John Smith Thach (April 19, 1905 – April 15, 1981) was a World War II Naval Aviator, air combat tactician, and United States Navy admiral. 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.

The Thach weave (also known as a beam defense position) is an aerial combat tactic that was developed by naval aviator John S. Thach and named by James H. Flatley of the United States Navy soon after the United States' entry into World War II.

Admiral Thach’s most notable tactical achievement was the creation of the famous “Thach Weave” maneuver. During the spring of 1941, Thach received an intelligence report from China which provided specifications of the Japanese fighter, the Zero.

On June 4, 1942, then U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander John Thach, employed aerial combat tactics that fundamentally changed how World War II was fought in the Pacific Theater. His creative ingenuity and leadership paved the way for the future of naval warfare.

Apr 15, 2013 · At the close of World War II, Commander Thach returned to the Pacific as the operations officer to Vice Admiral John McCain’s fast carrier task force and was present at the formal Japanese surrender on September 2, 1945.

Perhaps the best-known aerial dogfighting tactic to emerge from World War II was the “Thach Weave.” Developed by Lieutenant John S. “Jimmie” Thach, the maneuver helped Grumman F4F Wildcat pilots survive against much faster, quicker climbing, and tighter turning Mitsubishi A6M Zeros in the early days of the war.

This is a delightfully told memoir from the man who was probably the Navy's foremost fighter plane tactician of World War II. He is best known as the inventor of the "Thach Weave," whereby U.S. fighters could successfully combat Japanese Zeros.

Lieutenant Commander Thach led "Fighting Three" from USS Lexington (CV-2) in early Pacific actions, and from USS Yorktown (CV-5) during the June 1942 Battle of Midway.

Commander Thach in leading an air combat against twenty Japanese “Zero” fighters with a four-plane division of fighter planes from his squadron during the successful attacks by carrier air groups against Japanese carriers north of Midway Island, resulting in …

Oct 1, 2020 · As told by Edward M. Young in his book F4F Wildcat vs A6M Zero-sen Pacific Theater 1942, that morning lieutenant commander (LCDR) John Thach, commanding VF-3 embarked in Yorktown, took off with five other F4F-4s as escort to VT-3´s TBD Devastators on their way to attack the Japanese carrier force.