Norman Kleiss, the only diver bomber pilot to hit three Japanese ships with bombs during the Battle of Midway

Norman Kleiss, the only diver bomber pilot to hit three Japanese ships with bombs during the Battle of Midway 

Norman J. "Dusty" Kleiss (7 March 1916 - 22 April 2016) was a dive bomber pilot in the US Navy during WWII, and the only pilot to hit three Japanese ships with bombs during the Battle of Midway. 

.

Between 4 and 6 June 1942, Kleiss fought in the Battle of Midway. On the morning of 4 June, he accompanied Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers led by Enterprise's air group commander, Lieutenant Commander C. Wade McClusky. They were to find the Japanese carrier task force led by Vice Admiral Chuichi Nagumo. After several hours of searching, the group spotted a lone Japanese destroyer, Arashi, and changed direction to follow it. In a few minutes, the pilots caught sight of the main body of the Japanese fleet. At least four pilots from Kleiss's squadron and accompanying squadron "Bombing Six" scored direct hits. Dusty Kleiss was the second pilot to score a hit, putting his 500-pound bomb and his two wing-mounted bombs into the forward section of the ship Kaga's flight deck, right near the Rising Sun insignia. In five minutes, three US dive bomber squadrons had mortally damaged three of the four Japanese aircraft carriers.

.

On the afternoon of 4 June, Kleiss accompanied another dive bomber mission launched from USS Enterprise, this one led by Lieutenant W. Earl Gallaher. Gallaher's dive bombers located the fourth Japanese carrier Hiryu, and fatally crippled her. Again, Kleiss scored a direct hit on the bow, one of only four or five pilots to do so. On 5 June, Kleiss accompanied Enterprise's dive bombers on their third mission during the Battle of Midway, one that failed to sink (or damage, for that matter) a lone Japanese destroyer, Tanikaze.

 Then on 6 June, Kleiss accompanied Enterprise's dive bombers in a mission that helped sink the Japanese cruiser Mikuma. Kleiss's bombs struck near Mikuma's smokestack. Kleiss was the only pilot to score three direct hits with bombs on Japanese ships during the Battle of Midway.

All What's You Should Know: Dig into history, fact, science, true crime, and beyond with All What's you should know — where: where you'll discover the most interesting things that you Should know. Feel free to explore our blog