- 4 days ago
When four Zero fighters swarmed a battered Douglas SBD Dauntless, one wounded Marine gunner refused to stop firing and helped bring his pilot home. The story follows First Lieutenant Daniel Iverson Jr. and Private First Class Wallace Reed during the Battle of Midway, where their SBD-2 took on heavy damage, lost hydraulics, and came back with 219 bullet holes after attacking the Japanese carrier Hiryu.
From the launch at Midway to the desperate return over open ocean, this World War II aviation story captures the chaos of carrier warfare, the courage of Marine dive bomber crews, and the brutal cost of the Pacific War. It also traces the aircraft’s unlikely second life, from repair at Midway to Lake Michigan training duty and eventual recovery decades later.
A gripping military history documentary for viewers who enjoy WW2 stories, Battle of Midway history, aircraft survival stories, and narrated war history. Ideal for history fans, aviation enthusiasts, and anyone searching for Marine Corps combat stories, Dauntless dive bomber history, and real World War II heroism.
From the launch at Midway to the desperate return over open ocean, this World War II aviation story captures the chaos of carrier warfare, the courage of Marine dive bomber crews, and the brutal cost of the Pacific War. It also traces the aircraft’s unlikely second life, from repair at Midway to Lake Michigan training duty and eventual recovery decades later.
A gripping military history documentary for viewers who enjoy WW2 stories, Battle of Midway history, aircraft survival stories, and narrated war history. Ideal for history fans, aviation enthusiasts, and anyone searching for Marine Corps combat stories, Dauntless dive bomber history, and real World War II heroism.
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LearningTranscript
00:00At 0530 on June 4th, 1942, 1st Lieutenant Daniel Iverson climbed into the cockpit of Douglas SBD-2 Dauntless Bureau
00:09No. 2106 on Eastern Island, Midway Atoll,
00:13watching his squadron commander, Major Lofton Henderson, brief 16 Marine pilots for an attack they probably wouldn't survive.
00:2226 years old, 9 days flying the Dauntless, 0 combat missions in this aircraft.
00:28The Japanese had sent 4 aircraft carriers and 108 Mitsubishi Zeros to invade Midway.
00:36Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 241 had received 19 brand new SBD-2 Dauntless dive bombers on May 26th,
00:449 days to learn an aircraft, before flying it into the most important naval battle of the Pacific War.
00:51Most of the pilots were 2nd Lieutenants straight from flight school.
00:55Some had arrived just one week before the battle.
00:58Behind Iverson in the rear cockpit sat Private First Class Wallace Reed, 21 years old, manning the .30 caliber machine
01:06gun.
01:07Reed had never fired his weapon in combat.
01:10By early June 1942, the United States Navy had lost 4 carriers since Pearl Harbor.
01:17The Japanese Navy had lost none.
01:19Admiral Chester Nimitz had positioned 3 carriers northeast of Midway – Enterprise, Hornet, Yorktown – against 4 Japanese carriers approaching
01:30from the northwest – Akagi, Kaga, Soryu, Hiryu.
01:35The Japanese planned to capture Midway, then destroyed the American carrier fleet when it came to defend the atoll.
01:42At 0605, radar on Midway detected the incoming Japanese strike.
01:47108 aircraft, 36 Aichi Val dive bombers, 36 Nakajima Kate level bombers, 36 Zero fighters.
01:56VMSB 241 received orders to launch all aircraft, 16 SBD-2s under Major Henderson, 11 Vought Vindicators under Major Benjamin
02:08Norris, find the Japanese carriers, attack before they could launch a second strike against Midway.
02:14Henderson led his 16 Dauntlesses northwest, climbing to 9,000 feet, searching for 4 carriers in 240 square miles of
02:23ocean.
02:24At 0744, Henderson's radio crackled.
02:28Contact, Japanese carriers 180 miles northwest of Midway.
02:33Henderson turned his formation toward the enemy fleet.
02:36Iverson could see smoke on the horizon.
02:38The carriers were already under attack from Navy torpedo bombers and Army B-26 marauders.
02:45None of those attacks would succeed.
02:47Now, it was the Marines' turn.
02:50As VMSB 241 approached the Japanese fleet, Iverson counted the carriers below.
02:56Four flat decks arranged in a box formation.
02:59Akagi in the lead.
03:01Behind her, Kaga and Soryu on the flanks.
03:04Hiryu trailing.
03:06Henderson selected Hiryu as their target.
03:08The rearmost carrier.
03:10The one with the weakest fighter cover.
03:13Henderson waggled his wings.
03:14Attack signal.
03:1616 Dauntlesses rolled into their dives.
03:19Zeros swarmed up from the carriers.
03:22A6M fighters with a top speed of 330 miles per hour.
03:26Faster than the Dauntless.
03:28More maneuverable.
03:29Flown by pilots with two years of combat experience in China and the Pacific.
03:34The Marine pilots had nine days in the SBD-2.
03:38Henderson's Dauntless shuddered as tracers ripped through his left wing.
03:42The wing burst into flames at 2,000 feet.
03:45Henderson kept diving toward Hiryu.
