I blame the 1976 movie The Battle of Midway for my childhood obsession with the PBY Catalina. The moment that lumbering, majestic flying boat made first contact with the enemy on screen—I was hooked!
On this day in history, June 3, 1942, as the first light stretched across the vast Pacific, 22 U.S. Navy PBY-5A Catalinas roared to life on Midway Island. These “eyes of the fleet” lifted off on tireless wings, tasked with one of the most critical missions in American naval history—find the Japanese fleet!
The stakes couldn’t have been higher. Admiral Yamamoto’s armada was steaming toward Midway, intent on delivering a knockout blow that would cripple the U.S. Navy once and for all. Outnumbered and outgunned, America’s only hope was early detection.
Shortly before 0900, 700 nautical miles west of the atoll, Ensign Jewell Harmon “Jack” Reid of Patrol Squadron 44 (VP-44) peered through the morning haze—and there it was. The silhouettes of Admiral Raizo Tanaka’s Midway occupation force emerged from the endless blue.
Reid’s calm voice crackled over the radio, delivering the message that would shift the course of history:
“Enemy sighted.”
That single report lit the fuse. Within hours, aircraft carriers, dive bombers, and torpedo planes would clash in a battle that transformed the Pacific War.
The hunters had found their prey.
The Battle of Midway was about to begin.
Crock’s Thoughts 