aircraft destroyed on the ground on Midway June 1942

[Mark E Horan]

Leendert (and Santiago);

The B-17E you are referring to - that took off at 0430, 4 June - was 12413, piloted by 1st Lt. James P. Van Haur, USAAF(R), of the 431st BS(H). That ship had been kicking around on the island attempting to fix a bad engine since returning from the dawn patrol on 1 June. That is not the 42nd BS(H) B-17E that I was referring to.

The 42nd ship was still on the ground during the attack. Six B-17s of the 42nd BS(H), led by Lt.Col. Brooke E. Allen, USAAF, had only arrived from Hawaii late on 3 June and the late arrival after the long flight left the crew little time to attempt repairs in the blacked out conditions that night. Because the crew was attempting repairs, they had no time to refuel the ship. Not being fueled or fit to take off, it remained on the ground throughout the morning attack. Repairs were made throughout the day, though they were interrupted by the perceived second strike arriving which was, in fact, Bombing Squadron Eight from USS Hornet (CV-8) arriving after their unsuccessful attempt to locate and attack Kido Butai.

By the way, I neglected to explain the term "JFU" in my prior post - it stood for "Jap Fouler Upper" and was an attempt (successful as it turned out) to attract a bomb to phony target.

I do have all the associated USN, USMC, and USA records for said flights, though I am not in a position to go pull everything out to look up the date and time for the non-combat flight of the B-17 returning back to Hawaii.

Mark E. Horan