The closing counterfactual considers sending the Midway TBDs with bombs instead of unreliable Mark 13 torpedoes. A bomb load would have let the aircraft fly faster and maneuver more freely than the low, straight torpedo approach allowed. It also would have opened different attack profiles against the Japanese carriers, even though bombs were not then regarded as the most dependable ship-killing weapon. The aircraft were already armed with torpedoes for a coordinated alpha strike when the enemy carriers were found. Rearming them would have consumed time that American doctrine treated as potentially fatal, so the alternative exposes the tactical bind rather than providing an easy solution.
Notable Point · 1:06:35-1:07:42
A bomb load might have changed the TBD attack
Bombs could have made the TBD faster and more maneuverable at Midway, but the urgent alpha strike left no simple opportunity to rearm aircraft already carrying torpedoes.