soc.history.war.world-war-ii

"WaltBJ" wrote in message
news:0104e5cf-3c3c-4859-b996-0a27dd0816a2@k13g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> I won't take time to look it up but I believe the SBDs came in at
> something like 15,000 feet. 5,000 is awfully low for searching for a
> group of ships whose actual location is very shaky, besides being too
> close to the flak while positioning for the dive. One unit did come in
> lower because one of the airplanes had oxygen problems, but that would
> still be 10,000. Haven't read Shattered Sword - does it mention the
> squadron leader who took his flight out of the battle entirely?.I
> deliberately refrain from mentioning his name.

Are you referring to Lt Grey who was commanding a flight group of Wildcats?
He had positioned his group at high altitude and due to a combination of bad
radio communication and cloud cover - did not see the first two attacks go
in. And consequnetly did not support them as they were being mauled by the
IJN CAP.

As for the SBD issue - sorry for the misdirection, my mistake I did not mean
5000 ft.- the authors of SSword pointed out that the IJN CAP was drawn down
by the torpedo attack but still had enough time to climb back up to
intercept the (successful) USN dive bombing group. However, they did not -
due to a combination of 1. poor CAP fighter direction. and 2. poor radio
communication.