"The USS Yorktown (CV-5) left Pearl Harbor for Midway on Memorial Day 1942. I had barely managed to get on board the night before. When I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in mid-December 1941, my orders were to the USS Oklahoma (BB-37), but she was sunk on 7 December. So I was sent to radar school at MIT and then on to the 14th Naval District for further transfer to the Yorktown.
When the Yorktown arrived back from the Southwest Pacific in late May, I asked to be detached but was told there was no hurry, because repairs to the ship would take two months or so. Running into a classmate already in the Yorktown, I asked for his advice. All he would say was that I better be on board before midnight. Because it was after work hours, I went to the Chief of Staff's quarters to get him to approve my being detached. He was irritated but signed my orders.
The following morning the ship got under way and headed to sea. When we were well clear of land, the air group flew on board. All went well until the fighter squadron joined us. As the last plane came in for the landing, the pilot was not responding well to the landing signal officer. Coming in too high, he did not take the "cut." The plane went over the barrier and landed on another plane. The propeller killed the pilot.
noon the ship's loudspeaker sounded the alarm; "bogeys" were approaching from about 40 miles away. Planes were soon engaged in combat amid fire from our antiaircraft guns. I heard a loud thump on the hanger deck, in the direction of the forward elevator. A bomb exploded near the keel, but the damage was quickly brought under control…"
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experiments to find a better way to mount aircraft for wargaming.
