Max Leslie
| Maxwell Franklin Leslie | |
|---|---|
Maxwell F. Leslie in April 1942
|
|
| Born |
October 24, 1902 Seattle, Washington |
| Died | September 26, 1985 (aged 82) San Diego, California |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/branch | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1926–1956 |
| Rank | Rear Admiral |
| Commands held |
VB-3 Carrier Air Wing 3 |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
Navy Cross Bronze Star Presidential Unit Citation |
Maxwell Franklin Leslie (24 October 1902 – 26 September 1985) was a naval aviator in the United States Navy during World War II. He is credited with playing a major part in the Battle of Midway.
Born in Seattle on 24 October 1902, Leslie attended the University of Washington before entering the U.S. Naval Academy in 1922, graduating in 1926, the same class as Wade McClusky.
Leslie was commissioned ensign in 1926, and received flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1929. He qualified as a naval aviator in 1930. When the United State entered World War II, he was executive officer of Bombing Squadron 3 (VB-3) aboard USS Saratoga. He flew with his squadron off USS Enterprise, while escorting USS Hornet on the Doolittle Raid.
Leslie was in command of VB-3, operating off USS Yorktown during Midway. Following the Japanese destroyer Arashi that had been counterattacking USS Nautilus, Leslie and Lieutenant Commander Wade McClusky, from Enterprise, managed to arrive above the Japanese task force at the precise moment its combat air patrol had been drawn down to the deck to repel Yorktown's torpedo bombers, and at the moment of the First Air Fleet's maximum vulnerability. With the Japanese Zeros too low to be effective, the SBD Dauntlesses of McClusky and Leslie's squadrons poured down through the miraculously open sky to unload their bombs on the Japanese carriers, their hangar decks cluttered with confused ranks of recovered and warming up aircraft, snaking fuel hoses, and stacks of munitions from the various rearmament operations. Leslie himself did not have a bomb as it was accidentally released via a faulty electrical arming switch. Nevertheless, he also dived with the rest of the SBDs, strafing carrier decks.
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