Richard Ira Bong: American World War II Ace of Aces
By Jon Guttman

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Bong’s score now surpassed the 26 of Edward V. Rickenbacker, the leading American ace of World War I. Kenney promoted him to major, and Eddie Rickenbacker sent him a message: “I just received the good news that you are the first one to break my record by bringing down 27 planes in combat. I hasten to offer my sincere congratu­lations with the hope that you’ll double or triple this number.”

In May Kenney dispatched Bong to the United States with a letter to Hap Arnold, asking that he be allowed to research the latest techniques and technology for conducting gunnery training in the Pacific. Arnold assented and also gave Bong a pass to go home, where he became engaged to Vattendahl. Upon Bong’s return to Washington, Arnold sent him on a 15-state tour to promote war bonds.

After visiting various training bases, Bong returned to the Pacific to find the Fifth and Thirteenth Air forces combined into the Far East Air Force (FEAF), under General Kenney’s command. Assigned as an advanced gunnery instructor, Bong was permitted to go on missions to see how his students fared with the new techniques, but he was only supposed to defend himself if attacked, not seek combat.

On October 10, B-24s of the FEAF attacked the Japanese oil refineries at Balikpapan, Borneo. Fourteen P-38Js of the 9th Fighter Squadron flew ahead of the bombers, and Bong, serving as an element leader, spotted a twin-engine Nakajima J1N1-S “Irving” at 5,000 feet. He did an abrupt wingover, overtook the Irving, shot it down and saw at least one of its crewmen bail out. As Bong rejoined the formation, the other P-38s were engaging a group of fighters, one of which Bong sent down in flames.

ong’s score now stood at 30, but when Kenney heard that he had participated in the long, hazardous Balikpapan raid he barred him from further such missions. Among the P-38 pilots escorting the next Balikpapan strike on October 14 was Major Thomas J. McGuire, the commander and leading ace of the 431st Fighter Squadron, whose ambition was to overtake Bong’s score — and indeed he raised his own to 24 that day, claming an Oscar, a Zero and a Nakajima Ki.44 “Tojo” interceptor.

On October 20, U.S. Army troops waded ashore on Leyte Island in the Philippines. Two air bases vital to the invasion were prepared to receive fighters, and Bong accompanied his old squadron, the 9th, when it flew from Morotai to Tacloban airfield on the 27th. Kenney was waiting there to personally greet each pilot and joked with Bong about his noncombat training role. Bong coyly replied that he probably would not join in operations right away, then asked, “Could I just join up the first patrol to get to know the place?”

Bong apparently got to know the place quickly — at 1720 that same afternoon he downed an Oscar off Biliran Island. The next day another Oscar fell to his guns off the west coast of Leyte, and when a bomb-carrying Ki.43 he encountered over the southern tip of Masbate Island tried to dive away, its own just-released ordnance struck it and tore away the tail assembly.

While escorting a bombing attack on a Japanese troop convoy near Ormoc airstrip on November 1, Bong destroyed an Oscar of the 204th Sentai. On the 11th he encountered A6M5 Zeroes off the southern coast of Ormoc Bay and swiftly dispatched two of them. He marked the third anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with another double: a Sally near Bohol Island at 1505 hours and a Tojo over Ormoc Bay at 1610.

Meanwhile, General Kenney had recommended Bong for the Medal of Honor, a request that MacArthur wholeheartedly approved. The citation read: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific Area from 10 October to 15 November 1944. Though assigned to duty as gunner instructor and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Major Bong voluntarily, and at his own urgent request, engaged in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorties over Balikpapan, