Dick Bong... Americas Leading Ace....

drgondog · Jun 16, 2007

Nonskimmer said:
I've gotta say lesofprimus, you're a helluva story teller!
A shame indeed, that after all of the combat he saw, and all of the aircraft he shot down, he was to be killed as a test pilot. Christ!
And he did it all in the P-38, a plane initially favored by enemy pilots as easy pickings.
Correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm not knocking the Lightning as I haven't researched it much, but it wasn't the aircraft that was inferior so much as the fact that early on, the American pilots didn't really know how to exploit it's capabilities properly. Is that correct, or am I (yet again ) way off base?

It would just be another testiment to Bong's skill and determination!

I may be wrong but I think he was Squadron CO of the first P-80 operational squadron - not a test pilot

Often wrong - rarely uncertain

The problem with the 38 in europe was the turbo and lack of dive brakes - the engines blew up when the oil froze and the 109 and 190 could do their spit S and dive that they couldn't do against the 47 and 51 because the 38 would accelerate into compressibility quickly - when the L model arrived it was a different ball game. Great fighter.

Regards,

Bill

drgondog · Jun 16, 2007

FLYBOYJ said:
Arguably Feb. 11, 1939 when Ben Kelsey flew the XP-38 coast to coast.
He did the flight in 7 hours citing his average speed was 340 mph. At one point he had tail winds pushing the aircraft at 420 indicated, so people will argue if 400 mph true was ever achieved during this flight but do the numbers - he stopped twice to refuel - once at Amarillo and again at Wright Patterson. If each stop "wasted" one half an hour we're looking at an average speed of over 400 mph and even faster. No one will ever know the exact figures because the XP-38 was destroyed on landing.

I think for the record we could say Feb. 11, 1939, but who knows what was done prior, the flight test program records were very sketchy and the XP-38 only had about 11 hours on it when it crashed.

That crash set the program back about 2 years as the Xp38 was hand tooling and the a/c was long delayed getting into flight test. It would possibly been a different air war in europe if the 38 had compressibility tests in 40 or 41 instead of 43.. imagine Regensburg and Schweinfurt in Aug 43 with a fully operational 38 in Southern Germany 9 months earlier than the 38L - expensive but a great airplane

FLYBOYJ · Jun 16, 2007

I remember attending a Lockheed management club meeting around 1982. It was "Kelly Johnson Night" as he was the guest speaker. He said the same thing...

Graeme · Jun 17, 2007

FLYBOYJ said:
My Pleasure - it was always a myth when many books published that the F4U was the first US combat aircraft to fly over 400 mph.

I've lost count of the number of books that cite the XF4U-1 as the first American warplane to exceed 400mph. Occurring on 1st October 1940 on a flight from Stratford to Hartford, demonstrating a speed of 404mph. It's going to be a hard myth to dispel in aviation literature.

DerAdlerIstGelandet · Jun 17, 2007

drgondog said:
I may be wrong but I think he was Squadron CO of the first P-80 operational squadron - not a test pilot

Regards,

Bill

According to the Bong Herritage Center he was a test pilot when he crashed in Burbank.

Richard I. Bong WWII Heritage Center

FLYBOYJ · Jun 17, 2007

Graeme said:
I've lost count of the number of books that cite the XF4U-1 as the first American warplane to exceed 400mph. Occurring on 1st October 1940 on a flight from Stratford to Hartford, demonstrating a speed of 404mph. It's going to be a hard myth to dispel in aviation literature.

A myth that is 100% wrong - without a doubt the XP-38 was the first US Aircraft to exceed 400 mph...

FLYBOYJ · Jun 17, 2007

That he was - a production test pilot at Burbank. His job was to test fly newly completed P-80s as they left the production line.

AV8 · Jul 12, 2007

The P-38 has a lot of strengths if you only USE them. Some pilots did. Bong and McGuire come to mind immediately.

The same can be said for ALL fighters.

The AVG racked up a positive kill ratio with the P-40, the Hellcat had the best kill ratio of ANY fighter until the F-15, and a LOT more.

Let's remember that more enemy aircraft were shot down by the Me / Bf 109 than by any other aircraft in WWII, Lightning, Hellcat, Spitfire, and Mustang notwithstanding.

Yes, it was on the losing side, no, it was NOT a bad aircraft, it was a GREAT PLANE. The one that shot down the most HAS to be a great plane, ya' think? I do.

It basically has one or two weaknesses: Short range, shared by others, and designed for takeoff and landing on grass. Not too good on pavement of ANY sort, but decent on grass. WW2 WAS mostly greass runways. Well, maybe gravel, grass, AND pavement!

Soundbreaker Welch? · Jul 16, 2007

The one that shot down the most HAS to be a great plane, ya' think?

Yes sir.

Dick Bong... Americas Leading Ace....

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drgondog

Major

drgondog

Major

FLYBOYJ

"THE GREAT GAZOO"

Graeme

1st Sergeant

DerAdlerIstGelandet

Private Chemtrail Disperser

FLYBOYJ

"THE GREAT GAZOO"

FLYBOYJ

"THE GREAT GAZOO"

AV8

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Soundbreaker Welch?

Tech Sergeant

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