Richard Ira Bong: American World War II Ace of Aces

Two days later, the 49th Fighter Group escorted B-25Ds of the 3rd Bombardment Group against Japanese ships off Cape Gloucester. When Rabaul-based Ki.43s arrived to intervene, the 9th Squadron claimed seven of them. Repeatedly attacked, Bong took five 7.7mm hits in his left wing. After diving and pulling up to reengage, he spotted two Oscars turning to pursue some departing B-25s. Making a shallow diving turn, Bong fired a 45-degree deflection shot into the rearmost fighter and saw it turn northeast trailing smoke and splash into Rein Bay. He was now the top-scoring American in the Pacific with 16, and on August 24, Kenney promoted him to captain.

Following a two-week furlough, Bong returned to his squadron in early September. During an attack on a formation of Bettys on the 6th he was credited with two probables (matched by two G4M1s of the 751st Kokutai, or naval air group, that came back damaged), but their gunners shot up his right engine. Bong was fortunate to reach Marilinan airstrip before crash landing his P-38H, which was subsequently written off.

Shortly after downing a Ki.46 over Cape Hoskins, New Britain, on October 2, Bong was made a flight commander. On the 29th he dispatched two Zeroes over Rabaul. American forces landed on Bougainville on November 1, and on the 5th aircraft from both the Fifth Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft carriers Saratoga and Princeton attacked a Japanese cruiser force gathered in Rabaul Harbor that threatened the beachhead. Wading into a hornet’s nest of Zeroes, Bong claimed two of them.

At that point, Kenney dispatched Bong Stateside with orders for General Henry H. “Hap” Arnold in Washington, D.C. Along the way, Bong got a chance to see his family, enjoy his mother’s cooking and hang out with hometown friends. He also met Marjorie Vattendahl, a local beauty who had been recently elected homecoming queen at State Teachers College in Superior, Wis. Bong was promptly made king, and for much of his leave the two were inseparable.

fter participating in a succession of parades, speeches and awards ceremonies to boost home front morale, Bong finally returned to the South Pacific. There, Kenney put him in charge of replacement aircraft for V Fighter Command, an assignment that allowed him to choose his combat missions. He also acquired a brand-new P-38J, one of the first in the area to boast a bare aluminum finish, on whose nacelle he applied a portrait of Marjorie, along with the legend “Marge.” His first victory in Marge came on February 15, 1944, when he claimed a Tony. A couple of weeks later, Bong destroyed a Japanese transport plane carrying high-ranking Japanese officers as it taxied along a landing strip. He didn’t count that incident as an aerial victory.

No longer affiliated with any squadron, Bong sometimes used his “roving commission” to fly missions with Major Tommy Lynch, indulging in a friendly rivalry at the enemy’s expense. During one such sweep over Tadji air base at 1800 hours on March 3, Bong destroyed a Mitsubishi Ki.21 “Sally” bomber and Lynch damaged another. Over the next 15 minutes, Bong downed a second Sally offshore while Lynch accounted for a Tony and another enemy fighter. They returned to base to congratulations and news of Lynch’s promotion to lieutenant colonel. Lynch scored his 20th victory on March 5, but as he and Bong were strafing Japanese fishing luggers and barges in Aitape Harbor three days later, Lynch’s right engine was hit by small arms fire. Bong radioed him to bail out, but the burning Lightning had descended below 200 feet by the time he saw the canopy break free and Lynch tumble out, just before his plane exploded. After a hopeless search of the jungle area in which Lynch fell, Bong had to feather the propeller of his own damaged right engine and sadly flew back to his base at Nadzab.

Soon thereafter Kenney gave Bong another R&R, during which he met with General MacArthur. The ace was back in New Guinea by April 3, however, when he downed an Oscar of the 33rd Sentai near Hollandia, for his 25th victory. During another strike on the 12th, Bong splashed an Oscar in Tanamerah Bay and destroyed two more over Hollandia.