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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Online Library of Selected Images -- Picture Data

Photo #: 80-G-66154

Grumman F4F-4 "Wildcat" Fighter
(Bureau # 5171),
of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3)

At Naval Air Station, Kaneohe, Oahu, on 29 May 1942, with ground crewmen folding the starboard wing.
On 4 June 1942, in the Battle of Midway, this plane was flown by Lieutenant Commander John S. Thach, VF-3's Commanding Officer, during the afternoon combat air patrol defending USS Yorktown (CV-5), wherein Thach probably shot down Lieutenant Joichi Tomonaga, leader of the attacking Japanese torpedo planes.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 595 pixels

Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

 

Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

If you want higher resolution reproductions than this digital image, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

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17 March 1999