Short Final: A Vote of No-Confidence

Editorial Staff

Tuesday, February 04, 2025 at 02:27 PM ET

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Credit: U.S. Navy

Key Takeaways:

A Dauntless dive bomber experienced an engine failure and erratic flight while returning to the USS Yorktown.
The pilot successfully restarted the engine, narrowly averting a crash.
A post-incident exchange between the pilot and gunner highlighted the shared, acute awareness of the danger they had just faced.

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From the U.S. Naval Institute Facebook page:

After the engine cut out, a Dauntless returning to USS Yorktown began to fly erratically and lose altitude until the pilot was able to restart it. The pilot called to his gunner: “I bet 50 percent of the people down there thought we were going to crash.”

The gunner answered: “50 percent of the people up here thought so, too.”