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 having played a major part in the Battle of Midway.
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 States 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.
Battle of Midway
Lieutenant Commander Maxwell Leslie successfully ditching due to lack of fuel, 13:48, 4 Jun 1942
Leslie was in command of VB-3, operating from USS Yorktown during Midway. Following the Japanese destroyerArashi 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's squadron of 20 dive bombers and Max Leslie's squadron of 17 dive bombers 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.[2]
In just five minutes, Enterprise's Scouting Squadron Six and Bombing Squadron Six destroyed two Japanese fleet carriers. Kaga was abandoned at 1700 and sank at 1925. Akagi was abandoned just after Kaga went down, and was scuttled before dawn June 5. Attacking nearly simultaneously with McClusky's SBDs, Yorktown's VB-3, led by Leslie, inflicted heavy damage on Sōryū, and she also sank that evening. Leslie and his wingman Lieutenant Junior Grade P.A. Holmberg returned to Yorktown, but as Yorktown was under attack by Japanese planes and their fuel was exhausted, they ditched near the cruiser USS Astoria. Leslie, Holmberg, and their gunners were rescued by one of the cruiser's whaleboats.
A single carrier, Hiryū, which was ten miles to the north of the other three carriers, escaped damage the morning of June 4, but was sunk on June 5. For heroism at the battle, Leslie was awarded the Navy Cross.
Leslie continued to serve overseas during World War II:[3]
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