What happened to America's top two fighter aces AFTER the war (2 Viewers)

[TheIronDiaries]

Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38) were America's deadliest Pacific fighter pilots — both dead at 24, seven months apart, neither in combat. I put together a 9-minute documentary on their postwar fates using only public-domain archival footage (NARA / U.S. Army), no AI imagery:
View: https://youtu.be/TaThTbcPHZE

Bong's P-80 crash on the same day as Hiroshima is the part that still gets me. Happy to be corrected on any detail — sources are in the description.

 

[R Leonard]

But "America's top two fighter aces AFTER the war" is incorrect as neither actually survived the war. McGuire was killed in action over Los Negros on 7 January 1945 and Bong was killed in a P-80 crash on 6 August 1945 . . . before the Japanese surrendered.

The next highest scoring US ace was David McCampbell, USN, with 34 credited victories; he retired a Captain, USN, in July 1964 and died on 30 June 1996.

 

[mstennes]

Richard Bong (40 victories) and Thomas McGuire (38) were America's deadliest Pacific fighter pilots — both dead at 24, seven months apart, neither in combat. I put together a 9-minute documentary on their postwar fates using only public-domain archival footage (NARA / U.S. Army), no AI imagery:
View: https://youtu.be/TaThTbcPHZE

Bong's P-80 crash on the same day as Hiroshima is the part that still gets me. Happy to be corrected on any detail — sources are in the description.

I thought McGuire was killed in combat trying to out maneuver with his drop tank still on something like that? He had failed to jettison the tank, he got himself into trouble and almost puller off but clipped some trees? I remember his plane was found where it went down.

 

[R Leonard]

Don't have to get shot to be killed in action.. McGuire augured in in the course of combat maneuvering against Japanese adversaries. OED, killed in action.

 

[TheIronDiaries]

But "America's top two fighter aces AFTER the war" is incorrect as neither actually survived the war. McGuire was killed in action over Los Negros on 7 January 1945 and Bong was killed in a P-80 crash on 6 August 1945 . . . before the Japanese surrendered.

The next highest scoring US ace was David McCampbell, USN, with 34 credited victories; he retired a Captain, USN, in July 1964 and died on 30 June 1996.

Fair catch, and you're right. Bong was gone on August 6 and McGuire back in January, so neither man lived to see the surrender. The video looks at what happened to them once their combat tours were over, Bong back home on the P-80 and McGuire still flying in the Philippines, but your point about the wording stands. And thanks for the McCampbell note, I hadn't kept track of his postwar career.

 

[TheIronDiaries]

I thought McGuire was killed in combat trying to out maneuver with his drop tank still on something like that? He had failed to jettison the tank, he got himself into trouble and almost puller off but clipped some trees? I remember his plane was found where it went down.

Yeah, you've got it right. He rolled into that low turn with the tank still on, couldn't shake it in time, and stalled right into the trees. The wreck was found where it went down. That whole sequence is in the video, it's the part of McGuire's story that always stuck with me.

 

[TheIronDiaries]

Don't have to get shot to be killed in action.. McGuire augured in in the course of combat maneuvering against Japanese adversaries. OED, killed in action.

Exactly right. He didn't need to take a bullet for it to count as killed in action, he went in while maneuvering against Japanese fighters and that's how it was recorded. The video treats it the same way.