It's good that, unlike the old 1970s Midway, which created fictional character for Charlton Heston, this film seems to have more historical characters. Wade McClusky and Dick Best were real life heroes, but in his own way, so was Jimmy Thatch, who created the "Thatch Weave" tactic introduced in the battle, which allowed US pilots in their F4F Wildcats to fight against the vaunted Japanese Zeros.