On June 4, 1942, fifteen obsolete Douglas Devastators of Torpedo Squadron 8 flew low and alone toward the pride of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Their leader, Lieutenant Commander John Charles Waldron, had done the unthinkable an hour earlier: he broke formation and defied his air group commander, convinced the official strike course was dangerously wrong. Waldron was right. Torpedo 8 found the enemy, but without fighter cover or dive bomber support, 29 of the 30 airmen were killed. Yet their sacrifice bought the crucial minutes needed for American dive bombers to strike and alter the course of World War II.

Meanwhile, the remaining 59 aircraft of the USS Hornet Air Group led by Commander Stanhope Cotton Ring and backed by Captain Mark Mitcher flew on a course that led to empty ocean, running out of fuel and ditching without ever sig ...