SBD-3 BuNo 3224, Ensign Frank O’Flaherty and AMM 1/c Bruno P. Gaido, Scouting Six, USS Enterprise (CV6), June 4, 1942.
Ensign Frank O’Flaherty participated in the first attack of the Battle of Midway, completing a dive bombing run on the Japanese carrier Kaga with his radioman/tail gunner Aviation Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Bruno Gaido. Due to the extended time in the air spent searching for the Japanese fleet, the pair ran out of fuel on their return to USS Enterprise and had to ditch, being subsequently captured by the crew of the Japanese destroyer Makigumo. After approximately eleven days of being brutally tortured by their captors, the Japanese sailors murdered O’Flaherty and Guido by tying weights to both of their ankles and throwing them overboard (the postwar investigation determined the most likely date of the murders was June 15, 1942.)
O’Flaherty was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his extraordinary heroism on June 4, 1942. The USS O’Flaherty (DE-340) was also named in his honor.
Immediately after the successful Marshalls–Gilberts raids on February 1, 1942, Bruno Gaido single-handedly shot down a Japanese bomber which had attacked the USS Enterprise in retribution for the carrier group’s raid earlier that day, and then attempted to make a subsequent kamikaze attack and crash into the ship. Gaido left his battle station, ran to the nearest SBD-3 that was on the deck, climbed into the rear gunner position and proceeded to shoot the bomber down. The Japanese aircraft veered off course, hitting the Dauntless that Gaido was in, severing it in half just aft of the gunner’s position. For his bravery, Vice Admiral William F. Halsey promoted him on the spot.
Bruno Gaido received the Distinguished Flying Cross posthumously after the Battle of Midway.
Profile notes: film footage of VB-6 and VS-6 SBDs launching from Enterprise prior to the Battle of Midway includes S-5 (two enhanced screen shots in the gallery below, and film is linked in this blog post HERE.) Note the white painted over the original red meatball on the fuselage star. Also note that the ‘5’ is wider than the ‘S’ (the former being 4.5×6 proportion, while the latter is 4×6.)
Click the gallery thumbnail below for a larger view of this aircraft.
Recommended books:
No Right To Win: A Continuing Dialogue with Veterans of the Battle of Midway
A Glorious Page in Our History: The Battle of Midway, 4-6 June 1942
Incredible Victory: The Battle of Midway
Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway
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