John Smith Thach (April 19, 1905 – April 15, 1981) was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-bas ...

air combat ''Air Combat'' is a 1995 combat flight simulator developed and published for the PlayStation by Namco. Players control an aircraft and are tasked with completing a series of missions, with objectives ranging from destroying formations of enemie ...

tactician A tactic is a conceptual action or short series of actions with the aim of achieving a short-term goal. This action can be implemented as one or more specific tasks. The term is commonly used in business, protest and military contexts, as well as ...

, and

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet ...

. Thach developed the Thach Weave, a combat flight formation which could counter enemy fighters of superior performance, and later the big blue blanket, an aerial defense against kamikaze attacks.

Early career

John S. Thach was born in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...

, on April 19, 1905. He graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

in 1927 and spent two years serving in

battleship A battleship is a large armour, armored warship with a main artillery battery, battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1 ...

s, before becoming a Naval Aviator in early 1930. Thach spent the next decade serving as a

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

and instructor and establishing a reputation as an expert in aerial gunnery.

World War II

In early 1940, Thach was placed in command of Fighting Squadron Three (VF-3). There he met a young

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

just out of flight school,

Edward O'Hare Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O'Hare (March 13, 1914 – November 26, 1943) was an American naval aviator of the United States Navy, who on February 20, 1942, became the Navy's first fighter ace of the war when he single-handedly attacked a ...

, later a

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of val ...

recipient. Thach made O'Hare his

wingman A wingman (or wingmate) is a pilot or UAV who supports another pilot in a potentially dangerous flying environment. ''Wingman'' was originally the plane flying beside and slightly behind the lead plane in an aircraft formation. According to t ...

and taught him everything he knew. At the United States Navy fleet gunnery competition at the end of 1940, eight of the 16 VF-3 pilots qualified for the gunnery "E" award ("excellence"). Later Thach developed a fighter combat tactic known as the Thach Weave. This tactic enabled American fighter aircraft to hold their own against the more maneuverable

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M w ...

, the primary

Imperial Japanese Navy The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN; Kyūjitai: Shinjitai: ' 'Navy of the Greater Japanese Empire', or ''Nippon Kaigun'', 'Japanese Navy') was the navy of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945, when it was dissolved following Japan's surrender ...

fighter aircraft.

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

Thach and VF-3 flew from in the early part of

, and was assigned to during the

Battle of Midway The Battle of Midway was a major naval battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II that took place on 4–7 June 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea. The U.S. Navy under ...

in June 1942. On the morning of June 4, Thach led a six-plane

sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining supp ...

from VF-3, escorting twelve

Douglas TBD Devastator The Douglas TBD Devastator was an American torpedo bomber of the United States Navy. Ordered in 1934, it first flew in 1935 and entered service in 1937. At that point, it was the most advanced aircraft flying for the Navy and possibly for any na ...

s of VT-3 led by Lieutenant Commander Lance Massey from ''Yorktown'', when they discovered the main Japanese carrier fleet. They were immediately attacked by 15 to 20 Japanese fighters. Thach decided to use his namesake maneuver, marking its first combat usage. Although outnumbered and outmaneuvered, Thach managed to shoot down three Zeros and a wingman accounted for another, at the cost of one

Grumman F4F Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atlant ...

After Midway, Thach was assigned to instruct other pilots in combat tactics. The United States Navy pulled its best combat pilots out of action to train newer pilots, while the Japanese kept their best pilots in combat. As the war progressed, the Japanese Navy lost their experienced pilots due to attrition and had no well-trained replacements, while the United States was able to improve the general fighting ability of their own personnel. When the Japanese resorted to the feared

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending ...

suicide attack A suicide attack is any violent attack, usually entailing the attacker detonating an explosive, where the attacker has accepted their own death as a direct result of the attacking method used. Suicide attacks have occurred throughout histor ...

s, Thach developed the " big blue blanket" system to provide an adequate defense. Later in the war, Commander Thach became operations officer to Vice Admiral

John S. McCain Sr. John Sidney "Slew" McCain (August 9, 1884 – September 6, 1945) was a U.S. Navy admiral and the patriarch of the McCain military family. McCain held several command assignments during the Pacific campaign of World War II. He was a pioneer of a ...

, commander of the

Fast Carrier Task Force The Fast Carrier Task Force (TF 38 when assigned to Third Fleet, TF 58 when assigned to Fifth Fleet), was the main striking force of the United States Navy in the Pacific War from January 1944 through the end of the war in August 1945. The task ...

. Thach was also present at the formal Japanese surrender aboard the battleship on September 2, 1945, in Tokyo Bay. Thach was a

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

, having been credited with shooting down six enemy aircraft during World War II.

Post–World War II

Thach commanded during the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...

and in 1953–54. He was promoted to rear admiral in 1955. In 1958 and 1959, Thach was placed in command of an antisubmarine development unit, "Task Group Alpha", with the aircraft carrier serving as his

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

. He subsequently appeared on the cover of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine on September 1, 1958, for his contributions to

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typ ...

(ASW), which was a primary focus at the time in the ongoing

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

. An annual award was later established in his name for presentation to the top ASW squadron in the navy. Thach was promoted to vice admiral in 1960 and served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Air in the Pentagon, where he presided over development of the

A-7 Corsair II The LTV A-7 Corsair II is an American carrier-capable subsonic light attack aircraft designed and manufactured by Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV). The A-7 was developed during the early 1960s as replacement for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. Its design w ...

, among other naval aviation programs. As Commander in Chief,

United States Naval Forces Europe United States Naval Forces Europe-Africa (CNE-CNA), is the United States Navy component command of the United States European Command and United States Africa Command. Prior to 2020, CNE-CNA was previously referred to as United States Naval Force ...

, starting in 1965, he pinned on his fourth star as a full admiral, retiring from the Navy in May 1967 from that position. The Arkansas Aviation Historical Society inducted Thach into the Arkansas Aviation Hall of Fame in 1981. Thach died on April 15, 1981, in Coronado, California, four days before his 76th birthday, and was buried at

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery is a federal military cemetery in the city of San Diego, California. It is located on the grounds of the former Army coastal artillery station Fort Rosecrans and is administered by the United States Departmen ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

.William M. Smith, Jr., "Thach, John S." in Nancy A. Williams & Jeannie M. Whayne, ''Arkansas Biography'', p
285
/ref> The

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed an ...

was named in his honor.

Personal life

Thach and his wife Madalynn had four children.

Decorations

Gallery

File:F2A Thach accident USS Saratoga (CV-3) 1940.jpg, LT John S. Thach tipped this F2A-1 onto its nose on in March 1940. File:Thach F4F3 cockpit.jpg, LCDR John S. Thach, CO of VF-3

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * *

External links

Time Magazine Cover Photo (Time Magazine Archives Site)

–

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

– Monday, September 1, 1958
Fighter Tactics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thach, John 1905 births 1981 deaths United States Navy personnel of the Korean War United States Navy personnel of World War II American test pilots American World War II flying aces Battle of Midway Burials at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Navy Cross (United States) Recipients of the Silver Star United States Naval Academy alumni United States Naval Aviators United States Navy admirals United States Navy pilots of World War II