03:48His aircraft rolled inverted and plunged into the sea.
03:51The squadron commander was dead before his bomb hit the water.
03:54Iverson pushed his stick forward.
03:5770 degree dive angle.
03:59Hiryu's flight deck filled his gun sight.
04:02Two Zeros locked onto his tail.
04:04Their 20mm cannons hammered his Dauntless.
04:08Behind him, Reed swung his .30 caliber machine gun and returned fire.
04:12Tracers from the Zeros walked up Iverson's fuselage.
04:17Anti-aircraft fire from Hiryu burst around his aircraft.
04:20Black puffs of shrapnel.
04:22Reed kept firing.
04:23If you want to see how Iverson brought his shattered Dauntless home, please hit that like button.
04:28It helps us share more forgotten stories from World War II.
04:31Subscribe if you haven't already.
04:33Back to Iverson.
04:34At 800 feet, Iverson released his 1,000-pound bomb and pulled out of his dive.
04:40Four Zeros pursued him.
04:42Reed fired until his ammunition ran out, then reloaded and kept firing.
04:46Cannon shells punched through the Dauntless's wings, through the fuselage, through the tail.
04:51One round severed Iverson's throat microphone cable.
04:55Another hit Reed in the foot.
04:57The hydraulic system failed.
04:58Oil sprayed across the windscreen.
05:01Iverson turned east toward Midway, 40 miles to safety.
05:05The Zero stayed with him for 20 miles before breaking off.
05:08When Iverson looked back at his aircraft, he could see daylight through 200 holes in the metal skin.
05:13His landing gear wouldn't extend.
05:15He had one wheel and no hydraulics.
05:18And Midway was still 15 miles away.
05:22Iverson nursed his crippled Dauntless toward Midway at 140 knots.
05:27The airspeed indicator fluctuated.
05:30The altimeter was stuck at 9,000 feet.
05:33Oil pressure dropping.
05:35Coolant temperature climbing.
05:37Behind him, Reed had stopped firing.
05:40Iverson glanced back.
05:42Reed was slumped in his seat, blood pooling in the rear cockpit.
05:45The shrapnel wound in his foot was bleeding through his flight suit.
05:50Reed gave a thumbs-up signal.
05:52Still conscious.
05:53Still alive.
05:55The SBD-2 Dauntless had been designed as a carrier-based dive bomber.
06:00Stressed aluminum construction.
06:02Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine producing 1,000 horsepower.
06:07Maximum speed, 250 miles per hour.
06:11Combat radius, 250 miles with a 1,000-pound bomb load.
06:15The aircraft featured perforated dive brakes that allowed steep dives up to 70 degrees.
06:21Stable.
06:22Accurate.
06:23Deadly against ship targets.
06:25But the SBD-2 had one critical weakness.
06:29No armor protection for the pilot or gunner.
06:32No self-sealing fuel tanks.
06:34A single 20-millimeter cannon shell could punch through the thin aluminum skin and destroy vital systems.
06:42Iverson's Dauntless had absorbed dozens of cannon shells.
06:45The rudder cables were severed.
06:47The elevator controls barely responded.
06:50The right aileron hung at an odd angle.
06:53Wind screamed through the holes in the fuselage.
06:56The engine temperature gauge climbed into the red zone.
06:5912 miles to Midway.
07:01The engine was overheating.
07:03If it seized before he reached the runway, he and Reed would ditch in the ocean.
07:08Rescue might take hours.
07:09Reed was losing blood.
07:11At 10 miles out, Iverson spotted Eastern Island.
07:15The runway stretched 3,600 feet across the coral atoll.
07:19Shorter than a carrier deck.
07:21No arresting cables.
07:23No margin for error.
07:25Iverson circled the field once.
07:27The tower operators could see his Dauntless.
07:29They could see the damage.
07:31They fired green flares.
07:33Emergency landing cleared.
07:35Iverson lined up for final approach.
07:37He pumped the landing gear handle.
07:39Nothing.
07:40The hydraulic system was completely destroyed.
07:43He would land on one wheel and his belly.
07:47Corporal Gaspar Bufa stood on the flight line watching aircraft return from the attack.
07:51Bufa was the plane captain for Bureau No. 2106.
07:55His job was maintaining Iverson's aircraft, keeping the engine running, checking the control surfaces, loading the bombs.
08:03Bufa had watched 16 Dauntlesses take off three hours earlier.
08:06Now he counted the returning aircraft.
08:101, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
08:18Where were the others?
08:21Iverson's Dauntlesses appeared from the northwest, flying low, trailing smoke.
08:25The landing gear was retracted except for the right main wheel.
08:28Bufa grabbed his fire extinguisher and ran toward the runway.
08:33Iverson touched down on his single wheel at 90 knots.
08:36The Dauntless rolled 50 feet before the left wing dropped.
08:39The propeller struck Coral.
08:41The aircraft slewed sideways and stopped.
08:44Crash crew sprinted toward the bomber.
08:47Bufa reached it first.
08:48The fuselage was shredded.
08:51Holes everywhere.
08:52Through the wings.
08:53Through the tail.
08:55Through the engine cowling.
