closer to verify their heading or type, Murphy decided to send a vague report of "four large ships" to Admiral Robert English, Commander, Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC). This report was passed on by English to Nimitz, who then sent it to Spruance. Spruance, a former submarine commander, was "understandably furious" at the vagueness of Murphy's report, as it provided him with little more than suspicion and no concrete information on which to make his preparations. Unaware of the exact location of Yamamoto's "Main Body" (a persistent problem since the time PBYs had first sighted the Japanese), Spruance was forced to assume the "four large ships" reported by "Tambor" represented the main invasion force and so he moved to block it, while staying northeast of Midway. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,733 | In reality, the ships sighted by "Tambor" were the detachment of four cruisers and two destroyers Yamamoto had sent to bombard Midway. At 02:55, these ships received Yamamoto's order to retire and changed course to comply. At about the same time as this change of course, "Tambor" was sighted and during maneuvers designed to avoid a submarine attack, the heavy cruisers and collided, inflicting serious damage on "Mogami"s bow. The less severely damaged "Mikuma" slowed to to keep pace. Only at 04:12 did the sky brighten enough for Murphy to be certain the ships were Japanese, by which time staying surfaced was hazardous and he dived to approach for an attack. The attack was unsuccessful and around 06:00 he finally reported two westbound s, before diving again and playing no further role in the battle. Limping along on a straight course at 12 knots—roughly one-third their top speed—"Mogami" and "Mikuma" had been almost perfect targets for a submarine attack. As soon as "Tambor" returned to port, Spruance had Murphy relieved of duty and reassigned to a shore station, citing his confusing contact report, poor torpedo shooting during his attack run, and general lack of aggression, especially as compared to "Nautilus", the oldest of the 12 boats at Midway and the only one which had successfully placed a torpedo on target (albeit a dud). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,734 | Over the next two days, several strikes were launched against the stragglers, first from Midway, then from Spruance's carriers. "Mikuma" was eventually sunk by Dauntlesses, while "Mogami" survived further severe damage to return home for repairs. The destroyers and were also bombed and strafed during the last of these attacks. Captain Richard E. Fleming, a U.S. Marine Corps aviator, was killed while executing a glide bomb run on "Mikuma" and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,735 | Meanwhile, salvage efforts on "Yorktown" were encouraging, and she was taken in tow by fleet tug . In the late afternoon of 6 June, the , which had managed to slip through the cordon of destroyers (possibly because of the large amount of debris in the water), fired a salvo of torpedoes, two of which struck "Yorktown". There were few casualties aboard since most of the crew had already been evacuated, but a third torpedo from this salvo struck the destroyer , which had been providing auxiliary power to "Yorktown". "Hammann" broke in two and sank with the loss of 80 lives, mostly because her own depth charges exploded. With further salvage efforts deemed hopeless, the remaining repair crews were evacuated from "Yorktown". Throughout the night of 6 June and into the morning of 7 June, "Yorktown" remained afloat; but by 05:30 on 7 June, observers noted that her list was rapidly increasing to port. Shortly afterward, the ship turned onto her port side revealing the torpedo hole in her starboard bilge. At 07:01, the ship rolled upside-down, and slowly sank, stern first, in 3,000 fathoms (5,500 m) of water. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,736 | Enterprise SBD Dauntless dive bomber pilot Norman "Dusty" Kleiss, who scored three hits on Japanese ships during the Battle of Midway (aircraft carriers "Kaga" and "Hiryu" and heavy cruiser "Mikuma"), wrote: "From the experience in the Marshalls, at Wake and at Marcus, I thought our fleet learned its lessons. We could not send TBDs into action unless they had adequate smoke protection and torpedoes that exploded more than 10 percent of the time." | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,737 | "Akagi": 267; "Kaga": 811; "Hiryū": 392 (including Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi who chose to go down with his ship); "Soryū": 711 (including Captain Yanagimoto, who chose to remain on board); a total of 2,181. The heavy cruisers "Mikuma" (sunk; 700 casualties) and "Mogami" (badly damaged; 92) accounted for another 792 deaths. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,738 | In addition, the destroyers "Arashio" (bombed; 35) and "Asashio" (strafed by aircraft; 21) were both damaged during the air attacks which sank "Mikuma" and caused further damage to "Mogami". Floatplanes were lost from the cruisers "Chikuma" (3) and "Tone" (2). Dead aboard the destroyers "Tanikaze" (11), "Arashi" (1), "Kazagumo" (1) and the fleet oiler "Akebono Maru" (10) made up the remaining 23 casualties. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,739 | At the end of the battle, the U.S. lost the carrier "Yorktown" and a destroyer, "Hammann". 307 Americans had been killed, including Major General Clarence L. Tinker, Commander, 7th Air Force, who personally led a bomber strike from Hawaii against the retreating Japanese forces on 7 June. He was killed when his aircraft crashed near Midway Island. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,740 | After winning a clear victory, and as pursuit became too hazardous near Wake, American forces retired. Spruance once again withdrew to the east to refuel his destroyers and rendezvous with the carrier "Saratoga", which was ferrying much-needed replacement aircraft. Fletcher transferred his flag to "Saratoga" on the afternoon of 8 June and resumed command of the carrier force. For the remainder of that day and then 9 June, Fletcher continued to launch search missions from the three carriers to ensure the Japanese were no longer advancing on Midway. Late on 10 June a decision was made to leave the area and the American carriers eventually returned to Pearl Harbor. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,741 | Historian Samuel E. Morison noted in 1949 that Spruance was subjected to much criticism for not pursuing the retreating Japanese, thus allowing their surface fleet to escape. Clay Blair argued in 1975 that had Spruance pressed on, he would have been unable to launch his aircraft after nightfall, and his cruisers would have been overwhelmed by Yamamoto's powerful surface units, including "Yamato". Furthermore, the American air groups had suffered considerable losses, including most of their torpedo bombers. This made it unlikely that they would be effective in an airstrike against the Japanese battleships, even if they had managed to catch them during the daytime. Also, by this time Spruance's destroyers were critically low on fuel. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,742 | On 10 June, the Imperial Japanese Navy conveyed to the military liaison conference an incomplete picture of the results of the battle. Chūichi Nagumo's detailed battle report was submitted to the high command on 15 June. It was intended only for the highest echelons in the Japanese Navy and government and was guarded closely throughout the war. In it, one of the more striking revelations is the comment on the Mobile Force Commander's (Nagumo's) estimates: "The enemy is not aware of our plans (we were not discovered until early in the morning of the 5th at the earliest)." In reality, the whole operation had been compromised from the beginning by American code-breaking efforts. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,743 | The Japanese public and much of the military command structure were kept in the dark about the extent of the defeat: Japanese news announced a great victory. Only Emperor Hirohito and the highest Navy command personnel were accurately informed of the carrier and pilot losses. Consequently, even the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) continued to believe, for at least a short time, that the fleet was in good condition. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,744 | On the return of the Japanese fleet to Hashirajima on 14 June the wounded were immediately transferred to naval hospitals; most were classified as "secret patients", placed in isolation wards and quarantined from other patients and their own families to keep this major defeat secret. The remaining officers and men were quickly dispersed to other units of the fleet and, without being allowed to see family or friends, were shipped to units in the South Pacific, where the majority died in battle. None of the flag officers or staff of the Combined Fleet were penalized, and Nagumo was later placed in command of the rebuilt carrier force.A reason Nagumo wasn't relieved of command was that he reported two American carriers had been sunk, not one actually sunk. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,745 | As a result of the defeat, new procedures were adopted whereby more Japanese aircraft were refueled and re-armed on the flight deck, rather than in the hangars, and the practice of draining all unused fuel lines was adopted. The new carriers being built were redesigned to incorporate only two flight deck elevators and new firefighting equipment. More carrier crew members were trained in damage-control and firefighting techniques, although the losses of the "Shōkaku", ', and especially ' later in the war suggest that there were still problems in this area. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,746 | Replacement pilots were pushed through an abbreviated training regimen in order to meet the short-term needs of the fleet. This led to a sharp decline in the quality of the aviators produced. These inexperienced pilots were fed into front-line units, while the veterans who remained after Midway and the Solomons campaign were forced to share an increased workload as conditions grew more desperate, with few being given a chance to rest in rear areas or in the home islands. As a result, Japanese naval air groups as a whole progressively deteriorated during the war while their American adversaries continued to improve. