Japanese Aircrew Loss at the Battle of Midway

摘要

Thank you for producing such a fine publication; I look forward to each issue. I need to take issue, however, concerning a statement that appears in Barrett Tillman's article "The Seeds of Victory Are Sown" (August 2017). He states, "the Imperial Japanese Navy suffered a crushing defeat at Midway, losing...four precious carriers and most of their aircrews." The problem with this statement is that the Japanese did not lose most of their aircrews at the Battle of Midway. Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully, in their excellent book Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, document that the Kaga suffered 21 aircrew deaths, Soryu lost 10, and the Akagi 7. Only the Hiryu's air group suffered casualties in excess of 50 percent, losing 72. This is a total of 110—compared to a Japanese loss of aircrew at the battle of Santa Cruz of 145, where the Japanese did not lose any of their four carriers that participated in the battle.