08:56Bufa counted as he ran.
08:5810 holes.
09:0020.
09:0150.
09:02100.
09:03He stopped counting.
09:05Iverson popped the canopy and climbed out.
09:08His flight suit was soaked with hydraulic fluid and oil.
09:11Behind him, Reed struggled to stand.
09:14Two Coorsmen lifted him from the rear cockpit.
09:17Reed's boot was filled with blood.
09:19The Coorsmen carried him to the aid station.
09:22Bufa circled the Dauntless with the maintenance crew.
09:24They counted every hole.
09:26Every tear in the aluminum skin.
09:29Bullet holes from the 0's 7.7mm machine guns.
09:33Larger holes from their 20mm cannons.
09:36Shrapnel damage from anti-aircraft fire.
09:39The final count was 219 holes.
09:44219 separate impacts.
09:46The engine had three holes through the cylinder block.
09:49The wings had been perforated in 68 places.
09:52The tail section had 41 holes.
09:55The fuselage had been hit 110 times.
09:58Bureau number 2106 looked like it had flown through a metal storm.
10:04By 1400 hours, all surviving aircraft from VMSB-241 had returned.
10:108 SBD-2s out of 16.
10:13Major Henderson was dead.
10:167 other pilots were missing.
10:18Shot down over the Japanese fleet or lost in the ocean during the return flight.
10:22The squadron had attacked four carriers and scored no confirmed hits.
10:27But 200 miles northwest of Midway, something else was happening.
10:32Navy dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown had found the Japanese carriers.
10:37And the war in the Pacific was about to change.
10:40Bureau number 2106 would fly again.
10:43But first, Buffa had to patch 219 holes.
10:49At 1430 hours on June 4, 1942, Admiral Chester Nimitz received the first reports from the Battle of Midway.
10:57Three Japanese carriers burning.
11:00Akagi, Kaga, Soryu.
11:02Navy dive bombers from Enterprise and Yorktown had caught them with their flight decks packed with aircraft being rearmed.
11:09Bombs and torpedoes stacked in the open.
11:11Aviation fuel lines connected.
11:13The carriers had exploded into fireballs.
11:16The fourth carrier, Hiryu, had launched a counterattack that crippled Yorktown.
11:21But by evening, Hiryu was also burning.
11:24Four Japanese carriers destroyed in one day.
11:27The most decisive naval victory since Trafalgar.
11:30VMSB-241 had not sunk any carriers.
11:34Their attack had scored no hits.
11:35But their sacrifice had contributed to the victory.
11:38When Henderson's 16 Dauntlesses attacked Hiryu,
11:41the Japanese carriers were in the middle of rearming their aircraft.
11:44Admiral Chuichi Nagumo had ordered his strike aircraft to switch from torpedoes
11:50and armor-piercing bombs to high-explosive bombs for a second attack on Midway.
11:55The Marine dive bombers forced Nagumo to defend his carriers.
11:59The rearming operation was delayed.
12:01When the Navy dive bombers arrived 30 minutes later, the Japanese carriers were still vulnerable.
12:07Their flight decks crowded with armed aircraft.
12:09Their hangars filled with ordnance.
12:11On Eastern Island, Corporal Buffa examined Bureau No. 2106.
12:16The damage was catastrophic.
12:18The engine needed replacement.
12:20The hydraulic system was destroyed.
12:22The control cables were severed.
12:24The fuel tanks were punctured.
12:26Under normal circumstances, the aircraft would be written off, stripped for parts.
12:31But Midway had only eight operational SBD-2s remaining.
12:35The squadron needed every aircraft.
12:38Buffa and his maintenance crew started repairs.
12:40First Lieutenant Iverson reported to the flight surgeon.
12:43The doctor examined him for wounds.
12:46Aside from minor cuts from flying debris, Iverson was uninjured.
12:50The bullet that severed his throat microphone cable had missed his neck by two inches.
12:55Luck.
12:56Pure luck.
12:58Private First Class Reed was in worse condition.
13:00The shrapnel in his foot had fractured two bones.
13:03The doctors removed the metal fragments and wrapped his foot in bandages.
13:07Reed would recover, but he wouldn't fly combat missions for at least six weeks.
13:12On June 5th, VMSB-241 launched 11 aircraft for a second attack, six operational SBD-2s and five Vindicators.
13:23Their target was the Japanese cruiser Makuma, crippled and burning 200 miles northwest of Midway.
13:29The attack was more successful than the first.
13:32Captain Richard Fleming's Vindicator was hit by anti-aircraft fire during his dive.
13:37Fleming's aircraft burst into flames.
13:40He maintained his dive, released his bomb, and crashed into the sea just aft of Makuma.
13:46Fleming was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
13:49Makuma sank the following day.
13:52Bureau No. 2106 remained on the flight line.
13:56Buffer and six mechanics worked 18-hour shifts.
13:59They patched the holes with aluminum sheet metal.
14:02They replaced the hydraulic lines.
14:04They installed new control cables.
14:06They rebuilt the landing gear mechanism.
14:09The engine was beyond repair.
14:11Three cylinders cracked.
