Richard Bong

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Maj. Richard Ira Bong
September 24, 1920(1920-09-24) – August 6, 1945 (aged 24)
  
Maj. Richard I. Bong
Nickname "Ace of Aces"
"Bing" Bong
Place of birth Superior, Wisconsin
Place of death near Burbank, California
Allegiance Flag of the United States United States of America
Service/branch Flag of the United States Air Force United States Air Force
United States Army Air Corps
Years of service 1941-1945
Rank Major
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Cross
Silver Star (2)
Distinguished Flying Crosses (7)
Air Medal (14)

Richard "Dick" Ira Bong (September 24, 1920 – August 6, 1945) is the United States' highest-scoring air ace, having shot down 40 Japanese aircraft during World War II. Bong was a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF), and was a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

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[edit] Early life

Bong grew up with Swedish parents on a farm in Poplar, Wisconsin. He became interested in aircraft at an early age, and was a keen model builder.

He began studying at Superior State Teachers College in 1938. While at the college, Bong enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, and also took private flying lessons. In 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. One of his gunnery instructors was Capt. Barry Goldwater (later Senator from Arizona and unsuccessful 1964 presidential candidate). Bong's ability as a fighter pilot was recognized at training in northern California. He received his wings and commission as a second lieutenant on January 9, 1942, and was made a gunnery instructor. He was officially reprimanded by Maj. Gen. George Kenney, then commanding the Fourth Air Force, after being witnessed flying above the Golden Gate Bridge in his P-38, and waving to people in office buildings as he flew along Market Street.

[edit] Combat

Major Richard Bong in his P-38.
Major Richard Bong in his P-38.

Bong's first assignment was to the 49th Fighter Squadron (FS), 14th Fighter Group at Hamilton Field, California, where he transitioned into the P-38 Lightning. When this group was sent to England in July 1942, Bong transferred to another Hamilton Field unit, the 78th Fighter Group, where he was assigned to the 84th Fighter Squadron. Bong was then sent to the Southwest Pacific Area.

On September 10, 1942, Lt. Bong was assigned to the 9th ("Flying Knights") Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group, based at Darwin, Australia. While his squadron waited for delivery of the scarce Lockheed P-38s, Bong and other 9th FS pilots flew missions with the 39th FS, 35th Fighter Group, based in Port Moresby, New Guinea, to gain combat experience. On December 27, 1942, he claimed his initial aerial victories, shooting down a Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" and an Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" over Buna (during the Battle of Buna-Gona). Bong was awarded the Silver Star.

In March 1943, he returned to the 49th FG, at Schwimmer Field near Port Moresby. On July 26, 1943, Bong shot down four Japanese fighters over Lae and was consequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. On leave in November/December of 1943 Bong met Marge Vattendahl at a Superior State Teachers College Homecoming event and began dating her. On returning to the Pacific in January 1944 he named his P-38 "Marge" after his new girlfriend and adorned the nose with her photo.[1]

By April 1944, Captain Bong had shot down 27 aircraft, surpassing Eddie Rickenbacker's American record of 26 credited victories in World War I. He had many more kills but did not take credit for them because he did not want to be sent home.[citation needed]

After extended leave in the U.S. (May 1944), Major Bong returned to New Guinea in September. Though assigned to V Fighter Command staff and not required to fly combat missions, Bong continued flying from Tacloban, Leyte, during the Philippines campaign, increasing his total to 40 victories by December. Upon General Kenney's recommendation, Bong received the Medal of Honor from General Douglas MacArthur in December 1944.

Bong's Medal of Honor citation stated that he flew combat missions despite his status as an "instructor", one of his roles as standardization officer for V Fighter Command. His rank of major would have qualified him for a squadron command, but he always flew as a flight (four-plane) or element (two-plane) leader.

In January 1945, the Allied air commander in the South West Pacific Area, Kenney sent the ace of aces home for good. Bong married Marge and participated in numerous PR activities, such as promoting the sale of war bonds.

Bong acknowledged that his gunnery accuracy was poor, but he compensated by flying directly at his targets to make sure he hit them, in some cases flying through the debris of his target (and on one occasion colliding with an enemy aircraft which was claimed as a "probable" victory). This was helped as the P-38's concentrated, parallel stream of bullets allowed aerial victory at much longer distances than fighters carrying wing guns.

[edit] Death

Bong was killed in 1945 in a P-80A similar to this one.
Bong was killed in 1945 in a P-80A similar to this one.
Bong's death was featured prominently in national newspapers, even though it occurred on the same day as the bombing of Hiroshima.
Bong's death was featured prominently in national newspapers, even though it occurred on the same day as the bombing of Hiroshima.

Bong then became a test pilot for the US Army Air Force assigned to Lockheed's Burbank, California plant flying P-80 Shooting Star jet fighters at the Lockheed Air Terminal. On August 6, 1945, the primary fuel pump sheared during takeoff on the acceptance flight of P-80A 44-85048. Bong had forgotten or could not switch[citation needed] to the auxiliary fuel pump.[2] Bong successfully escaped the aircraft, but was too low for his parachute to successfully deploy and he fell to his death. His death was front-page news across the country, sharing space with the first news of the bombing of Hiroshima.[3]

At the time of the crash, Bong had 4 hours fifteen minutes flight time and 12 flights in the P-80. The I-16 fuel pump was a later addition to the plane (after an earlier fatal crash) and Bong himself was quoted by Captain Ray Crawford (another P-80 test/acceptance flight pilot who flew the day Bong was killed) as saying that he had forgotten to turn on the I-16 pump on an earlier flight.[citation needed]

Chuck Yeager also writes, however, in his autobiography that part of the ingrained culture of test flying at the time, due to the fearsome mortality rates of the pilots, was anger directed at pilots who died in test flights, to avoid being overcome by sorrow for lost comrades. Bong's brother Carl (who wrote his biography) questions the validity of reported circumstance that Bong repeated the same mistake so soon after mentioning it to another pilot. Carl's book —Dear Mom, So We Have a War (1991)— contains numerous reports and findings from the crash investigations.

