KD0FHS

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[Voices of WW2 @VoicesofWW2]

84 years ago today, a pilot running out of fuel made a decision that won the Pacific War. Most Americans have never heard his name.

June 4, 1942. Six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan's navy is undefeated. Four of the carriers that burned Pearl, Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, and Hiryu, are steaming toward Midway to finish off the US Pacific Fleet.

At 7:52 AM, Wade McClusky launches from USS Enterprise leading 32 Dauntless dive bombers. Here's the detail nobody mentions: McClusky is a fighter pilot. He'd been given the air group weeks earlier and had barely flown a dive bomber in combat. Now he's leading every SBD the Enterprise has at the most important target in the Pacific.

9:20 AM. He arrives at the intercept point where the Japanese fleet is supposed to be.

Empty ocean. Nothing for miles.

The Japanese had turned. Nobody knew where. And now McClusky owns the worst math problem in naval aviation: his fuel is bleeding away, and every minute he keeps searching, he condemns more of his own pilots to ditch in open water where nobody will find them.

Doctrine is clear. Turn back.

McClusky keeps going. He works a search pattern, squeezing miles out of dying fuel tanks.

9:55 AM. Far below, a single Japanese destroyer is cutting a white scar across the ocean at flank speed. It's the Arashi, racing to rejoin the fleet after depth-charging the American submarine Nautilus. Think about that. A failed sub attack is about to give away the entire Japanese navy.

McClusky reads the wake like an arrow and follows it.

10:02 AM. The horizon fills with the entire Japanese strike force. Four carriers, their decks crammed with planes being refueled and rearmed. Fuel lines snaking everywhere. Bombs stacked in the open.

And here's the miracle: the sky above them is empty. Minutes earlier, American torpedo squadrons had attacked at sea level and been annihilated. Torpedo 8 lost all 15 planes. One survivor, Ensign George Gay, watched what came next while hiding under his seat cushion in the water. Those doomed pilots dragged every Japanese fighter down to the waves. The door upstairs was wide open.

10:22 AM. McClusky pushes over from 14,500 feet. Both squadrons follow him down onto Kaga. It's actually a mistake, doctrine said split the targets, but Lt. Dick Best catches it mid-dive, pulls out with two wingmen, and goes after Akagi alone. His single bomb pierces the flight deck into the packed hangar. It's enough.

By 10:28, Kaga, Akagi, and Soryu, the third hit simultaneously by Yorktown's bombers, are floating infernos. Six minutes. Three carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor, gone. Hiryu follows them to the bottom that evening.

The cost of McClusky's gamble was real. Many Enterprise bombers never made it home, some shot down, others swallowed by the sea when their tanks ran dry. McClusky himself was jumped by two Zeros on the way out, took five bullets through his shoulder, and still flew his shot-up Dauntless back to the Enterprise.

Admiral Nimitz said McClusky's decision "decided the fate of our carrier task force and our forces at Midway." Japan never won another major battle.

One borrowed pilot. One destroyer's wake. One choice to keep flying when every gauge said go home.

[NWS Des Moines @NWSDesMoines]

Attention📢to anyone with outdoor plans 🏕️ this evening and tonight! Strong/severe thunderstorms are expected this evening into tonight. All severe hazards are possible, including flash flooding, large hail, damaging winds and potentially a tornado. #iawx

[Shawn Cable @shawncable]

FSD issues Severe Thunderstorm Warning [tornado: POSSIBLE, damage threat: CONSIDERABLE, wind: 70 MPH (RADAR INDICATED), hail: 1.50 IN (OBSERVED)] for Lyon, Osceola [IA] and Murray, Nobles, Rock [MN] till May 17, 6:45 PM CDT https://t.co/aKdw5W4RKr

[KD0FHS @KD0FHS]

@ReedTimmerUSA Niiiice

[IowaWeather.com @IAStormChasing]

An Enhanced Risk of severe weather is in place today across parts of western Iowa. Storms are expected to develop late this afternoon across Nebraska and South Dakota before moving into western Iowa this evening and spreading east across the state overnight.

The atmosphere will be favorable for severe thunderstorms capable of producing very large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. A few strong tornadoes may be possible across western Iowa this evening if storms can remain isolated early in their development. As storms move east overnight, they are expected to evolve into a larger line of storms with an increasing damaging wind threat while still capable of producing embedded tornadoes.

#iawx #newx #sdwx #mnwx #tornado

[Aaron Jayjack @aaronjayjack]

LIVE right under the base of this tornado warned supercell near Cairo, NE!

[NWS Storm Prediction Center @NWSSPC]

3:33pm CDT #SPC_MD 0754 , #mnwx #iawx #sdwx #newx, https://t.co/x45ZqeqVie

[Jeff Piotrowski @Jeff_Piotrowski]

Storms exploding SW-NW of Grand Island now. Tornado watch until 11:00 Pm #newx

[NWS Omaha @NWSOmaha]

The chance of a tornado developing this evening has climbed in east-central Nebraska (Omaha/Council Bluffs/Lincoln/Wahoo).

A quick look at our history suggests this is the highest forecast probability of a tornado in the Omaha area since June 2014. #NEwx #IAwx

[Jaden Pappenheim @PappenheimWx]

Absolutely incredible double rainbow moments ago over Eddyville, Iowa my goodness…

[KD0FHS @KD0FHS]

I see your red boxes @NWSDesMoines and I’ll raise you the difference between clear and cloudy skies all at once

[Midwest Weather @MidwestWeathe_r]

Regional severe weather outbreak increasingly likely Friday with a mixed storm mode expected.

[Aaron Jayjack @aaronjayjack]

LIVE TORNADO Chase In Texas and Oklahoma https://t.co/Mgf4nBeNkg

[Aaron Jayjack @aaronjayjack]

LIVE TORNADO Chase In Texas and Oklahoma https://t.co/ImvPWA5jrx

[Ed Wilson @EdWilsonWX13HD]

This is from the Iowa DOT’s 511 web site. It’s from a DOT plow camera on I-35 at 12:15 PM. Check it out at https://t.co/1HZ1CYk28E ⁦@WHOWeather⁩ #iawx

[NWS Des Moines @NWSDesMoines]

Dangerous travel is expected for much of the next 24 hours! Blowing snow will lead to whiteout conditions over northern Iowa Sunday and Sunday night. Travel in this area is discouraged! #iawx

[NWS Des Moines @NWSDesMoines]

Snapshot of road conditions near Estherville and Fort Dodge courtesy of @iowadot. As temperatures fall, snow will become fluffier and blow around more easily. #iawx

[IowaWeather.com @IAStormChasing]

The left lane of I-80 near Walnut, Iowa is blocked due to a jackknifed semi. The roads are starting to become slick. #iawx #IowaWeather #winter

[Jeff Piotrowski @Jeff_Piotrowski]

Hurricane Melissa will break all records with highest wind speed, QPF, lowest pressure, and most destructive damage in history, unfolding in 30 hours. God bless Jamaica. #HurricaneMelissa #Jamaica