Dawn Of Thunder: The Pilots of Torpedo 8

C

casey jones

Charter Member
I am reading this new book that has just come out, this is a very outstanding work of the personal lives of the pilots and gunners who flew with Torpedo 8 at Midway and later...it makes the pilots and gunners come back to life in letters dairies. I highly recommend it to all. Two of the senior Lts were Lt Swede Larson and Lt Longhorn Febriing (I think I spelled his name wrong) Swede Larson was hated by his pilots of Torpedo 8 but they loved and admired Lt Longhorn Febring who was to lead the first TBFs at Midway.

Cheers

Casey
 
Theirs was not...

...to reason why; theirs was but to do and die....which they did except for Ensign Gay. :medals:
 
I think two returned from the Midway-based TBF's, a pilot and a crewman. I was familiar with their role at Midway, but their stay at Guadalcanal was just as heroic and even more stressful. Larsen was a complicated man, a hero and an a--hole in one. He mellowed as he grew older. The Navy later named several DE's after the VT-8 pilots. I, too, highly recommend this book.
 
Are you talking about A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight, by Robert J. Mzarek? I saw the Book TV lecture for this book on C-SPAN 2, and wanted to make sure it was the right one.

JAMES
 
YEP! I got mine through Military Book Club. Arrived the other day and if I can tear myself away from this damned sim long enough ... I may get to read it. Looks to be a good read!:friday:
 
Hi Eoraptor,

Yes it is Dawn Like Thunder sorry I got it wrong...the most really interesting part for me was that there was controled confusion on the morining of the launch of Torpedo 8 aboard the Hornet..there was a big conflict between the leading Sq leaders and Cdr Waldron.

Cheers

Casey
 
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