14:13The crankshaft damaged.
14:15Buffer requested a replacement engine from the supply depot.
14:18None available.
14:19Every spare Wright R-1820 cyclone engine had been shipped to Pearl Harbor for the carrier squadrons.
14:26Bureau No. 2106 would wait.
14:29By mid-June, the Battle of Midway was over.
14:33The Japanese had lost four carriers, one heavy cruiser, and 248 aircraft.
14:403,057 Japanese sailors and airmen were dead.
14:43The United States had lost one carrier, one destroyer, and 145 aircraft.
14:51307 American sailors, marines, and airmen were killed.
14:55The strategic balance in the Pacific had shifted.
14:58Japan would never again threaten Hawaii.
15:01The United States could begin planning offensive operations.
15:05Guadalcanal, the Marshall Islands, the Philippines, the road to Tokyo.
15:09VMSB 241 received orders to remain on Midway.
15:13Defensive patrols.
15:14Anti-submarine sweeps.
15:16Training flights for replacement pilots.
15:18Iverson flew 63 combat missions over the next nine months.
15:23Reed returned to flight status in August.
15:25Bureau No. 2106 sat on the flight line with 219 patched holes, waiting for an engine, waiting for orders.
15:34The most famous Dauntless at Midway couldn't fly.
15:37But in March 1943, the Navy made a decision.
15:41Bureau No. 2106 was too valuable to leave on Midway.
15:45The aircraft would return to the United States.
15:48Not for more repairs.
15:50For something else entirely.
15:54In March 1943, Bureau No. 2106 was created and loaded aboard a transport ship bound for Pearl Harbor.
16:01The Navy had conducted an inventory of all aircraft that participated in the Battle of Midway.
16:07Carrier-based squadrons from Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown had lost dozens of SBD-3 and SBD-5 Dauntlesses.
16:16Most were shot down or ditched at sea.
16:18The surviving aircraft had been repaired and returned to combat squadrons.
16:22But the land-based aircraft from Midway were different.
16:26VMSB 241 had flown 16 SBD-2s into battle.
16:30Eight returned.
16:32Seven were eventually repaired and returned to service.
16:35One was damaged beyond repair and scrapped.
16:38That left Bureau No. 2106 as the only SBD-2 from the Midway attack still on the atoll.
16:45The Navy recognized what they had.
16:47Bureau No. 2106 was the sole surviving aircraft from the most important naval battle of the Pacific War.
16:54Not just any survivor.
16:56An aircraft with a documented combat record.
16:59Two hundred and nineteen holes.
17:02One wheel landing.
17:03Pilot and gunner both decorated.
17:05Major Henderson killed leading the attack.
17:08The story was perfect.
17:09The aircraft needed to be preserved.
17:12But first, it needed an engine.
17:14At Pearl Harbor, maintenance crews installed a rebuilt Wright R-1820 Cyclone engine.
17:20They inspected the patched bullet holes.
17:23They tested the hydraulic system.
17:24They replaced the worn tires.
17:27By April 1943, Bureau No. 2106 was airworthy again.
17:32The Navy issued new orders.
17:34The aircraft would be assigned to the Carrier Qualification Training Unit at Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois, training new pilots
17:42for carrier operations.
17:43The most combat-scarred dauntless in the Pacific would teach pilots how to survive.
17:49Naval Air Station Glenview sat on the western shore of Lake Michigan, 15 miles north of Chicago.
17:55The base had been commissioned in July 1942 as a training facility for carrier pilots.
18:00The Navy had converted two paddlewheel steamers into training carriers, USS Wolverine and USS Sable.
18:08The ships operated in Lake Michigan, providing a safe environment for pilots to practice carrier landings.
18:14No submarines, no enemy aircraft, just fresh water and midwestern farmland.
18:19Thousands of pilots qualified on those training carriers, learning to land a dive bomber on a moving deck in a
18:25confined space.
18:26The training was demanding.
18:28The accident rate was high.
18:30Bureau No. 2106 arrived at Glenview in May 1943.
18:34The aircraft was assigned to the training squadron.
18:37Student pilots flew it daily.
18:39Practice dives over Lake Michigan.
18:41Touch-and-go landings at Glenview.
18:43Carrier qualification runs on USS Sable.
18:47The dauntless accumulated flight hours.
18:49The patched bullet holes held.
18:50The replacement engine ran smoothly.
18:53Instructors used the aircraft as an example.
18:55This dauntless survived midway.
18:57If you fly it correctly, you'll survive too.
19:00On June 11, 1943, 2nd Lieutenant Donald A. Douglas Jr. climbed into the cockpit of Bureau No. 2106.
19:09Douglas was a Marine Corps pilot training for carrier operations.
19:12His father was Donald Douglas Sr., founder of Douglas Aircraft Company, the company that built the SBD dauntless.
19:19The lieutenant was learning to fly his father's most successful aircraft.
19:24Douglas taxied to the runway.
19:26Standard carrier qualification flight.
19:28Launch from Glenview.
19:29Fly north to where USS Sable was operating.
19:33Make six touch-and-go landings on the carrier deck.
19:35Return to base.
