The Greatest Fighter Pilot of WWII... Finalized....
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lesofprimus
Brigadier General
Ur welcome and Im pretty sure I am... The Russian stats are always alittle flunky, but in recent articles and info, these #'s all seem pretty tight...
evangilder
"Shooter"
CurzonDax said:
Kind of makes sense, but you did list Boyington. It's funny, the press called him Pappy, but his men never called him Pappy. They called him "Gramps" as he was at the "advanced" age of 30 while most of his men were in their 20s.
Kind of makes sense, but you did list Boyington. It's funny, the press called him Pappy, but his men never called him Pappy. They called him "Gramps" as he was at the "advanced" age of 30 while most of his men were in their 20s.[/quote]
Ah that comes from the miracle of a very basic cable system we had down there. Baa Baa Black Sheep was televised down there in both Spanish and Englsh!
:{)
Ah that comes from the miracle of a very basic cable system we had down there. Baa Baa Black Sheep was televised down there in both Spanish and Englsh!
:{)
evangilder
"Shooter"
Ah ok. It's funny, lasst night on the Military Channel on Legends of Airpower, the had an episode on Richard Bong! He was a quiet, unassuming guy on the ground, but a hell of a pilot. If General Kenney had not pulled him out of combat, there is no telling what his tally might have been.
A couple of amazing stories about his piloting skills:
When at Hamilton field, near San Francisco, he flew loops around the center span of the Golden Gate bridge and flew low enough down market street to wave to the secretaries and stenographers!
Barry Goldwater was his gunnery instructor at Luke Field in Arizona. He said that Bong was an exceptional student. While at Luke, flying an AT-6, he flew an engagement against a P-38 with an experienced pilot. No matter how hard he tried, the P-38 pilot could not shake Bong, who was flying the AT-6! The P-38 pilot said that Bong was the finest natural pilot he ever met.
A p-38 versus an AT-6 is not even a match and the P-38 holds all of the advantages, yet Dick Bong stuck to the P-38.
While in the Pacific, he became known for his "silent landings". He would come in with both engines feathered, perform a loop and then land!
He was an amazing pilot.
A couple of amazing stories about his piloting skills:
When at Hamilton field, near San Francisco, he flew loops around the center span of the Golden Gate bridge and flew low enough down market street to wave to the secretaries and stenographers!
Barry Goldwater was his gunnery instructor at Luke Field in Arizona. He said that Bong was an exceptional student. While at Luke, flying an AT-6, he flew an engagement against a P-38 with an experienced pilot. No matter how hard he tried, the P-38 pilot could not shake Bong, who was flying the AT-6! The P-38 pilot said that Bong was the finest natural pilot he ever met.
A p-38 versus an AT-6 is not even a match and the P-38 holds all of the advantages, yet Dick Bong stuck to the P-38.
While in the Pacific, he became known for his "silent landings". He would come in with both engines feathered, perform a loop and then land!
He was an amazing pilot.
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
evangilder said:
I still think some big name producer needs to make a movie about him and McGuire - the Lindberg visit, Bongs SF antics, a perfect hollywood script!
Imagine if Speilberg got a hold of this one!
evangilder
"Shooter"
I agree. It would make a great movie. But you know how Hollywood hates tragic endings...
The really sad part is that the news of his death was overshadowed by the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and so it went mostly unnoticed, except for the people in the 5th AF.
General Kenney had a nice eulogy for him:
"On August 6, 1945, I was on my way to take off for Headquarters of the Southwest Pacific area in Manila when a radio telegram which had been relayed there was handed to me by my signal officer. Right then, I stopped thinking of the atom bomb which had wiped out Hiroshima that morning, stopped speculation about the effect of the coming entry of Russia into the Pacific War, even stopped thinking of the capitulation of Japan which we all knew was about to take place in a few days. Wherever I landed, I found that the whole Fifth Air Force felt the same, that we had lost a loved one, someone we had been glad to see out of combat and on his way home eight months before. Major Richard I. Bong of Poplar was dead...
"You see, we not only loved him, we boasted about him, we were proud of him. That's why each of us got a lump in our throats when we read that telegram about his death. Major Bong, Ace of American Aces in all our wars, is destined to hold the title for all time. With the weapons we possess today, no war of the future will last long enough for any pilot to run up 40 victories again.