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,747 | Three U.S. airmen were captured during the battle: Ensign Wesley Osmus, a pilot from "Yorktown"; Ensign Frank O'Flaherty, a pilot from "Enterprise"; and Aviation Machinist's Mate Bruno Peter Gaido, O'Flaherty's radioman-gunner. Osmus was held on "Arashi"; O'Flaherty and Gaido on the cruiser "Nagara" (or destroyer "Makigumo", sources vary); O'Flaherty and Gaido were interrogated and then killed by being tied to water-filled kerosene cans and thrown overboard to drown. Osmus was slated for the same fate; however, he resisted and was murdered on the "Arashi" with a fire ax, and his body was thrown overboard. The report filed by Nagumo tersely states that Osmus, "... died on 6 June and was buried at sea"; O'Flaherty and Gaido's fates were not mentioned in Nagumo's report. The execution of Osmus in this manner was apparently ordered by "Arashi"s captain, Watanabe Yasumasa. Yasumasa died when the destroyer sank in December 1943 but had he survived, he would have likely been tried as a war criminal. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,748 | Two enlisted men from "Mikuma" were rescued from a life raft on 9 June by and taken to Pearl Harbor. After receiving medical care, at least one of these sailors cooperated during interrogation and provided intelligence. Another 35 crewmen from "Hiryū" were taken from a lifeboat by on 19 June after being spotted by an American search plane. They were taken to Midway and then transferred to Pearl Harbor on . | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,749 | The Battle of Midway has often been called "the turning point of the Pacific". It was the Allies' first major naval victory against the Japanese. Had Japan won the battle as thoroughly as the U.S. did, it might have been able to conquer Midway Island. "Saratoga" would have been the only American carrier in the Pacific, as no new ones were completed before the end of 1942. While the U.S. would probably not have sought peace with Japan as Yamamoto hoped, his country might have revived Operation FS to invade and occupy Fiji and Samoa; attacked Australia, Alaska, and Ceylon; or even attempted to conquer Hawaii. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,750 | Although the Japanese continued to try to secure more territory, and the U.S. did not move from a state of naval parity to one of supremacy until after several more months of hard combat, Midway allowed the Allies to switch to the strategic initiative, paving the way for the landings on Guadalcanal and the prolonged attrition of the Solomon Islands campaign. Midway allowed this to occur before the first of the new "Essex"-class fleet carriers became available at the end of 1942. The Guadalcanal Campaign is also regarded by some as a turning point in the Pacific War. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,751 | Some authors have stated that heavy losses in carriers and veteran aircrews at Midway permanently weakened the Imperial Japanese Navy. Parshall and Tully have stated that the heavy losses in veteran aircrew (110, just under 25% of the aircrew embarked on the four carriers) were not crippling to the Japanese naval air corps as a whole; the Japanese navy had 2,000 carrier-qualified aircrews at the start of the Pacific war. The loss of four large fleet carriers and over 40% of the carriers' highly trained aircraft mechanics and technicians, plus the essential flight-deck crews and armorers, and the loss of organizational knowledge embodied in such highly trained crews, were still heavy blows to the Japanese carrier fleet. A few months after Midway, the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service sustained similar casualty rates in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands, and it was these battles, combined with the constant attrition of veterans during the Solomons campaign, which were the catalyst for the sharp downward spiral in operational capability. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,752 | After the battle, "Shōkaku" and "Zuikaku" were the only large carriers of the original Pearl Harbor strike force still afloat. Of Japan's other carriers, "Taihō", which was not commissioned until early 1944, would be the only fleet carrier worth teaming with "Shōkaku" and "Zuikaku"; and were light carriers, while and , although technically classified as fleet carriers, were second-rate ships of comparatively limited effectiveness. In the time it took Japan to build three carriers, the U.S. Navy commissioned more than two dozen fleet and light fleet carriers, and numerous escort carriers. By 1942 the United States was already three years into a shipbuilding program mandated by the Second Vinson Act of 1938. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,753 | Both the United States and Japan accelerated the training of aircrew, but the United States had a more effective pilot rotation system, which meant that more veterans survived and went on to training or command billets, where they were able to pass on lessons they had learned in combat to trainees, instead of remaining in combat, where errors were more likely to be fatal. By the time of the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944, the Japanese had nearly rebuilt their carrier forces in terms of numbers, but their planes, many of which were obsolete, were largely flown by inexperienced and poorly trained pilots. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,754 | Midway showed the worth of pre-war naval cryptanalysis and intelligence-gathering. These efforts continued and were expanded throughout the war in both the Pacific and Atlantic theaters. Successes were numerous and significant. For instance, cryptanalysis made possible the shooting down of Admiral Yamamoto's airplane in 1943. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,755 | The Battle of Midway also caused the plan of Japan and Nazi Germany to meet up in the Indian subcontinent to be abandoned. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,756 | The Battle of Midway redefined the central importance of air superiority for the remainder of the war when the Japanese suddenly lost their four main aircraft carriers and were forced to return home. Without any form of air superiority, the Japanese never again launched a major offensive in the Pacific. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,757 | Because of the extreme depth of the ocean in the area of the battle (more than ), researching the battlefield has presented extraordinary difficulties. On 19 May 1998, Robert Ballard and a team of scientists and Midway veterans from both sides located and photographed "Yorktown", which was located deep. The ship was remarkably intact for a vessel that had sunk in 1942; much of the original equipment and even the original paint scheme were still visible. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,758 | In September 1999, a joint expedition between Nauticos Corp. and the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office searched for the Japanese aircraft carriers. Using advanced renavigation techniques in conjunction with the ship's log of the submarine USS "Nautilus", the expedition located a large piece of wreckage, subsequently identified as having come from the upper hangar deck of "Kaga". The crew of the research vessel RV "Petrel", in conjunction with the U.S. Navy, announced on 18 October 2019 that it had found the Japanese carrier "Kaga" lying beneath the waves. The crew of "Petrel" confirmed the discovery of another Japanese carrier, the "Akagi", on 21 October 2019. The "Akagi" was found in the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument resting in nearly of water more than northwest of Pearl Harbor. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,759 | Chicago Municipal Airport, important to the war effort in World War II, was renamed Chicago Midway International Airport (or simply Midway Airport) in 1949 in honor of the battle. Waldron Field, an outlying training landing strip at Corpus Christi NAS, as well as Waldron Road leading to the strip, was named in honor of John C. Waldron, the commander of USS "Hornet"s Torpedo Squadron 8. Yorktown Boulevard leading away from the strip was named for the U.S. carrier sunk in the battle. Henderson Field, in Guadalcanal, was named in honor of United States Marine Corps Major Lofton Henderson, who was the first Marine aviator to perish during the battle. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,760 | An escort carrier, USS "Midway" (CVE-63) was commissioned on 17 August 1943. She was renamed "St. Lo" on 10 October 1944 to clear the name "Midway" for a large fleet aircraft carrier, , which was commissioned on 10 September 1945, eight days after the Japanese surrender, and is now docked in San Diego, California, as the USS "Midway" Museum. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,761 | On 13 September 2000, Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt designated the lands and waters of Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge as the Battle of Midway National Memorial. Tinker Air Force Base, outside Oklahoma City, Oklahoma is named in honor of Major General Clarence L. Tinker, Commander, 7th Air Force, who personally led a bomber strike from Hawaii against the retreating Japanese forces on 7 June. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,762 | John Ford directed two films about the events: the 18-minute 1942 Movietone News documentary (released by the War Activities Committee) "The Battle of Midway", which received the 1942 Academy Award for Best Documentary; and the eight-minute documentary "Torpedo Squadron 8", which describes the heroism of Torpedo Squadron 8 of the . Ford, who was a Navy Reserve Commander at the time, was present on Midway Atoll's power plant at Sand Island during the Japanese attack and filmed it. He received combat wounds from enemy fire in his arm during the filming. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=60112 |