He is buried in Poplar, Wisconsin Cemetery.[4]

[edit] Memorials

Richard Bong is the namesake of the Richard Bong State Recreation Area on the site of what was to be Bong Air Force Base in southeastern Wisconsin, the Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge in the Twin Ports of Duluth, Minnesota and Superior, Wisconsin, The Bong Barracks of the Aviation Challenge program, the Richard I. Bong Bridge in Townsville, Australia, the Richard Bong Theatre in Misawa, Japan and the 613th Air and Space Operations Center, Thirteenth Air Force, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii. Bong avenue on the former site of the decommissioned Richards-Gebauer air force base is named in his honor.

On September 24, 2002, on the occasion of Bong's 82nd rebirthday, the Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center opened to the public in Superior, Wisconsin. Housed in a structure intended to resemble an aircraft hangar, it contains a museum, a film screening room, and a P-38 Lightning restored to resemble Bong's plane. The work on the aircraft, begun in 1994 and coordinated by volunteers from the Duluth, Minnesota Air National Guard, required more than 16,000 hours of labor. The Heritage Center is located on parkland along Superior Bay, on the site of the old Convention and Visitors Bureau tourist information center. The P-38 at the Bong Heritage Center is the same aircraft presented to the Richard I. Bong American Legion Post #435 by the US Air Force as a memorial to Bong. Originally it was located along Highway 2 in Poplar and later outside of Poplar High School before being removed for restoration as noted above.

The P-38 display at Burbank Airport in Burbank, California has a reference to Bong's career as a WWII ace.

[edit] Victory credits

Date Kills Location/Comment
December 27, 1942 2 over Buna
January 7, 1943 2 Oscars over Lae
January 8 1 over Lae Harbor, ace status
March 3 1 A6M Zero during Battle of the Bismarck Sea
March 11 2 Zeroes
March 29 1 heavy bomber; promoted to 1st Lieutenant.
April 14 1 bomber, over Milne Bay. Awarded Air Medal.
June 12 1 Zero, over Bena Bena
July 26 4 fighters, on escort over Lae; awarded DSC
July 28 1 Oscar, on escort over New Britain.
September 6 0 claimed two bombers, not confirmed; crash-landed at Mailinan airstrip
October 2 1 Mitsubishi Ki-46 "Dinah", over Gasmata
October 29 2 Zeros, over Japanese airfield at Rabaul
November 5 2 Zeros, over enemy airfield at Rabaul
December 1943-January 1944: On leave in Wisconsin
February 1944: assigned to Fifth Air Force Fighter Command HQ, but allowed to "free-lance".
February 15 1 Tony off Cape Hoskins, New Britain
February 28 0 destroyed a Japanese transport plane on the runway at Wewak, New Guinea
March 3 2 Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" bombers, over Tadji, New Guinea
April 3 1 fighter over Hollandia, 25th credit
April 12 3 surpassed Eddie Rickenbacker's U.S. record of 26 kills
May-July 1944: on leave in U.S., made publicity tours
October 27 1
October 28 2 Oscars off Leyte
November 10 1 Oscar over Ormoc Bay
November 11 2 Recommended for Medal of Honor.
December 7 2 Sally and Nakajima Ki-44 "Tojo", covering U.S. landings at Ormoc
December 15 1 Oscar
December 16? 1 Oscar over Mindoro.

[edit] Awards and decorations

  • USAAF pilot badge

[edit] Medal of Honor citation

Rank and organization: Major, U.S. Army Air Corps. Place and date: Over Borneo and Leyte, 10 October to 15 November 1944. Entered service at: Poplar, Wis. Birth: Poplar, Wis. G.O. No.: 90, 8 December 1944.

Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from 10 October to 15 November 1944. Though assigned to duty as gunnery instructor and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Maj. Bong voluntarily and at his own urgent request engaged in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorties over Balikpapan, Borneo, and in the Leyte area of the Philippines. His aggressiveness and daring resulted in his shooting down 8 enemy airplanes during this period.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Dick Bong Anerica's Ace of Aces by Gen. George C. Kenney.
  2. ^ Yeager, Chuck and Janos, Leo. Yeager: An Autobiography. Pages 227-228 (paperback). New York: Bantam Books, 1986. ISBN 0-553-25674-2.
  3. ^ The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times, among other periodicals, all carried prominent front page stories about Bong's death on August 7, 1945, despite the prevalence of the news on the first atomic page. "Jet plane explosion kills Major Bong, Top U.S. Ace," New York Times (7 August 1945), p. 1; "Major Bong, top air ace, killed in crash of Army P-80 jet-fighter," Washington Post (6 August 1945), p.1; "Jet plane explosion kills Maj. Bong; Ace's 'Shooting Star' blows up in test flightover north Hollywood", Los Angeles Times (6 August 1945), p.1.
  4. ^ Richard Bong at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2007-12-09
  5. ^ Richard Bong, Medal of Honor recipient. World War II (A-F) (July 16, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-09.

[edit] References

  • Kenney, George C. (2003 (copyright renewed, originally published in 1960)). {{{title}}}. ISBN 0-9722373-0-5. 

[edit] External links