Wilhelm G. Esders

Torpedo Squadron 3, VT-3

Douglas TBD Devastator

USS Yorktown

Battle of Midway

This is a historical background of the development and deployment of the Navy torpedo squadrons and the men manning the squadrons in the months before Pearl Harbor through the Battle of Midway. In this series I have the stories of Bill Esders with VT-3, Bert Ernest and George Gay with VT-8 and some background of VT-6.

The intense combat these brave Navy pilots witnessed first hand was a historical moment in naval warfare history. These three men represented the “Tip of the Spear” of the American Navy. Their fellow squadron pilots and air crewmen who were lost that day did not die in vain. Well trained all three groups gave their all. I feel privileged to be able to interview the combat veterans and be able to tell their stories.

We start with each man and his squadron and how they all came together for one battle.

The squadron commander of VT-3 was Lt. Cmdr. Lance E Massey. Massey was one of the most experienced torpedo bomber pilots of all three squadrons. He had previously served with VT-6 and had been transferred to command VT-3. Esders remembers that Massey joined the squadron a few weeks before the deployment of the squadron. Massey and his men did not have the time to bond which was typical of aviators. It was a “Get ready to go right now” situation, Bill told me.

Esders was also unable to befriend his rear gunner because the aviators were located in one place on the base going through training while the enlisted men were separated and busy with their on training. When Esders and his gunner “Mike” did get to met they hit it off right away. Mike expressed to Esders that he was “proud to be assigned to an officer aviator like him” as they set sail for the Pacific.

At the time of the Midway battle, Massey with Torpedo Squadron 6 was a veteran in three sea battles, Marshalls , Wake, and the Marcus campaign. Massy had seen combat in each encounter. He worked his aircrews to a point that they were considered as combat ready as possible.

Chief Aviation Pilot Wilhelm G. Esders, “Bill”, was one of the most qualified torpedo specialists at this time. Massey had been in the Navy now for many years and was senior in hours in the cockpit and had combat experience, but Esders was well trained by now with over sixty hours alone in the TBD before Massey joined the group as its new commander. Esders was mastering the TBD at the Virginia Naval Air Base when Massy was already in the Pacific attacking enemy ships. Many of the other pilot’s making up this mission to Midway were in fact new. New to everything.

Esders told me that the morning he first reported to his base he witnessed a TBD take off and fly into that beautiful morning sky. He was walking to his squadron’s hanger to report for duty. He told me that he thought that morning that the TBD he saw was the most beautiful aircraft he had ever seen. He hoped in his heart that he would be able to fly that graceful bird someday, and within weeks he did. This was just two weeks before the Pearl Harbor attack.

Little did he know that as he was training in the TBD his Japanese counterpart was training in more advanced torpedo bombers. Before the war the TBD was considered a magnificent aircraft but the short falls of the TBD became quite clear as the aircraft saw combat in three different battles before Midway. The only reason that the TBD preformed well during those early battles was luck.

The aircrews boarded the Yorktown and their great journey began. Esders remembers one statement that kind of haunted him that his skipper told him which was “the life span of a torpedo bomber pilot was approximately one minute and 47 seconds!” His skipper also told them that, “they were going against an enemy fleet that was superior to theirs. They would be out numbered three to one. In some cases the enemy possessed superior aircraft and had many combat veterans. The very fate of the United States of America rests on your shoulders. Good luck and God bless.”

The venerability of the TBD was reviewed by the pilots and led them to review their tactics. Since Massey had flown in the previous battles he was constantly lecturing his aircrews with his experiences. Just days before the Midway battle they were in their ready room discussing these concerns as one of the new Wildcat aces was seen walking past. Massy knew the pilot and stepped out of the room and called for the fighter pilot to come in for a minute.

The fighter pilot was asked to give the squadron any suggestions as to how they could better defend themselves from enemy fighters. The fighter ace was Jimmy Thach.

Thach gave the group three tips that Esders swore saved his life and a few others in his group. Thach said the first thing to remember was to stay close to the water. This would not allow a pursuing fighter the opportunity to fly under your aircraft.

The second thing he told them was to fly as slow as they could and still be able to maintain good control of the aircraft. He warned them that in the stress of combat a pilot is more interested in flying as fast as possible. When one of the pilots questioned Thach he explained to them that the enemy pilot will also be caught up in the excitement of combat and he will be flying as fast as he can in order to catch you.

