Ship's sponsor, Mrs. Bradford W. Ripley, II, of Dayton, Ohio, poses with the christening bottle, at launching ceremonies at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia, 20 March 1945. Mrs. Ripley is accompanied by Lieutenant George Gay, USNR, the only survivor of the Battle of Midway attack by Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) from USS Hornet (CV-8).

"Large Aircraft Carrier Midway." (From a Russian publication).

This drawing shows Midway as built.

USS Midway (CVB-41) in Hampton Roads, Virginia, 10 September 1945.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97631).

USS Midway (CVB-41) noses through scattered sea ice in March 1946, during her Arctic experimental cruise. Photographed looking forward from the carrier's island, with SB2C "Helldiver" and F4U "Corsair" planes parked on her flight deck. A "Gearing" class destroyer is steaming past in the background.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-10001).

Note: Original caption incorrectly identifies the ship as "USS Midway (CVB-42)". CVB-42 was USS Franklin D. Roosevelt. In March 1946, Midway (not Franklin D. Roosevelt) made a cruise to Arctic waters for experimental cold weather operations.

USS Midway (CVB-41) steams through a gale east of Sicily, 4 February 1949. Photographed from USS Philippine Sea (CV-47), some of whose F4U-4 "Corsair" fighters are in the foreground.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-706984).

USS Midway (CVB-41) launches a Lockheed P2V-3C Neptune bomber, with a JATO rocket boost, on 7 April 1949.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-707207).

USS Midway (CVB-41) steaming off the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, prior to Operation "Mainbrace" exercises, September 1952. Aircraft on her flight deck include AD, F4U and F9F types.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-13223).

Underway off Southern California, early 1960s.

Hunters Point NSY, 1962.

Hunters Point NSY, 1962.

Main Control Engine Room, 1962.

USS Midway (CVA-41) preparing to launch a pair of F-8 Crusader fighters, during carrier qualifications, circa 1963.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97634).

USS Midway (CVA-41) underway on 20 June 1963, with F-3 Demon, F-4B Phantom II and F-8 Crusader jet fighters on her flight deck. The two Crusaders parked furthest forward are from Fighter Squadron 24 (VF-24). Photographed by PH1 J.D. Osborne.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97632).

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Charles W. Hartman III (left, in camouflaged flight suit), and Lieutenant Commander Edwin A. Greathouse show Rear Admiral William F. Bringle (seated) how a MiG-17 jet fighter was shot down over North Vietnam by propeller-driven A-1 Skyraiders of Attack Squadron 25 (VA-25), 20 June 1965. LT(JG) Hartman and Lieutenant Clinton B. Johnson were awarded Silver Stars and shared the MiG kill, with half a credit given to each of them. LCDR Greathouse was the mission leader. Photographed on board USS Midway (CVA-41). Note .38 caliber revolvers worn by several of those present.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (# USN 1113736-A).

(See "Skyraider vs. MiG-17," on the Midway Sailor.com website, for a detailed account of the downing of the MiG-17).

Two A-4C Skyhawks from VA-22 "Fighting Redcocks" share deck space with an F-4B Phantom II from VF-21 "Free Lancers" during Midway's first Vietnam Cruise, March 6–November 23, 1965.

Skyhawk NE227 and Phantom II NE101 had totally different fates: NE101, BuNo 150646, was lost in an operational accident on July 28, 1965 not long after this photo was taken; the plane suffered engine and electrical power failure, but fortunately both crewmen ejected and were rescued. On the other hand NE227, BuNo 149532, was noted in March 2006 at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, FL.

Three VPAF MiG-17's were shot down by Midway/CVW-2 aircraft during this deployment: two by VF-21 F-4B's on June 17, 1965 and one by a VA-25 A-1H (see NS024126, above.) A fourth MiG was credited to one of the VF-21 crews more than 30 years later.

"The USS Midway VA-25's Toilet Bomb."

"In October 1965, CDR Clarence J. Stoddard, Executive Officer of VA-25 'Fist of the Fleet,' flying an A-1H Skyraider, NE572 'Paper Tiger II' from Carrier Air Wing Two aboard USS Midway carried a special bomb to the North Vietnamese in commemoration of the 6-millionth pound of ordnance dropped."

"This bomb was unique because of the type... it was a toilet!"

"The following is an account of this event, courtesy of Clint Johnson, Captain, USNR Ret. Captain Johnson was one of the two VA-25 A-1 Skyraider pilots credited with shooting down a MiG-17 on June 20, 1965 [see NS024126, above]."

Whether known or not to those involved, a somewhat similar "special weapons test" had occurred 13 years earlier, during the Korean War — in August 1952 another Skyraider, assigned to VA-195 "Dambusters," off USS Princeton (CV-37) dropped a kitchen sink attached to a 2,000 pound bomb on a target near Pyongyang.