Major Parks knew his outdated Buffalo fighters would be outmatched by the fighter screen of A6Ms but he wanted to buy time for his gunners on Midway and to provide EW (early warning) for the Fleet.
Lt Cmdr Waldron also knew his Devastator bombers were no match for the A6M combat air patrol over Nagumo's Fleet, but again he wanted to buy time and provide EW for both Fletcher and Spruance so they could send in the cavalry in the form of SBDs.
Lt. Cmdr Leslie did not have a bomb during his attack run on Kaga but he was instrumental in leading his squadron to attack it as well as Soryu and Akagi.
Lt. Richard Best peeled off a detachment from Enterprise's attack on Kaga and went after Akagi.
It was the leadership of the squadron commanders and that ultimately led to the outcome of the battle.
"Months of preparation, one of those few opportunities, and the judgment of a split second are what makes some pilot a...
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