Thach continued to explain to the pilots that with your aircraft low on the water and the fighter coming in as fast as possible it will reduce the time that the fighter pilot will be able to get a sighting and direct his fire power on your bomber. Thach told them that the fighter will shoot right past them. If the enemy does hit your aircraft surely it will be only a glancing blow and not a concentrated combined blast that will bring about your demise.

Third and last Thach told the group that you must make the pursuing fighter fire on you. Get him to fire on you! As you can imagine Esders and the others were all excited about that remark and Thach let the group break out in vocal questioning and objections. After much verbal fan fare Thach brought order back to the meeting and explained the reasoning behind this tactic.

Thach told the group that when an enemy fighter coming in low on the water after any easy kill, he will be excited by the action and probably will not use his gun site. The enemy pilot will watch his machine gun bullets hit the water and simply direct the geysers along the water right up to your aircraft. Everyone agreed with that and Thach continued. He told them that as long as the fighter is firing on you then you know where his bullets are hitting. He told the group to fly straight and watch. As the bullet geysers start watch them until they get close to you and at the last minute turn into the same direction that the fighter is coming from.

He warned them that if they turned too soon the fighter would be able to turn with you and shoot you down. If you do not turn in time then he will shoot you down. You have to wait for the exact moment and then turn and the fighter will zoom right past you expending much of his ammunition. A fighter only carries so much ammunition. Make the fighter pilot use up his ammo. Bill told he it sounded “Kind of crazy, but a good crazy”.

All of this made sense to the torpedo pilots, yet as you can imagine some doubted the advice. Some would forget everything Thach told them because they could not remember after being caught up in the excitement of battle. Many pilots would race away straight and fast right to their watery graves. We will see how this information was used to save Esders life in battle.

On June third the Japanese fleet was sighted and everyone from seaman to Admiral was on alert. The flight crews received word that the Japanese Fleet would be in range the next day. Esders told me that he still remembers that night in the ready room after the details had been given to them. Bill told me that he thought about the combat that would happen the next day.

Everyone made agreements with each other that “if I don’t come back, make sure that my wife and kids are taken care of” and other terms of friendship were cemented.

That night Esders slept well. Many did not sleep at all and he could tell by the way that they behaved the next morning. This is normal. When men know that the next day may be their last, a lot can go through someone’s mind at such times. Especially when you have loved ones many miles away.

The next morning general quarters was called as expected. Pilots filled the ready rooms and everyone readied them selves for battle. Many ate breakfast, and some could not. The flight deck of the Yorktown was packed with fully armed fighters, dive bombers, and torpedo bombers. There were over thirty spinning propellers putting a chill in the morning air.

The morning was perfect. Blue shy with unlimited visibility and scattered clouds around 3000 feet. The sea was still and waiting. Perfect for the American attack, but also perfect for a Japanese attack and defense. Aircrews walked around their aircraft testing the rudder, flaps, and their intestinal fortitude.

The TBD’s were ordered to circle the Yorktown until all TBD’s had been launched. They wanted all the TBD’s to attack the enemy at the same time. The enemy fleet at that time of the morning was estimated to be at the outer most reach of the TBD’s fuel range. They would need to conserve fuel as much as possible. However once VT-3 was launched they did not bother to fly around and form up, they took off straight towards the enemy fleet and formed up on the way.

Once all aircraft were airborne Massey brought the squadron up to 15,000 feet. The fighters zigzag back and forth over the bombers. It seams primitive now but the aircrews were able to communicate with Morse code in order to maintain radio silence.

The first torpedo squadron was VT-8 commanded by Waldron. Waldron’s squadron was spotted by the Japanese at 0920. Top cover Zero’s peeled off and intercepted the Devastators. By 0930 all but one pilot, Ensign George Gay was dead.

The next torpedo group to reach the Japanese fleet, VT-6 arrived just minutes after VT-8 had been shot down. Lindsay’s fourteen Devastators of VT-6 were flying from the carrier Enterprise . The Zero’s quickly spotted the incoming bombers and torn into the two columns that the squadron was attacking in. Their target was the same carrier that Waldron’s squadron just attacked, the Akagi. Resistance from the carrier Akagi must have been brutal because many of the torpedo bombers were shot down by AA fire. There were only seven left for the final attach on the Akagi when they were seen to divert their attack to the Hiryu. When the attack was over only four of the fourteen Devastators of VT-6 survived.