19:36Douglas took off at 0915.
19:38He climbed to 2,000 feet and turned north over Lake Michigan.
19:43USS Sable was steaming 15 miles offshore.
19:46The carrier's flight deck measured 540 feet long.
19:50Longer than most escort carriers, but shorter than fleet carriers.
19:54Landing area marked with white lines.
19:57Arresting cables stretched across the deck.
19:59Landing signal officer positioned on the port side with paddles.
20:03Douglas joined the landing pattern.
20:05Three other student pilots were ahead of him.
20:08He watched them land.
20:09One successful trap.
20:11One wave off.
20:12One bolter that missed all the cables and had to go around again.
20:16Douglas turned onto final approach.
20:19Airspeed, 90 knots.
20:21Altitude, 500 feet.
20:23Descent rate, steady.
20:26The landing signal officer gave him the cut signal.
20:29Douglas chopped power and dropped toward the deck.
20:32But he misjudged the approach.
20:35Too low.
20:35Too slow.
20:37The dauntless descended below the flight deck level.
20:40Douglas added power.
20:42Too late.
20:43Bureau No. 2106 hit the water 50 feet short of USS Sable's stern.
20:50The aircraft nosed over and sank.
20:53Lieutenant Douglas bobbed to the surface.
20:55A Coast Guard rescue boat pulled him from Lake Michigan within three minutes.
20:59He was cold, shaken, uninjured.
21:04Bureau No. 2106 was gone.
21:08420 feet below the surface.
21:10The sole surviving aircraft from the Battle of Midway had just become a permanent resident of Lake Michigan.
21:19Bureau No. 2106 settled onto the bottom of Lake Michigan at a depth of 420 feet.
21:26The water temperature at that depth was 38 degrees Fahrenheit year-round.
21:30Cold.
21:31Dark.
21:33Stable.
21:34The dauntless came to rest upright on the soft lake bottom.
21:38Silt covered the wings within weeks.
21:40The aluminum fuselage corroded slowly in the fresh water.
21:44Much slower than it would have in salt water.
21:46The aircraft sat undisturbed for 51 years.
21:50One of dozens of training aircraft that crashed into Lake Michigan during World War II.
21:56The Navy lost 61 aircraft in the lake during carrier qualification training.
22:00Most were never recovered.
22:03The Navy closed Naval Air Station Glenview in 1945.
22:07The training carriers USS Wolverine and USS Sable were decommissioned and scrapped.
22:13The carrier qualification program moved to Pensacola and other coastal bases.
22:17Lake Michigan returned to commercial shipping and recreational boating.
22:22Below the surface, Bureau No. 2106 remained.
22:26The most famous dive bomber in American history, forgotten on the lake bottom.
22:31The Navy had lost track of the aircraft's location.
22:34Crash reports from 1943 documented the approximate coordinates,
22:39but precise navigation equipment didn't exist in wartime.
22:42The crash site could be anywhere within a five-square-mile area.
22:46In the 1980s, underwater archaeologists began searching for World War II aircraft in Lake Michigan.
22:53Side-scan sonar revealed dozens of wrecks.
22:56TBF Avengers, F-4F Wildcats, F-6F Hellcats, SBD Dauntlesses,
23:02all victims of training accidents, all preserved in the cold, fresh water.
23:07The aircraft were historically significant.
23:09Training losses accounted for more American pilots killed during World War II than combat losses in some theaters.
23:16Each wreck represented a young pilot learning to fly.
23:20Some survived the crashes.
23:21Some didn't.
23:22In 1994, the Naval Historical Center launched a recovery program.
23:27The goal was to salvage aircraft from Lake Michigan for museum displays.
23:31The program focused on rare aircraft types, aircraft with documented combat records, aircraft that could tell important stories.
23:40Bureau No. 2106 was at the top of the list, the sole surviving Dauntless from the Battle of Midway,
23:46an aircraft with 219 documented bullet holes.
23:56A commercial salvage company contracted by the Navy began searching in May 1994.
24:03They used side-scan sonar to survey the bottom.
24:06The sonar painted images of the lake floor, rocks, debris, shipwrecks from the 1800s, and aircraft.
24:14Lots of aircraft.
24:16The team found six SBD Dauntlesses in the search area.
24:21All crashed between 1942 and 1945, all sitting upright on the bottom.
24:28All remarkably intact.
24:30But which one was Bureau No. 2106?
24:33The salvage team deployed a remotely operated vehicle, a small submarine with cameras.
24:39The ROV descended to the first wreck.
24:42The camera revealed a Dauntless with its canopy missing.
24:45Bureau No. Painted on the tail was illegible.
24:49The ROV moved to the second wreck.
24:51Another Dauntless.
24:53Bureau No. Visible.
24:55Not 2106.
24:57The third wreck.
24:58Fourth wreck.
24:59Fifth wreck.
25:00None matched.
25:01The sixth wreck sat 420 feet down.
25:05ROV cameras showed an SBD-2 with the canopy closed.
25:09The paint was faded, but visible.
25:11White number 6 on the fuselage.
25:14Bureau number on the tail.
25:172106.
25:18They had found it.
