Naval war changed hands in 1942, passing from the battleship to the man in the cockpit. At Coral Sea in May, two fleets fought a battle in which the ships never once saw each other — everything was done by aircraft ranging out over the horizon. A month later at Midway, it was Navy dive-bomber pilots who settled the Pacific war's turning point, tipping into near-vertical dives to catch the Japanese carriers with their decks full of fueled, armed planes and sinking four of them in minutes. The carrier aviator flew from a pitching deck, navigated over trackless ocean, and landed back on a moving ship — the hardest routine flying there was.

The figure stands in a khaki flight suit pulling on a glove, in a leather flying helmet and goggles, yellow Mae West and parachute harness — a pilot minutes from manning up. He anchors a Pacific-aviation display: set him under fleet commander Admiral Nimitz and alongside the top guns of the other services, USAAF ace Richard Bong and Marine ace "Pappy" Boyington.

W. Britain model 13014. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted base. Boxed.