VT-3 was next about 1010. Code notified the pilots that the carrier fleet was ahead. Finally the horizon was broken with the wakes of the distant fleet. Massey dropped altitude and the TBD’s spread out. Esders said that he never saw his fighter cover but he knew they were above him. In fact this was the only carrier group that did arrive together because above Massey and Esders were the fighters led by Thach and Leslie’s seventeen SBD’s. The Imperial Japanese Navy came over the horizon. They approached the Japanese Fleet in two groups with Massey in the led and Esders flying his number two position.

When VT-3 was about twenty to twenty five miles out, two Zero’s spotted them and came in for an attack. The air group lowered their altitude a little more. Before the attack was over they estimated that there were twenty to twenty five Zero’s trying to bring them down.

Bullets accompanied by red fire balls rained onto the brave torpedo bomber crews. They turned right and left to throw off the incoming fighter. Esders told me that the slamming sound of bullets hitting his bomber was like Thor striking the airframe with his hammer. Within seconds Esders gunner called on the intercom that he was hit and was sorry that he wasn’t going to be able to help anymore.

Their flight crossed the outer destroyer screen and headed for the next screen of larger capital ships. The Japanese carriers were in the center and were the main targets first and only. Esders and his fellow pilots knew the importance of destroying the carriers. So far Esders and a few other TBD crews had made it with Zeros and destroyers firing non stop at them. With his rear gunner disabled and not knowing his condition much less the situation in each of the remaining aircraft in his flight Esders was unaware that some planes had already been lost.

An enemy bullet struck the CO2 bottle in Esders TBD. The CO2 is used to put out an engine fire but now it was filling his cabin with the gas. Esders calmly opened the canopy and the gas was sucked out. He watched the enemy ships grow larger. Massy was stable and leading with the rear gunner alert and watching the sky as he fanned his machine gun back and forth.

Hundreds of geysers rose before them forcing Esders and the others to swerve back and forth. The big ships were firing their large guns into the sea in front of the incoming torpedo bombers to throw them off their target. “Hitting one of those walls of water could bring you down”, Esders said. “Some of the geysers were thirty to forty feet high.”

Incoming bullets from the ships AA and the Zero’s added thousands of smaller geysers giving the sea a deadly effect. Esders group passed the second group of ships and were approaching the carriers. They were approximately one mile from the carrier Hiryu, which Massy headed for.

Esders looked up to his right and saw three Zero’s descended onto Massey’s TBD. Unable to assist Esders watched red fireballs from the fighters cannon strike Massey’s TBD in the wing root. A fireball erupted from his skipper’s engine. Massey’s TBD lost power and altitude. Esders watched his skipper jump out of his cockpit onto the wing of his doomed bomber to escape flames in his cockpit. This was the last Esders saw of his brave leader as he sped over him.

Esders realized that he was to take the led now. He quickly looked over his right and then his left shoulder to see who was still in their flight. He was stunned with the realization that he was the only one left. Back to his right were four of the second flight but they were too far away now to try to regroup with. He chose to keep his position because his target was growing larger all the time in his sights.

Finally it was time to drop his torpedo. He rocked his wings to signal the other four TBD’s. The carrier cut hard towards the incoming aircraft in a clockwise turn. This put the other four TBD’s in a good spot for an attack on the carrier Kaga, where as Esders was forced to turn a little with his carrier in order to keep the bow of the ship lined up with his approach.

As Esders turned he watched his four companions launch their torpedoes. Within seconds as their missiles hit the water he watched all four aircraft shot down and hit the water almost in the same formation they were flying in. He was now alone. The flight deck along the side of the carrier was afire from the mussel blasts of anti-aircraft guns. Esders pulled the lever releasing his torpedo. As the angry missile dropped his aircraft lifted slightly from the loss of weight. He jerked his TBD to the right in order to withdraw from the battle area. He noticed that the Zero’s turned away from his aircraft when they saw him drop his torpedo. The Zero’s did their job on Esders group and went on to stop others torpedo bombers that might still be armed.

VT-3’s torpedoes were aimed at the carrier Hiryu. According to surviving Japanese crewmen of the battle they told that the ship was surrounded by white trail wakes of torpedoes in the water but none of the missiles reached their target because of smart ship handling on behalf of the ships captain.

