Image: Japanese bomb hits USS Enterprise (CV-6) flight deck during Battle of the Eastern Solomons, 24 August 1942 (80-G-17489)

Description: A Japanese bomb explodes on the flight deck of USS Enterprise, 24 August 1942 during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, causing minor damage. This was the third and last bomb to hit Enterprise during the battle. The bomb was dropped by a Japanese Aichi D3A1 "Val" dive bomber piloted by Kazumi Horie who died in the attack. According to the original photo caption in the US Navy's archives, this explosion killed the photographer, Photographer's Mate 3rd Class Robert F. Read. This image, however, was actually taken by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Marion Riley, who was operating a motion picture camera from the aft end of the ship's island, above the flight deck and who survived the battle although his photographic equipment was damaged. The film Riley took that day, and of which this still was extracted together with others and published in Life, can be seen at this Youtube link (explosion at 03:05). Robert Read was stationed in the aft starboard 5" gun gallery and was killed by the second bomb to hit Enterprise. The smoke from the bomb explosion that killed Read can be seen in the upper left of this photograph. (Source: [1])
Title: Japanese bomb hits USS Enterprise (CV-6) flight deck during Battle of the Eastern Solomons, 24 August 1942 (80-G-17489)
Credit: This media is available in the holdings of the National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 520592.
Author: PhoM 2/c Marion Riley, U.S. Navy
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No