Comments by "Steve Valley" (@stevevalley7835) on "The evolution of the carrier air wing in the Pacific from Pearl Harbour to Santa Cruz" video.

  1.  @collinwood6573  considering how elderly the TBD was by 42, it was OK. It was considerably slower than the other USN aircraft, when loaded. That low cruising speed, I put down to the drag from the unorthodox way the TBD carried it's torpedo: hanging down at an angle, rather than cinched up tight under the fuselage. The reason the TBD was slaughtered at Midway was the attack was fatally botched. At Coral Sea, the TBDs, SBDs and F4Fs, made coordinated attacks. At Coral Sea, a few SBDs and F4Fs were lost to the Japanese CAP, but not a single TBD was lost to Japanese action. The only difference between Coral Sea and Midway was the SBDs and F4Fs all went in the wrong directions, leaving the TBDs exposed.
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  2.  @timmyrtue7252  my first thought is that, for a while, the USN was very short of torpedo bombers. Only about 130 TBDs were built. I read, somewhere along the line, that what with attrition from accidents before the war, only 90-something of them were still in service. 41 were launched at Midway, but only 6 made it back to their carriers. 13 more were lost with Lexington at Coral Sea. The navy may have only had 40+ left. The TBD was pulled from front line service after Midway. It probably took a while for Grumman to build enough TBFs to get every carrier up to strength.
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  3.  @emperordave3006  in the USN "V" designates fixed wing. "Z" designated lighter than air, Zeps and blimps.
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  4.  @dennisnichols2411  Sticks in my mind that I have read accounts of Coral Sea where SBDs were flying CAP.
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