"His country and the Air Force must never forget their number-one fighter pilot, who will inspire other fighter pilots and countless thousands of youngsters who will want to follow in his footsteps every time that any nation or coalition of nations dares to challenge our right to think, speak, and live as a free people."
The really sad part is that the news of his death was overshadowed by the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima and so it went mostly unnoticed, except for the people in the 5th AF.
General Kenney had a nice eulogy for him:
"On August 6, 1945, I was on my way to take off for Headquarters of the Southwest Pacific area in Manila when a radio telegram which had been relayed there was handed to me by my signal officer. Right then, I stopped thinking of the atom bomb which had wiped out Hiroshima that morning, stopped speculation about the effect of the coming entry of Russia into the Pacific War, even stopped thinking of the capitulation of Japan which we all knew was about to take place in a few days. Wherever I landed, I found that the whole Fifth Air Force felt the same, that we had lost a loved one, someone we had been glad to see out of combat and on his way home eight months before. Major Richard I. Bong of Poplar was dead...
"You see, we not only loved him, we boasted about him, we were proud of him. That's why each of us got a lump in our throats when we read that telegram about his death. Major Bong, Ace of American Aces in all our wars, is destined to hold the title for all time. With the weapons we possess today, no war of the future will last long enough for any pilot to run up 40 victories again.
"His country and the Air Force must never forget their number-one fighter pilot, who will inspire other fighter pilots and countless thousands of youngsters who will want to follow in his footsteps every time that any nation or coalition of nations dares to challenge our right to think, speak, and live as a free people."
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
That's outstanding! 
I still think some big name producer needs to make a movie about him and McGuire - the Lindberg visit, Bongs SF antics, a perfect hollywood script!
Imagine if Speilberg got a hold of this one![/quote]
But why, Cruise is going to make the world safe for democracy next year. He's going to win the Battle of Britain all by his scientology self!
Imagine if Speilberg got a hold of this one![/quote]
But why, Cruise is going to make the world safe for democracy next year. He's going to win the Battle of Britain all by his scientology self!
CurzonDax said:
Like I said, I think there were a lot of great American Aces. Many Many Many that were just as good and skilled as the top Luftwaffe Aces. I personally just think that the numbers of the top Luftwaffe Aces and Experten speaks for all for itself. I mean look at Erich Hartmann alone, he even tought at a USAAF flight school in the United States after the war, well after he was released from POW camps in Russia and returned to Germany. These men really accomplished something in Aviation History that will probably never be broken. It is really hard to put others up on the pedistals with them.
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
I agree 100%, there was alot of pilots from USA or UK that could fly a plane as well as they could, but no other nation asked and demanded of their pilots the way that Germany did, and still have the pilots do such a successful job at the same time.
-UK and USA pilots were taken off combat duty after a short number of missions when compared to German pilots. They also did not have to fly many many of their missions totally out numbered like Germans had to. Also part of the reason that Germans had so many kills is the number of combat missions that they had to fly, many of those they were fatigued because of the number of flights they had to make ever day.
-Japan had pilots that flew a long time also but they also were either killed or did not enjoy the same amount of success as the German pilots did.
-Russia did not have alot of pilots score a high number of kills (compared to the Germans totals) because many of them were killed. They did have to fly much of the war in inferior planes than the Germans but they also had numbers on their side almost always.
Hunter368 said:
I agree however the British did just that during the BoB. They depended on the RAF for there survival and the RAF fought valiently and one at incredible odds that were stacked against them.
DerAdlerIstGelandet said:
I agree again but that was for only a few months not the whole war. During the BoB when LW was targetting RAF bases and just in general the RAF pilots were very tired and worn out. They were not near defeat but the pilots were at the end of their ropes so to speak. Now imagine how they would of felt and performed if they fought most of the war the same way. But I agree during that short peroid RAF was out numbered by the total forces of LW. During Battle of Germany the home defense fighters were sometimes out numbered not just by the total force attacking (bombers and fighters) but the USA escorts alone even out numbered the defending LW fighters. Thats scary stuff.
FLYBOYJ
"THE GREAT GAZOO"
Hellbird said:
Welcome Hellbird - 5 kills, Yeager was an ace (12 kills) and you're not stupid, read on some of the threads and join in....
Welcome to the site.
Welcome to the forums Hellbird.
evangilder
"Shooter"
Welcome aboard, Hellbird. No worries, we are all here to learn.
