^{BUY IT NOW : Pacific Payback The Carrier Battles of the Second World War by Author Stephen}

WWII Essential: Pacific Payback by Stephen Moore – Definitive SBD Dauntless Battle of Midway Collectors Guide and Review

The Battle of Midway (June 4-7, 1942) represents the single most decisive naval engagement of the Pacific War, where United States Navy dive-bomber squadrons reversed six months of Japanese strategic dominance in five critical minutes. Pacific Payback by Stephen Moore is the definitive operational and biographical history of that reversal, isolating the combat experience of the Douglas SBD Dauntless crews flying from the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6). Unlike broad campaign overviews, this volume reconstructs the battle from the cockpit perspective of Bombing Squadron Six (VB-6) and Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6), the two Enterprise squadrons whose pilots delivered the fatal blows to the Imperial Japanese Navy carriers Akagi, Kaga, and Hiryu.

For military history collectors, aviation historians, and students of carrier warfare doctrine, this title provides primary-source-driven granularity unavailable in generalist WWII histories. Stephen Moore, author of acclaimed Pacific histories including The Battle for Hell’s Island, utilizes after-action reports, squadron logs, and veteran interviews to document not only the tactics of steep-angle dive-bombing but the human cost demanded of the men who executed it. Secure this collectible Midway history directly from our eBay store to add a verified, archival-grade account of the SBD Dauntless at war to your library.

The Decisive Weapon System: The Douglas SBD Dauntless at Midway

The Douglas SBD Dauntless was not the fastest aircraft in the Pacific, but it was the most effective ship-killing weapon system of 1942. The designation SBD stands for Scout Bomber Douglas, reflecting its dual role in reconnaissance and precision attack. At Midway, the SBD-3 variant flown by Enterprise squadrons was powered by a 1,000 hp Wright R-1820-52 Cyclone radial engine, armed with two forward-firing .50 caliber Browning machine guns and a flexible rear defense of twin .30 caliber guns, and capable of delivering a 1,000-pound Mark 33 general-purpose bomb or 500-pound bomb load in a near-vertical 70-degree dive.

Pacific Payback details why this airframe decided the battle. On the morning of June 4, after hours of uncoordinated and disastrous torpedo attacks by TBD Devastator squadrons from USS Hornet, USS Enterprise, and USS Yorktown, the Japanese Combat Air Patrol was pulled to sea level and the flight decks of the Kido Butai were cluttered with refueling and rearming aircraft. Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky, Commander of Enterprise Air Group (CEAG), made the critical decision to continue searching beyond the expected intercept point, locating the wake of the destroyer Arashi retreating at high speed toward the main fleet. That decision led 33 SBDs from VB-6 and VS-6 to arrive over the Japanese carrier force at 10:22 AM at 19,000 feet with complete tactical surprise.

Why Enterprise Air Group Changed the Course of the War

The book provides minute-by-minute reconstruction of the attack that followed. Led by Lieutenant Richard H. Best (VB-6) and Lieutenant Wilmer Earl Gallaher (VS-6), the Enterprise dive-bombers executed a simultaneous attack that destroyed Akagi and Kaga within minutes. Later that afternoon, Enterprise SBDs, now including Yorktown survivors, participated in the strike that destroyed Hiryu. The text documents dive-bombing doctrine in practice: the 15,000-foot pushover, air brakes deployed, the 2,500-foot release altitude, and the 250-knot pullout under intense anti-aircraft fire from battleships and cruisers in the Japanese screening force.

Moore contextualizes this within the broader strategic failure of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo, whose faith in battleship-centric doctrine and rigid operational planning left the four carriers of the Mobile Force vulnerable to precisely this type of concentrated aerial assault. Understanding the SBD’s role is essential to understanding American carrier doctrine, which prioritized coordinated dive-bomber and torpedo attacks over gunnery engagements.

Authoritative Narrative History: Stephen Moore’s Research Methodology

Stephen Moore distinguishes Pacific Payback from academic campaign studies through investigative narrative history grounded in primary sources. The author draws from National Archives Record Group 38 (Naval Operating Forces), Aircraft Action Reports (AARs) filed by pilots immediately upon returning to Enterprise, and the unpublished diaries and correspondence of VB-6 and VS-6 airmen. This methodology corrects persistent historical errors regarding squadron assignments, bomb hit attributions, and casualty figures that have propagated through secondary sources since Samuel Eliot Morison.

Key figures profiled in depth include Lieutenant Richard H. Best, who scored hits on Akagi and later Hiryu on the same day despite a faulty oxygen system that would end his flying career; Machinist Dusty Kleiss, the only pilot to score three direct hits with three 1,000-pound bombs during the war; and Ensign Norman Vandivier, whose story illustrates the attrition suffered by scout bomber crews. Moore does not present these men as archetypes, but as trained naval aviators operating within the constraints of 1942 technology, navigation by dead reckoning, and Mark 241 telescopic bomb sights.

The writing is classified as popular narrative history, not a technical manual or an annotated operational analysis. This makes the volume highly accessible to general readers while retaining the citation rigor demanded by serious collectors of the U.S. Naval Institute Press catalog and Enterprise CV-6 histories.

Collector’s Technical Specifications and Edition Details

For bibliophiles and military aviation collectors, physical condition and content completeness are primary value determinants. This edition of Pacific Payback is curated for the dedicated collector of Pacific Theater and carrier aviation literature.