25:19The salvage team rigged lifting straps under the wings and fuselage.
25:24A crane barge positioned directly above the wreck.
25:27On August 16, 1994, the crane began lifting.
25:32Slowly.
25:34Five feet per minute.
25:36The aircraft rose through 420 feet of cold, dark water.
25:41As it approached the surface, divers swam down to guide it.
25:45The Dauntless broke the surface at 1315 hours.
25:4851 years, two months, and five days after it sank.
25:53Water poured from the cockpit.
25:55Silt covered the wings.
25:57Zebra muscles encrusted the propeller.
25:59But the aircraft was intact.
26:01The crane lifted Bureau No. 2106 onto the barge deck.
26:06The salvage team examined the fuselage.
26:08The 219 bullet holes were still visible.
26:12Patched with aluminum sheet metal by Corporal Buffa, 51 years earlier.
26:17The patches had held.
26:18The cold, fresh water had preserved the aircraft better than anyone expected.
26:23The engine was seized.
26:25The instruments were corroded.
26:27The rubber tires had deteriorated.
26:29But the airframe was solid.
26:31The control surfaces were attached.
26:33The wings were straight.
26:35Bureau No. 2106 could be restored.
26:38The National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida would do the work.
26:43But first, they needed to understand what they had.
26:47219 holes told a story.
26:50The museum wanted to tell it correctly.
26:53Bureau No. 2106 arrived at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida in September 1994.
27:01The aircraft was transported by flatbed truck from Chicago, still dripping Lake Michigan water, still covered in zebra mussels.
27:09The museum's restoration team unloaded the Dauntless and moved it into a restoration hangar.
27:14They had restored dozens of World War II aircraft.
27:18Wildcats, Corsairs, Hellcats.
27:20But this Dauntless was different.
27:22This aircraft had a documented combat history.
27:25Every bullet hole needed to be preserved.
27:28Every repair needed to be documented.
27:30The restoration would take seven years.
27:33The team began by cataloging the damage.
27:35They photographed every bullet hole, every patch, every dent.
27:39They measured the diameter of each hole.
27:427.7-millimeter holes from zero machine guns.
27:4520-millimeter holes from zero cannons.
27:48Irregular shrapnel holes from anti-aircraft fire.
27:51The holes were concentrated in specific areas.
27:54The tail section had 41 holes.
27:56The Zeros had attack from behind.
27:58The wings had 68 holes, concentrated near the wing roots where the fuel tanks were located.
28:04The fuselage had 110 holes.
28:07Some passed completely through both sides of the aircraft.
28:10The restoration team found evidence of Corporal Bufa's emergency repairs.
28:14Aluminum patches riveted over the larger holes.
28:17Control cables spliced and reconnected.
28:20Hydraulic lines bypassed with temporary fittings.
28:23The patches had been applied quickly.
28:25Combat repairs.
28:26Good enough to make the aircraft flyable.
28:29Not pretty, but effective.
28:31The museum decided to preserve some of Bufa's patches.
28:34Physical evidence of field maintenance under combat conditions.
28:37The engine was removed and disassembled.
28:40The three cracked cylinders were still visible.
28:42Damage from the Battle of Midway.
28:44The replacement engine installed at Pearl Harbor in April 1943 had logged only 64 flight
28:51hours before the Lake Michigan crash.
28:53Low hours for a wartime engine.
28:55But the cold water and 51 years of submersion had destroyed the internal components.
29:00The museum installed a different Wright R-1820 cyclone engine.
29:05Period correct.
29:06Same model.
29:07But not the original.
29:08The instrument panel was corroded beyond repair.
29:11Gauges seized.
29:13Wiring deteriorated.
29:14The museum fabricated a new instrument panel using photographs of SBD2 cockpits from 1942.
29:21They installed period instruments, airspeed indicator, altimeter, fuel gauge, engine temperature gauge.
29:29The same instruments Iverson would have seen on June 4th, 1942.
29:33The exterior paint was almost completely gone, faded by 51 years of cold water.
29:39The museum's research team studied photographs of VMSB-241 aircraft taken at Midway in May and June 1942.
29:47The Dauntlesses were painted in a tricolor camouflage scheme.
29:51Blue-gray upper surfaces.
29:53Light gray undersides.
29:55White number 6 on the fuselage sides.
29:58National insignia on the wings and fuselage.
30:00The museum applied the same paint scheme, careful to preserve the original paint wherever it still adhered to the aluminum.
30:08The restoration team discovered something unexpected during the work.
30:11Elements of the original factory paint scheme from December 1940-40 were still visible on the wings and tail surfaces.
30:19Beneath the 1942 camouflage, beneath the Lake Michigan silt, the original colors had been protected by layers of later paint.
30:27The museum preserved those sections.
30:29Physical evidence of the aircraft's history.
30:31From factory delivery, to VB-2 aboard Lexington, to Ford Island during Pearl Harbor, to Lay and Salamawa, to Midway,
30:41to Lake Michigan.
30:42Every layer told part of the story.
30:44By 2000, the restoration was nearly complete.
30:47The museum planned a formal unveiling ceremony for 2001.
