73 Bullet Holes, No Controls — And He Still Flew 200 Miles Home

#ww2 #ww2history #wwii

Title : 73 Bullet Holes, No Controls — And He Still Flew 200 Miles Home

Summary : On June 4th, 1942, six brand-new TBF Avengers from Midway launched into history’s most lopsided torpedo attack. Within three minutes, five were destroyed by swarms of Zero fighters. Only one remained: Ensign Albert Kyle Ernest, flying a burning, crippled Avenger with a dead gunner, a wounded radioman, no instruments, no radio, no hydraulics, and no elevator control.

Hit 73 times by cannon and machine-gun fire, Ernest still pressed his attack, dropped his torpedo, then began the impossible task of flying 200 miles back to Midway using nothing but trim tabs to control pitch. Smoke filled the cockpit, blood covered the panels, and one landing gear hung uselessly. Any mistake meant death in the Pacific.

Guided only by the rising sun, Ernest navigated by instinct and held the dying aircraft together long enough to spot smoke from Midway’s burning fuel tanks. With no flaps and one wheel, he executed a violent, high-speed emergency landing that should have torn the plane apart—but didn’t. Marines counted 73 holes in the airframe. Engineers could not explain how the Avenger stayed airborne.

Ernest received two Navy Crosses—one for the attack, one for the miraculous return. His flight, and the sacrifice of Torpedo Squadron 8, pulled Japanese fighters low and opened the sky for the dive bombers that changed the course of the Pacific War.
It remains one of the greatest survival flights in naval aviation history.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🔔 Hit A Bell And Subscribe for more untold History Of WW2 : / @WW2Historians
👍 Like this video if you learned something new
💬 Comment below: What other WW2 tactics or story you want to Know !!

#worldwar2 #ww2history #ww2 #wwii #ww2records

⚠️ Disclaimer: This video is an entertainment-based retelling inspired by real World War II events, using publicly available sources. While every effort was made to ensure historical accuracy, some details may be dramatized or simplified for narrative purposes. This content is not an academic source. For verified historical research, please consult professional historians, archives, and official records.
Watch responsibly and with historical curiosity.