Attribute	Specification
Title	Pacific Payback: The Carrier Aviators Who Avenged Pearl Harbor at the Battle of Midway
Author	Stephen L. Moore
Subject Classification	WWII Pacific Theater / Naval Aviation / Battle of Midway
Primary Aircraft Entity	Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless Dive Bomber
Primary Vessel Entity	USS Enterprise (CV-6) Air Group
Host Squadrons Covered	Bombing Squadron Six (VB-6) and Scouting Squadron Six (VS-6)
Content Features	Archival black-and-white photographs, detailed battle maps, squadron rosters, bibliography, index
Genre	Narrative Military History / Biography

• Photographic Archive: Includes rare images of Enterprise flight operations, SBD maintenance on deck, and pre-war and wartime portraits of the aviators, sourced from the National Archives and Naval History and Heritage Command.
• Cartographic Support: Contains tactical maps charting McClusky’s search pattern, the approach vectors of the Enterprise and Yorktown air groups, and the disposition of the Japanese Kido Butai on June 4, 1942.
• Collector Application: Essential companion volume to Shattered Sword by Parshall and Tully, Dauntless by Barrett Tillman, and Enterprise: America’s Fightingest Ship by Barrett Tillman for a complete Midway and Enterprise collection.
• Preservation Grade: Ideal for climate-controlled storage, Mylar-protected display, and integration into a curated WWII aviation library alongside titles on the Grumman F4F Wildcat and Nakajima B5N Kate.

Historical Context and Comparative Value for Collectors

Midway literature is extensive, but most titles focus on high-command decisions of Admirals Chester W. Nimitz and Raymond A. Spruance or the Japanese perspective. Pacific Payback occupies a critical niche by restoring agency to the squadron-level aviators. For collectors, this micro-history approach provides information gain not found in macro-histories. It explains the technical limitations of the TBD Devastator’s Mark 13 torpedo, the failure of the Mark XIV torpedo contact exploder, and why the low-level sacrifice of Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) was tactically necessary to create the window for the SBD attack.

The book’s value lies in its specificity. It documents carrier landing signal officer (LSO) procedures, engine management of the Wright Cyclone at combat power, and the physical trauma of a 9-G pullout from a dive. For scale modelers building the Accurate Miniatures or Hasegawa 1/48 SBD-3 kits, the text provides accurate squadron markings (black tail stripes for VS-6, white for VB-6), Section Leader color assignments, and pilot-specific aircraft numbers. For wargamers and students of the U.S. Naval War College Midway case study, it provides an accurate order of battle for Enterprise Air Group.

Who Requires This Volume for Their Library

This definitive guide serves multiple high-intent acquisition profiles:

• WWII Pacific Theater Historians: Researchers requiring a source-corrected, pilot-level account of June 4, 1942, to complement official histories such as the U.S. Navy’s War-in-the-Pacific series.
• Naval Aviation Enthusiasts: Readers tracking the evolution of dive-bomber doctrine from pre-war Fleet Problems to the Fast Carrier Task Force operations of 1944-1945.
• USS Enterprise (CV-6) Collectors: Specialists assembling a complete history of the most decorated U.S. Navy ship of WWII, for which Enterprise’s Midway action earned the Presidential Unit Citation.
• Veteran and Genealogy Researchers: Families tracing service of relatives in VB-6, VS-6, VT-6, or VF-6 who require biographical data and combat action details for archival purposes.
• Educators and Students: Instructors using Midway as a case study in leadership, decision-making under uncertainty, and the principle of calculated risk as defined by Admiral Nimitz’s operation plan.

Ownership provides a permanent reference for understanding how a single air group of 33 aircraft altered naval power projection from battleship to aircraft carrier dominance, a doctrinal shift that defines modern naval warfare. Add this essential SBD Dauntless and Midway reference to your collection via our eBay listing and ensure immediate access to this out-of-print-caliber narrative.

Answers & FAQs

How accurate are the bomb hit claims for Enterprise SBDs at Midway in this book?

Stephen Moore cross-references pilot Aircraft Action Reports with Japanese carrier damage logs and photo-reconnaissance to attribute hits correctly. The book clarifies that VB-6 and VS-6 were credited with direct hits that sank Akagi and Kaga, correcting decades of misattribution between Enterprise and Yorktown squadrons.

Does Pacific Payback detail the SBD Dauntless technical specifications and dive-bombing procedure?

Yes, the book details the SBD-3’s Wright R-1820 engine performance, bomb load configurations, and the step-by-step 70-degree dive profile from pushover to release. It explains the use of perforated split dive flaps, the reflector gun sight, and recovery techniques under enemy anti-aircraft fire.

Is this book focused only on the Battle of Midway or does it cover the broader 1942 carrier battles?

The primary focus is the Battle of Midway on June 4, 1942, with essential context on the Pearl Harbor attack and the Marshalls-Gilberts raids that shaped Enterprise Air Group training. It does not provide extended coverage of Coral Sea, Eastern Solomons, or Santa Cruz, maintaining a tight narrative on the Midway payback mission.

What makes this Stephen Moore title valuable for collectors versus other Midway books?

Its value is its exclusive reliance on VB-6 and VS-6 veteran testimony and primary-source squadron records, providing biographical depth unavailable in command-level histories. For collectors, it functions as the definitive Enterprise SBD companion to technical histories like Shattered Sword, increasing the completeness and market value of a curated Midway collection.

^{BUY IT NOW : Pacific Payback The Carrier Battles of the Second World War by Author Stephen}

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