Esders flew ahead of the carrier and then past the stern of a large capital ship. He was in the clear quickly skimming over the water towards home. It was not long before two Zero’s started chasing after him. During this whole time Esders kept talking with his rear gunner.

The poor fellow kept apologizing to him for not being able to help. Yet he did help Bill with giving him a head’s up when the Zero’s attacked. He would tell Esders over the intercom that the Zero was coming in on his right or left. This was all the rear gunner could do as he sat bleeding to death. Mike could not even lift his arms to operate his machine gun.

Esders told me that a lot of the stress he had while he was in the middle of the enemy fleet had left him and he was cool headed now. First thing that came to him was the instructions from Jimmy Thach. Low, slow, evade! On came the Zero. Jimmy was right! As the Zero lined him up he would fire. Two rows of two-foot geysers about two feet apart walked along the water right up to his TBD when he kicked hard right rudder turning his TBD at the last moment.

Then the other Zero dove in on him from the left side. Again on came the enemy’s bullets and hard left rudder. Esders looked back and saw the water spouts go right past him. Yet if he had not turned they would have hit his damaged bomber.

This turned into a cat and mouse chase. As the two Zero’s made another pass  two more enemy fighters joined the melee. One after another, again and again firing on the TBD. Esders kicked his aircraft right, left, and right, left. One by one the Zero’s expended what ammunition they had. One by one they left to return to their carrier. Esders looked over his instrument panel and aircraft to asset any damage.

One Zero remained. As Esders leveled out he watched the Zero come up on his right side. They were flying side by side together. Both aviators, enemies, were looking at each other. Esders saw the Zero pilot look up and down his damaged bomber. To the Japanese the aircraft was a wreck with the rear gunner looking quite dead. The Zero pilot held up his left hand as a sign of peace and slightly waved. The Japanese knew that he had encountered a very good American pilot. He then pulled his Zero up and turned away from Esders exposing the belly of his light gray fighter.

This was a classic example of one warrior honoring another. I am sure that the Zero pilots were quite impress with the quality of American pilot that they had encountered. To be able to escape the guns of four advanced fighters flying not just an out dated aircraft, but a badly damaged aircraft with no self defense at all except for his aviation skills was truly impressive. They could tell that Esders was not just lucky, he was an expert.

Esders had over a hundred hours in the seat of a TBD. He knew what the bomber could do and inked out every ounce of performance the aircraft had left in its airframe.

Esders kept saying that the whole time he was taking one evasion maneuver after another his rear gunner was apologizing for not being able to help. Once the last Zero turned away he called back to his rear gunner and asked him his condition. “Not good” was all he could say.

During the chase Esders became aware that he could not fly back in the direction of the carrier if the enemy was following him. He would not give away the location of the American fleet. He adjusted his course towards the east and estimated that he was about 175 miles from the Yorktown and attempted to put a little zigzag in effect.

As he changed course from north to east he intercepted another TBD, which had been flying in a straight line back to the carriers. They communicated with hand signals and then the Morris code machine. The other TBD was also badly shot up and the other pilot was going to fly as fast as possible towards the fleet before his engine froze up.

About this time Esders realized that he was being lightly sprayed in the face by a liquid. After checking everything over he realized that it was aviation fuel. All he could do was move over some in his seat to avoid the gas spray. He was worried now about fire. His gage showed very little was left in the tank that was leaking, if the gage was correct. He switched to this tank to use up that gas first. He would then switch back to the fuller tank. He also slowed down to eighty-five knots to save fuel. The other TBD kept full throttle and pulled away from Esders.

Esders started to climb to see if he could get a radio contact. He asked his gunner if he could get the radio working, the rear gunner told him that he was too injured apologizing again to Esders.

He lifted his plane higher trying to reach the scattered clouds for some cover which was around 3,000 feet. After a few minutes Mike called to Esders that he had changed the radio coil and to try the radio to see if it was working. Esders was glad that Mike had tried and did help but they were not high enough. Esders climbed to 5000 feet.

Esders told me that he was finally able to relax some. For the first time he realized how happy and fortunate he was to be alive. He had seen so much death. He had witnessed five of his fellow bomber pilots and their gunners killed. He had not seen the rest die so all he could hope for was that they were able to get away, but he knew better. All the others disappeared before they reached the Japanese carriers. The condition of his gunner started to weigh on him.

