it's arguable that the most famous aircraft from World War II was the Memphis Bell, or, the Enola Gay. But have you heard of Marge, the P38? I haven't. Have you heard of Richard Bong? I haven't. But, he's America’s top flying ace

Bong was a deft pilot who seized the P-38’s monster weaponry to claim his first two aerial kills in December 1942 over Buna, New Guinea. At five aerial victories a month later, he earned the title “ace.”

In April 1944, he exceeded the 26 aerial kills claimed by America’s top World War I ace, Edward Rickenbacker, making Bong the highest scoring ace in U.S. history, a title still standing. 

During a rescue mission in New Guinea, Bong was flying overhead while three fellow pilots took a small rubber boat across a lake to reach a pilot who had been missing in the jungle. As he circled above, Bong noticed a crocodile trailing close behind his comrades in the boat. Dropping his plane low to glide along the water, Bong hit the crocodile with a 20 mm round, blasting away the animal and saving his crew, earning himself a story typically only found in legends.

Along the way he was awarded the Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross and Medal of Honor. 

I wondered about the art of his wife, as it's really out of the question that anyone was talented enough to paint that, and Joe (Thank you Joe!) sent me a couple links today, and one explained that it's a blown up picture from her graduation photo, and he glued it onto his plane. For more about her life story, see https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-oct-10-me-drucker10-story.html

On March 24, 1944, another pilot, 2nd Lt. Tom Malone, was flying Bong’s plane on a weather reconnaissance mission over New Guinea when electrical malfunctions forced him to bail out at about 11,000 feet. The plane crashed, and it's location are unknown, so, the search will begin soon to find it. 

 Bong, who was promoted to major, went on to fly more missions in other planes, racking up 40 aerial victories before he was brought back to the U.S. mainland in early 1945. There, he married, hawked war bonds and became a test pilot for the first jet fighters. 

Bong’s untimely death later that year should have been major news, but it was eclipsed by a cataclysmic event. He crashed while flying a P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter shortly after taking off in Southern California on Aug. 6, 1945, the same day America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/asia_pacific/2024-04-11/richard-bong-marge-wreckage-ww2-13535214.html

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/richard-bong-medal-of-honor

https://bongcenter.org/