FBJ.... All of the above..........
Of all the World War II aces, Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. stands out of the crowd for one reason: he openly lusted for the fame that would come with being a leading ace, and thereby the best pilot. In the American and British air forces, there is a tradition of modesty regarding this goal. No one will ever accuse a man like Chuck Yeager of lack of ego, but it is kept in public check behind an "aw shucks, I was just doin' the job" attitude. McGuire's lust for fame and glory would make him America's Number Two ace of all time, with 38 victories behind the 40 of his great rival, Richard I. Bong, but it would also insure he could never become Number One.
There are diffferent stories regarding this.........
Leading a flight of 4, he spotted a lone "Zero" low over the jungle of Negros Island. He had always preached never to get low, slow and heavy with the P-38, but this time he didn't let go his drop tanks. He saw the "Zero" as an easy kill, and with it and one more he would tie Bong. He made the fatal decision to keep his tanks, make the bounce, and continue the hunt.
Unfortunately for McGuire, the pilot he attacked was NAP 1/c Soichi Sugita, at that time the top-scoring surviving IJN ace with 80-odd kills scored over Rabaul, a master at the controls of a "Zero". In the ensuing fight, Sugita managed to shoot down one of McGuire's wingmen, and severely damage the other two. He then went after McGuire. Low over the jungle, heavy with fuel, McGuire stalled out trying to get away from Sugita and crashed to his death, a pointed example of the dark side of the lust for fame and glory.
OR...............
On January 7th, 1945, McGuire borrowed Fred Champlin's and Hal Grey's aircraft #112 in order to lead a fighter sweep of four P-38s over the Japanese airstrip of Fabrica on Negros Island in the Philippines. Flying in difficult weather, the P-38s finally broke through a cloud barrier at about 1,700 feet over the enemy airstrip and discovered a Nakajima Ki-43 Oscar returning to the field at an extremely low altitude. McGuire dove to meet the foe, and the enemy immediately turned toward the P-38s. The fight was on. The Lightnings were still burdened with fuel tanks that McGuire was reluctant to drop since he had hoped to continue on patrol after this engagement. Unknown to McGuire, a Nakajima KI-84 "Frank" from a nearby airstrip had entered the fight. The situation turned bad quickly. Trying to clear Capt. Edwin R. Weaver's tail, McGuire entered a tight turn at the limits of the P-38's capabilities, and crashed. McGuire's extraordinary career as a fighter pilot ended while in aerial combat over Negros Island in the Philippines. He was only twenty-five years old.
Because of his inspiring leadership and peerless achievements, in 1945 Major McGuire received a posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for his final mission and for the missions of December 25-26th, 1944. His final victory total of 38 makes him the second leading Ace in Air Force history.
Not only was McGuire a prolific fighter pilot, he also authored the book on combat tactics in the Pacific that was adopted by the Army Air Corps. This gave the U.S. airmen the advantage needed to successfully accomplish the difficult task of defeating the Japanese with a minimal loss of American planes and lives.