30:52They contacted surviving members of VMSB-241.
30:56Most of the pilots were dead.
30:57Major Henderson, killed at Midway.
31:00Captain Fleming, killed at Midway.
31:03First Lieutenant Iverson, killed in a mid-air collision in January 1944 while training pilots in Florida.
31:10Private First Class Reed, killed in action in Korea in 1950.
31:15But families remained.
31:17The museum invited them to Pensacola.
31:19They also invited Captain Mark T. Whittier.
31:22Whittier had flown Bureau No. 2106 in March 1942 during the raid on Lay and Salamawa, before the aircraft was
31:31transferred to VMSB-241.
31:34Whittier was 92 years old.
31:36He wanted to see his old aircraft one more time.
31:39On June 4th, 2001, 59 years after the Battle of Midway, the National Naval Aviation Museum unveiled Bureau No. 2106.
31:49Captain Whittier stood beside the Dauntless.
31:52Iverson's daughter attended.
31:54Reed's sons attended.
31:55They looked at the 219 holes.
31:58They looked at Buffa's patches.
32:00And they understood what their fathers had survived.
32:03But the museum had one more surprise.
32:05Something found during the restoration that nobody expected.
32:10During the restoration, technicians removed the rear seat cushion to inspect the gunner's position.
32:15Beneath the cushion, they found dried blood.
32:18Wallace Reed's blood.
32:2057 years old.
32:21Still visible on the aluminum flooring.
32:23The shrapnel wound in Reed's foot had bled heavily during the 40-mile flight back to Midway.
32:28The blood had pooled in the rear cockpit.
32:31Soaked into the seat cushion.
32:32Dripped onto the floor.
32:33When Corporal Buffa patched the aircraft after the battle, he cleaned the cockpit.
32:38But he missed some spots.
32:39The cold water of Lake Michigan had preserved what remained.
32:42The museum debated how to handle the discovery.
32:45Some staff argued the blood should be cleaned away.
32:48Others argued it should be preserved.
32:50Physical evidence of combat.
32:51Reed's blood was part of the aircraft's history.
32:54The museum director made the decision.
32:56The blood would remain.
32:57Covered by the restored seat cushion.
33:00Invisible to visitors.
33:01But documented in the aircraft's records.
33:03Future historians would know it was there.
33:05The museum also found other artifacts in the cockpit.
33:09Reed's spent shell casings.
33:10Empty .30 caliber brass from the rear machine gun.
33:13Reed had fired approximately 200 rounds during the battle.
33:17The casings had rolled around the rear cockpit during the flight.
33:20Some had fallen through the bullet holes.
33:22Others remained trapped between the seat and the fuselage.
33:24The museum preserved 12 casings.
33:27They were displayed in a case beside the aircraft.
33:30Physical evidence of Reed's defense of the Dauntless.
33:32Bureau No. 2106 went on permanent display in the museum's World War II gallery.
33:37Positioned near other Pacific War aircraft.
33:40A Vought F-4U Corsair.
33:42A Grumman TBF Avenger.
33:44A Mitsubishi A6M-0 captured at the end of the war.
33:48But the Dauntless drew the most attention.
33:50Visitors walked around the aircraft slowly.
33:52Counting the bullet holes.
33:53Reading the placard describing the Battle of Midway.
33:56Looking at the photographs of Iverson and Reed.
33:59Some visitors were veterans.
34:00Some were historians.
34:02Some were families with children learning about the war.
34:05The museum created an educational program around Bureau No. 2106.
34:09School groups visited.
34:11Teachers used the aircraft to explain the Battle of Midway.
34:14The turning point of the Pacific War.
34:17How 16 Marine pilots attacked four Japanese carriers.
34:21How eight returned.
34:22How Major Henderson died leading the attack.
34:25How Iverson brought his shattered aircraft home.
34:27How Reed kept firing even after he was wounded.
34:31The story resonated with visitors.
34:33Not because of the technical details.
34:35But because of the human cost.
34:36The SBD Dauntless remains one of the most successful dive bombers in history.
34:41Douglas Aircraft built 5,936 Dauntlesses between 1940 and 1944.
34:47The Navy and Marine Corps flew them in every major Pacific battle.
34:52Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa.
34:57Dauntless pilots sank more Japanese shipping than any other aircraft type.
35:01Six carriers, 14 cruisers, six destroyers, dozens of transports and cargo ships.
35:07The aircraft earned its nickname.
35:10Slow, but deadly.
35:11But only one SBD-2 survived the Battle of Midway.
35:15Bureau No. 2106.
35:17The aircraft with 219 holes.
35:19The aircraft that landed on one wheel.
35:22The aircraft that flew with Iverson and Reed.
35:24The aircraft that Major Henderson's squadron flew into combat, knowing most wouldn't return.
35:29Eight out of 16.
35:3150% casualties.
35:32Typical for Marine aviation at Midway.
35:35VMF-221 lost 15 fighters.
35:38VMSB-241 lost eight dive bombers.
35:41The torpedo bombers had it worse.
35:43All six TBF Avengers from Midway were shot down.
35:46Only one crew survived.
