On the morning of June 4, 1942, 41 Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers launched from three American aircraft carriers to attack the  Japanese fleet at Midway . Of those 41 aircraft, 35 were shot down. Their torpedoes scored no hits. Their crews died in numbers that still stagger the imagination. Of those 82 airmen who flew that day, only 12 survived. Yet their sacrifice changed the course of history. By preventing the Japanese from launching their own strikes and by drawing every Japanese