As Esders was collecting his thoughts something caught his eye that brought reality back. Off to his right there was a flight of eighteen Val dive-bombers. At first he thought that he had betrayed his fleet and had led the enemy in the direction of the American carriers. He let that thought go as he observed the Japanese. They had not seen him. As if by magic two F4F Wildcats cut through the enemy bomber formation. Several Val’s cart wheeled out of formation and the rest scattered.

Then the engine in Esders TBD froze up. He tried to switch fuel lines, but fuel was not the problem. His engine had had it. He dropped the heavy bomber into a gentle glide down to the blue green waters. Lifting the nose of the aircraft he slid in for a perfect water landing. Esders knew from training that the TBD was equipped with air bags in the wings to keep the aircraft afloat. He also knew that before combat that many of the airbags had been removed by orders from someone on high. (HOW STUPID!)

Esders pulled the release and to his surprise his TBD had not been molested as the airbags popped out and kept the TBD stable.

Esders located the raft and the provisions. He inflated the raft but half of it was damaged. He tied the raft to the airplane and went to help his gunner. He told me that when he saw the condition Mike was in he could have cried but he did not have time to do so. Esders told me he would never forget the big sincere eyes of his companion as he looked up at him. Mike kept apologizing for not doing more to help him. His gunner was as large a man as himself but he was able to lift him out of his compartment and get him settled into the raft.

Esders was stunned at the injuries his gunner had sustained. There was a row of red stains marking 7.9mm machine gun bullets across his back. Esders counted seven gunshot wounds. A 20mm cannon shell also had exploded in the gunner’s compartment and had blown off all the flesh from Mike’s right leg from the knee down to his ankle. There was exposed bare bone.

In his mind Esders said out loud “My God”, no wonder this man was unable to help. He had helped kept Esders aware of enemy aircraft and did fix the radio as best he could even though it was to damaged to work. Replacing the coil must have been a tremendous task. Clearly as Mike moved around he had seen his wounds and the bare bone of his leg knowing that this would surly be his demise.

Mike asked for a drink of water. There were two bottles in the provisions. Esders helped his friend drink some water. Then there was the sound of an aircraft overhead. They really needed a rescue plane. The aircraft turned out to be a Japanese Val. Esders saw that the Val had spotted their aircraft and started to dive on them. It was clear that the Japanese was going to shoot them in the water. Esders dove into the water and swam to the other side of his TBD in order to get the engine of his bomber in between him and the oncoming Japanese bullets.

Then there was the sound of another aircraft. Esders said it was like an angel from heaven, but it was a Wildcat. Before the Val fired he was chased off. Esders watched them fly away. He later learned that the Wildcat did shoot down the offending Japanese bomber.

Esders climbed back onto the wing and went to see how his companion was doing. Mike asked for another drink of water. Esders held the man in his arms. Mike took one drink. The look in Mike’s eyes said thank you and he died. Esders told me that he sat there with his now lost friend, his head against his chest and said a prayer for him.

Two SBD’s flew over the floating TBD. One was Max Leslie flying a SBD with VB-3. They called the location of the TBD crew to the fleet. Leslie was unable to get back to the fleet himself because he ran out of gas just miles from the carriers and was rescued.

The destroyer Hammond arrived shortly thereafter. Esders untied the raft and towed it as he swam toward he rescue ship. The sailors on the Hammond climbed down the cargo nets and brought up the dead gunner and helped Esders. As they stood on the deck of the destroyer Japanese Kate torpedo bombers flew by after their attack on the Yorktown . Before the Hammond pulled away gunners on the ship fired into the still floating TBD. The noble steed that served its crew so well was slowly consumed by the sea.

When the Hammond came back to the fleet, the Yorktown, which was badly damaged by the last Japanese attack, was dead in the water. The great carrier sank on the 7th. At sunset Esders was transferred to the USS Portland. He was cared for and asked to write down his combat report. The next day he was transferred to the submarine tender USS Falkland.

The rest is history for at 1020 Leslie’s SBD dive bombers came out of the clouds just as Nagumo ordered his aircraft to take off to attack the American fleet. The Japanese aircraft were incinerated on the decks of their aircraft carriers with their engines running and their flying scarf’s waving in the morning breeze.

Esders Commanding Officer was right after all, the life span for most of the torpedo bomber pilot’s was in fact, less than two minutes.

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5-28-07