35:48The Battle of Midway cost the Japanese Navy its offensive capability.
35:52Four carriers destroyed.
35:54248 aircraft lost.
35:56Most of Japan's experienced carrier pilots killed.
35:59The Imperial Japanese Navy never recovered.
36:01After Midway, Japan fought defensively, retreating from island to island,
36:06losing aircraft and pilots faster than they could be replaced.
36:09The United States built more carriers, trained more pilots, produced more aircraft.
36:15Essex-class carriers.
36:16Independence-class carriers.
36:18Hundreds of Dauntlesses.
36:20Thousands of Hellcats.
36:21The industrial advantage became overwhelming.
36:24Bureau No. 2106 represents that turning point.
36:27The moment when American forces stopped losing and started winning.
36:31The moment when individual courage and sacrifice changed the course of history.
36:36Iverson and Reed didn't sink a carrier.
36:38Their bomb missed.
36:39But they survived.
36:40They brought their aircraft home.
36:42They proved the Dauntless could absorb punishment and keep flying.
36:46And in 2025, 83 years after the battle, their aircraft still tells that story, still shows those 219 holes, still
36:55honors the Marines who didn't come home.
36:59Today, Bureau No. 2106 occupies a place of honor at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida.
37:07The aircraft sits in the World War II gallery under careful lighting.
37:11Visitors can walk around it.
37:12View it from every angle.
37:14Count the 219 holes if they have the patience.
37:17The museum estimates 300,000 people see the Dauntless every year.
37:21School children, veterans, families, foreign tourists.
37:25Each one learns the same story.
37:2716 Marine pilots attacked 4 Japanese carriers.
37:318 came home.
37:32This aircraft was one of them.
37:34The museum maintains detailed records of Bureau No. 2106's history.
37:38December 1940.
37:40Manufactured at El Segundo, California.
37:42December 31, 1940.
37:45Delivered to VB-2 at San Diego.
37:471941.
37:48Operated from USS Lexington.
37:50December 7, 1941.
37:53Survived Pearl Harbor attack while parked on Ford Island.
37:56March 10, 1942.
37:59Attacked Japanese shipping at Ley and Salamaua.
38:02May 26, 1942.
38:04Transferred to VMSB-241 at Midway.
38:08June 4, 1942.
38:10Attacked carrier Hiryu.
38:12Returned with 219 holes.
38:15March 1943.
38:16Ship to Pearl Harbor for engine replacement.
38:19May 1943.
38:21Assigned to Carrier Qualification Training Unit at Glenview.
38:24June 11, 1943.
38:26Ditched in Lake Michigan.
38:28August 16, 1994.
38:30Recovered.
38:31June 4, 2001.
38:34The aircraft's combat record is documented.
38:37One mission.
38:38One target.
38:39One bomb released.
38:41Zero confirmed hits.
38:42But 219 holes prove the aircraft was there.
38:46In the fight.
38:47Under fire.
38:48Surviving when half the squadron didn't.
38:50Museum curators explained to visitors that success at Midway wasn't measured by individual bomb hits.
38:55It was measured by collective sacrifice.
38:58VMSB-241 attacked knowing they would lose aircraft.
39:02They attacked anyway.
39:03They forced the Japanese to defend their carriers.
39:06They delayed the rearming operation.
39:08They created the opportunity for the Navy dive bombers that followed.
39:12First Lieutenant Daniel Iverson died on January 22, 1944.
39:18He was training student pilots at Naval Air Station Vero Beach, Florida.
39:22Two aircraft collided during a gunnery exercise.
39:25Iverson's Dauntless and another trainer crashed.
39:27Both pilots were killed.
39:29Iverson was 28 years old.
39:31He had survived Midway.
39:33Survived Guadalcanal.
39:34Received the Navy Cross.
39:36Received the Silver Star.
39:37He died teaching other pilots to survive.
39:40His daughter Dana was six months old.
39:42Private First Class Wallace Reed survived the war.
39:45He recovered from his foot wound.
39:47Returned to combat duty.
39:49Flew missions in the Solomon Islands Campaign.
39:52After the war, he joined the Army.
39:54When the Korean War began in June 1950, Reed deployed with the 2nd Infantry Division.
40:00He was killed in action on September 15, 1950, during the Incheon invasion.
40:05Reed was 30 years old.
40:06He had survived 219 bullet holes at Midway.
40:10He didn't survive Korea.
40:12Major Lofton Henderson died on June 4, 1942.
40:16His body was never recovered.
40:18Lost at sea northwest of Midway.
40:20The captured Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal was named Henderson Field in his honor.
40:25August 1942.
40:27Two months after his death.
40:29That airfield became one of the most contested pieces of ground in the Pacific War.
40:33Marines held it.
40:34Japanese attacked it repeatedly.
40:37Naval bombardments.
40:38Air attacks.
40:39Ground assaults.
40:40Henderson Field never fell.
40:42The Marines who defended it knew whose name it carried.
40:45The Major who led 16 Dauntlesses knowing he wouldn't return.
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41:05Stories about marine pilots and gunners who fought with courage and determination.
41:09Real people.
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