9,763 | The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,764 | After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, which focused largely on efficiency. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,765 | The program was launched on April 26, 2004, with an order for 50 aircraft from All Nippon Airways (ANA), targeting a 2008 introduction. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,766 | On July 8, 2007, a prototype 787 was rolled out without major operating systems, and then the aircraft experienced multiple delays until its maiden flight on December 15, 2009. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,767 | Type certification was received in August 2011 and the first 787-8 was delivered in September 2011 before entering commercial service on October 26, 2011, with ANA. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,768 | At launch, Boeing targeted the 787 with 20% less fuel burn than replaced aircraft like the Boeing 767, carrying 200 to 300 passengers on point-to-point routes up to , a shift from hub-and-spoke travel. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,769 | The twinjet is powered by General Electric GEnx or Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 high-bypass turbofans. It is the first airliner with an airframe primarily made of composite materials and makes extensive use of electrical systems. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,770 | Externally, it is recognizable by its four-window cockpit, raked wingtips, and noise-reducing chevrons on its engine nacelles. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,771 | Development and production rely increasingly on subcontractors around the world, with final assembly at Boeing South Carolina in North Charleston, after having also been assembled in the Boeing Everett Factory in Washington until March 2021. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,772 | The initial 787-8 typically seats 242 passengers over a range of , with a MTOW compared to for later variants. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,773 | The stretched 787-9, long, can fly with 290 passengers; it entered service on August 7, 2014, with ANA. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,774 | The further stretched 787-10, long, seating 330 over , entered service with Singapore Airlines on April 3, 2018. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,775 | Early 787 operations encountered several problems caused mainly by its lithium-ion batteries, and which culminated in fires on board some aircraft. In January 2013, the US FAA grounded all 787s until it approved the revised battery design in April 2013. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,776 | Significant quality control issues from 2019 onwards caused a production slowdown and, from January 2021 until August 2022, an almost total cessation of deliveries. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,777 | Due to ballooning production costs, Boeing has spent $32 billion on the program; estimates for the number of aircraft sales needed to break even vary between 1,300 and 2,000. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,778 | , the 787 program has booked a total of 1,499 orders and made 1,015 deliveries while recording zero fatalities and no hull losses. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,779 | During the late 1990s, Boeing considered replacement aircraft programs due to slowing sales of the 767 and 747-400. Two new aircraft were proposed. The 747X would have lengthened the 747-400 and improved efficiency, and the Sonic Cruiser would have achieved 15% higher speeds (approximately Mach 0.98) while burning fuel at the same rate as the 767. Market interest for the 747X was tepid; however, several major American airlines, including Continental Airlines, showed initial enthusiasm for the Sonic Cruiser, although concerns about the operating cost were also expressed. The global airline market was disrupted by the 9/11 attacks and increased petroleum prices, making airlines more interested in efficiency than speed. The worst-affected airlines, those in the United States, had been considered the most likely customers of the Sonic Cruiser; thus the Sonic Cruiser was officially canceled on December 20, 2002. On January 29, 2003, Boeing announced an alternative product, the 7E7, using Sonic Cruiser technology in a more conventional configuration. The emphasis on a smaller midsize twinjet rather than a large 747-size aircraft represented a shift from the hub-and-spoke theory toward the point-to-point theory, in response to analysis of focus groups. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,780 | Randy Baseler, Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP Marketing stated that airport congestion comes from large numbers of regional jets and small single-aisles, flying to destinations where a 550-seat Airbus A380 would be too large; to reduce the number of departures, smaller airplanes can increase by 20% in size and airline hubs can be avoided with point-to-point transit. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,781 | In 2003, a recent addition to the Boeing board of directors, James McNerney (who would become Boeing's Chairman and CEO in 2005), supported the need for a new aircraft to regain market share from Airbus. The directors on Boeing's board, Harry Stonecipher (Boeing's President and CEO) and John McDonnell issued an ultimatum to "develop the plane for less than 40 percent of what the 777 had cost to develop 13 years earlier, and build each plane out of the gate for less than 60 percent of the 777's unit costs in 2003", and approved a development budget estimated at US$7 billion as Boeing management claimed that they would "require subcontractors to foot the majority of costs". Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Alan Mulally, who had previously served as general manager of the 777 programs contrasted the difference in the approval process by the board between the 777 and 787 saying "In the old days, you would go to the board and ask for X amount of money, and they'd counter with Y amount of money, and then you'd settle on a number, and that's what you'd use to develop the plane. These days, you go to the board, and they say, 'Here's the budget for this airplane, and we'll be taking this piece of it off the top, and you get what's left; don't f--- up.'" | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,782 | The replacement for the Sonic Cruiser project was named "7E7" (with a development code name of "Y2"). Technology from the Sonic Cruiser and 7E7 was to be used as part of Boeing's project to replace its entire airliner product line, an endeavor called the Yellowstone Project (of which the 7E7 became the first stage). Early concept images of the 7E7 included rakish cockpit windows, a dropped nose, and a distinctive "shark-fin" tail. The "E" was said to stand for various things, such as "efficiency" or "environmentally friendly"; however, in the end, Boeing said that it merely stood for "Eight". In July 2003, a public naming competition was held for the 7E7, for which out of 500,000 votes cast online the winning title was "Dreamliner". Other names included "eLiner", "Global Cruiser", and "Stratoclimber". | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,783 | On April 26, 2004, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) became the launch customer for the 787, announcing a firm order for 50 aircraft with deliveries to begin in late 2008. The ANA order was initially specified as 30 787-3, 290–330 seat, one-class domestic aircraft, and 20 787-8, long-haul, 210–250 seat, two-class aircraft for regional international routes such as Tokyo-Narita to Beijing-Capital, and could perform routes to cities not previously served, such as Denver, Moscow, and New Delhi. The 787-3 and 787-8 were to be the initial variants, with the 787-9 entering service in 2010. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,784 | On October 5, 2012, Indian state carrier Air India became the first carrier to take possession of a Dreamliner that was manufactured in the Charleston, South Carolina Boeing plant. This was the first Boeing Dreamliner that was manufactured outside of Washington state. Boeing would go on to use both the Everett and South Carolina plants to deliver the Dreamliner. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,785 | The 787 was designed to be the first production airliner with the fuselage comprising one-piece composite barrel sections instead of the multiple aluminum sheets and some 50,000 fasteners used on existing aircraft. Boeing selected two new engines to power the 787, the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 and General Electric GEnx. Boeing stated the 787 would be approximately 20 percent more fuel-efficient than the 767, with approximately 40 percent of the efficiency gain from the engines, plus gains from aerodynamic improvements, increased use of lighter-weight composite materials, and advanced systems. The airframe underwent extensive structural testing during its design. The 787-8 and −9 were intended to have a certified 330 minute ETOPS capability. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,786 | During the design phase, the 787 underwent extensive wind tunnel testing at Boeing's Transonic Wind Tunnel, QinetiQ's five-meter wind tunnel at Farnborough, United Kingdom, and NASA Ames Research Center's wind tunnel, as well as at the French aerodynamics research agency, ONERA. The final styling was more conservative than earlier proposals, with the fin, nose, and cockpit windows changed to a more conventional form. By 2005, customer-announced orders and commitments for the 787 reached 237 aircraft. Boeing initially priced the 787-8 variant at US$120 million, a low figure that surprised the industry. In 2007, the list price was US$146–151.5 million for the 787-3, US$157–167 million for the 787-8, and US$189–200 million for the 787-9. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,787 | On December 16, 2003, Boeing announced that the 787 would be assembled in its factory in Everett, Washington. Instead of conventionally building the aircraft from the ground up, the final assembly employed 800 to 1,200 people to join completed subassemblies and integrate systems. Boeing assigned global subcontractors to do more assembly work, delivering completed subassemblies to Boeing for final assembly. This approach was intended to result in a leaner, simpler assembly line and lower inventory, with pre-installed systems reducing final assembly time by three-quarters to three days. Subcontractors had early difficulties procuring needed parts and finishing subassemblies on schedule, leaving remaining assembly work for Boeing to complete as "traveled work." In 2010, Boeing considered in-house construction of the 787-9 tail; the tail of the 787-8 is made by Alenia. The 787 was unprofitable for some subcontractors; Alenia's parent company, Finmeccanica, had a total loss of €750 million on the project. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,788 | Subcontracted assemblies included wing and center wing box (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Japan; Subaru Corporation, Japan); horizontal stabilizers (Alenia Aeronautica, Italy; Korea Aerospace Industries, South Korea); fuselage sections (Global Aeronautica, Italy; Boeing, North Charleston, US; Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Japan; Spirit AeroSystems, Wichita, US; Korean Air, South Korea); passenger doors (Latécoère, France); cargo doors, access doors, and crew escape door (Saab AB, Sweden); software development (HCL Enterprise, India); floor beams (TAL Manufacturing Solutions Limited, India); wiring (Labinal, France); wing-tips, flap support fairings, wheel well bulkhead, and longerons (Korean Air, South Korea); landing gear (Messier-Bugatti-Dowty, UK/France); and power distribution and management systems, air conditioning packs (Hamilton Sundstrand, Connecticut, US). | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,789 | To speed up deliveries, Boeing modified four used 747-400s into 747 Dreamlifters to transport 787 wings, fuselage sections, and other smaller parts. Japanese industrial participation was key to the project. Japanese companies co-designed and built 35% of the aircraft; the first time that outside firms played a key design role on Boeing airliner wings. The Japanese government supported development with an estimated US$2 billion in loans. On April 26, 2006, Japanese manufacturer Toray Industries and Boeing signed a production agreement involving US$6 billion worth of carbon fiber, extending a 2004 contract. In May 2007, the final assembly on the first 787 began at Everett. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,790 | Boeing worked to trim excess weight since assembly of the first airframe began; in late 2006, the first six 787s were stated to be overweight, with the first aircraft being heavier than specified. The seventh and subsequent aircraft would be the first optimized 787-8s expected to meet all goals. Accordingly, some parts were redesigned to include more use of titanium. Early built 787s were overweight and some carriers decided to take later aircraft; in early 2015, Boeing was trying to sell 10 such aircraft. In July 2015, Reuters reported that Boeing was considering reducing the use of titanium to reduce construction costs. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,791 | Boeing planned the first flight by the end of August 2007 and premiered the first 787 (registered N787BA) at a rollout ceremony on July 8, 2007. The 787 had 677 orders at this time, which is more orders from launch to roll-out than any previous wide-body airliner. The major systems were not installed at the time; many parts were attached with temporary non-aerospace fasteners requiring replacement with flight fasteners later. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,792 | In September 2007, Boeing announced a three-month delay, blaming a shortage of fasteners as well as incomplete software. On October 10, 2007, a second three-month delay to the first flight and a six-month delay to first deliveries were announced due to supply chain problems, a lack of documentation from overseas suppliers, and flight guidance software delays. Less than a week later, Mike Bair, the 787 program manager was replaced. On January 16, 2008, Boeing announced a third three-month delay to the first flight of the 787, citing insufficient progress on "traveled work." On March 28, 2008, to gain more control over the supply chain, Boeing announced plans to buy Vought Aircraft Industries' interest in Global Aeronautica; a later agreement was also made to buy Vought's factory in North Charleston. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,793 | On April 9, 2008, a fourth delay was announced, shifting the maiden flight to the fourth quarter of 2008, and delaying initial deliveries by around 15 months to the third quarter of 2009. The 787-9 variant was postponed to 2012 and the 787-3 variant was to follow at a later date. On November 4, 2008, a fifth delay was announced due to incorrect fastener installation and the Boeing machinists strike, stating that the first test flight would not occur in the fourth quarter of 2008. After assessing the program schedule with suppliers, in December 2008, Boeing stated that the first flight was delayed until the second quarter of 2009. Airlines, such as United Airlines and Air India, stated their intentions to seek compensation from Boeing for the delays. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,794 | A secondary factor in the delays faced by the 787 program was the lack of detailed specifications provided to partners and suppliers. In previous programs Boeing had supplied high level design data, but for the 787, decided to provide broad level specifications only, on the assumption that relevant partners had the competencies to perform the design and integration work with the limited data. This decision created several delays as suppliers struggled to work with the limited design data. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,795 | As Boeing worked with its suppliers toward production, the design proceeded through a series of test goals. On August 23, 2007, a crash test involving a vertical drop of a partial composite fuselage section from about onto a -thick steel plate occurred in Mesa, Arizona; the results matched predictions, allowing modeling of various crash scenarios using computational analysis instead of further physical tests. While critics had expressed concerns that a composite fuselage could shatter and burn with toxic fumes during crash landings, test data indicated no greater toxicity than conventional metal airframes. The crash test was the third in a series of demonstrations conducted to match FAA requirements, including additional certification criteria due to the wide-scale use of composite materials. The 787 meets the FAA's requirement that passengers have at least as good a chance of surviving a crash landing as they would with current metal airliners. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,796 | On August 7, 2007, on-time certification of the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine by European and US regulators was received. The alternative GE GEnx-1B engine achieved certification on March 31, 2008. On June 20, 2008, the first aircraft was powered up, for testing the electrical supply and distribution systems. A non-flightworthy static test airframe was built; on September 27, 2008, the fuselage was successfully tested at 14.9 psi (102.7 kPa) differential, which is 150 percent of the maximum pressure expected in commercial service. In December 2008, the 787's maintenance program was passed by the FAA. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,797 | On May 3, 2009, the first test 787 was moved to the flight line following extensive factory testing, including landing gear swings, systems integration verification, and a total run-through of the first flight. On May 4, 2009, a press report indicated a 10–15% range reduction, about instead of the originally promised , for early aircraft that were about 8% overweight. Substantial redesign work was expected to correct this, which would complicate increases in production rates; Boeing stated the early 787-8s would have a range of almost . As a result, some airlines reportedly delayed deliveries of 787s to take later planes that may be closer to the original estimates. Boeing expected to have the weight issues addressed by the 21st production model. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,798 | On June 15, 2009, during the Paris Air Show, Boeing said that the 787 would make its first flight within two weeks. However, on June 23, 2009, the first flight was postponed due to structural reasons. Boeing provided an updated 787 schedule on August 27, 2009, with the first flight planned to occur by the end of 2009 and deliveries to begin at the end of 2010. The company expected to write off US$2.5 billion because it considered the first three Dreamliners built unsellable and suitable only for flight tests. On October 28, 2009, Boeing selected Charleston, SC as the site for a second 787 production line, after soliciting bids from multiple states. On December 12, 2009, the first 787 completed high-speed taxi tests, the last major step before flight. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
9,799 | On December 15, 2009, Boeing conducted the 787-8 maiden flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, at 10:27 am PST and landed three hours later at 1:33 p.m. at Seattle's Boeing Field. During the flight the 787 reached a top speed of and maximum altitude of . Originally scheduled for hours, the test flight was shortened to three hours due to unfavorable weather conditions. The six-aircraft ground and flight test program was scheduled to be done in eight and a half months and 6800 hours, which was the fastest certification campaign for a new Boeing commercial design. | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=307133 |
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