Battle Photos - Part Two

Another fish for the Shoho - A torpedo from a U.S. Navy Devastator torpedo bomber splashes into the sea headed for the Japanese carrier Shoho during the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 7, 1942. Hit by a total of 13 bombs and 7 torpedoes, the Shoho sank within five minutes, becoming the first enemy carrier to be sunk by the Allies in World War II.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
The Emperor's fleet approaches Midway - Unfazed by American bombs, the Japanese invasion fleet continues to head towards Midway Island. (This photo is of one of series of dioramas made during WWII in order to provide pictures of important scenes where no cameras had been present.)
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
The Soryu under attack - During the Battle of Midway (June 4, 1942) the Japanese carrier Soryu circles wildly in an attempt to evade American dive bombers, while her Zero fighters (foreground) try vainly to protect her. (This photo is of one of series of dioramas made during WWII in order to provide pictures of important scenes where no cameras had been present.)
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
Height of the battle - The Japanese carriers and their escorts try evasive maneuvers while under attack by American carrier planes at the Battle of Midway. (This photo is of one of series of dioramas made during WWII in order to provide pictures of important scenes where no cameras had been present.)
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
Midway climax - The Japanese carriers Soryu and Akagi are under attack by U.S. carrier planes in this photo from the excellent series of Midway dioramas.
(Source: U.S. Navy)
The Japanese carrier Hiryu - the Hiryu was the last of the four Japanese carriers to be sunk by the U.S. at the Battle of Midway. Her final aerial strike helped seal the fate of the USS Yorktown.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
This one won't get away - As the Japanese retreat from the Battle of Midway, American carrier planes attack and sink the Japanese cruiser Mogami. (This photo is of one of series of dioramas made during WWII in order to provide pictures of important scenes where no cameras had been present.)
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
Smoking Mikuma - After the Battle of Midway, the Japanese cruiser Mikuma was damaged in a collision, and on the following day she came under U.S. aerial attack while limping out of the combat area. During the attacks Marine Captain Richard Fleming's Vindicator dive bomber had its engine hit by anti-aircraft fire, but he continued his bomb-drop and was seen to crash his damaged plane into the after turret of the soon-to-be doomed cruiser.
(Source: U.S. Navy)
Low-level Betty bombers - Japanese naval Betty bombers - flown without their bomb-bay doors - penetrated American anti-aircraft fire in an attempt to assault invasion shipping off of Guadalcanal on August 8, 1942.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
A view to a kill - A Japanese destroyer is bracketed by the crosshairs of a dive-bombing site. A bubble at the bottom of the lens indicates that the plane is not slipping to one side.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
Downed Betty - A Japanese Betty bomber floating off of Tulagi after being shot down during air attacks on US Navy forces on August 8, 1942. Designed for maximum range at all costs, the Betty was a lightly armored flying fuel tank.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
A Kate goes down in flames - Once supreme in the Pacific, a Japanese B5N Kate torpedo bomber is blown to bits while attempting to attack an American carrier in the Marshall Islands in December 1943. The Kate's torpedo fell harmlessly into the calm sea.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Another Maru is doomed - American torpedo planes turn an enemy merchantman into a smoking ruin during a raid on the Japanese anchorage at Kwajalein on December 4, 1943. Six U.S. aircraft carriers launched the attack after reconnaissance photographs revealed a heavy concentration of enemy ships there.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
Committed to its destiny - A Japanese torpedo bomber races through a storm of anti-aircraft fire in a bid to hole the (second) USS Yorktown (from which this photo was taken) on April 29, 1944. Gunners on the carrier, which was taking part in a raid on the Japanese naval stronghold at Truk Island, downed the plane seconds later.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
An Irving goes down in flames - On June 18, 1944 the U.S. escort carriers defending the landings on Saipan were subjected to numerous Japanese aerial attacks. Here a twin-engined Japanese Irving (J1N1) dives in flames on the USS Coral Sea (CVE-57). It missed.
(Source:"Air War Over The Pacific" by Robert C. Stern)
Zuiho under attack - Hit by bombs and torpedoes from U.S. Navy aircraft, the Japanese carrier Zuiho manuevers frantically to escape its attackers. Note the large gun turret painted on the flight deck to make the carrier look like a battleship.
(Source: U.S. Navy)
The Yamato evades destruction - The 64,170 ton Japanese super-battleship Yamato under attack by American Helldiver dive bombers in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea in October 1944. Despite an intense air attack by American carrier planes, the Yamato received only two bomb hits (both on or near "A" turret). Her sister ship, the Musashi, wasn't so lucky and was sunk in the same battle.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
This one got through - As an approaching Hellcat veers sharply to get out of the way, a Japanese Zero plummets from thick cloud cover and smashes into the escort carrier Suwannee during the Battle of Leyte Gulf on October 25, 1944. The Suwannee, one of the first targets of a kamikaze strike, was repaired in two hours.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)
Bombing the IJN cruiser Nachi - On November 5, 1944, American aircraft from the eleven carriers of Task Force 38 of Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet struck Japanese-held Luzon in the Phillipines. The Americans lost 25 planes but destroyed more than 400 enemy planes. They also sank the Japanese cruiser Nachi, seen here hastily manuevering about five miles from Corregidor, in a futile effort to escape. She sank stern-first after being bombed by planes from the USS Lexington.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Last sortie for the Yamato - In April 1945 the Japanese battleship Yamato, featuring mammoth 18-inch guns, sortied into the East China Sea on a one-way suicide mission against the American invasion of Okinawa. Smothered by more than 400 U.S. aircraft, the Yamato, the light cruiser Yakagi, and four destroyers were sunk in the action.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
End of a kamikaze - In this 3-panel photograph, a Japanese kamikaze (suicide plane) is on fire from anti-aircraft fire from a U.S. ship. It attempted to dive on the ship, but missed its objective completely, and fell into the ocean.
(Source:"The Naval Air War" by Nathan Miller)
Down she goes - A plummeting Japanese kamikaze plane narrowly misses the U.S. escort carrier Sangamon in early May, 1945. During the last year of the war the Japanese Navy expended many of its remaining aircraft in these suicide missions in a desperate attempt to stop the American fleet.
(Source:"The Carrier War" by Clark G. Reynolds & Time-Life)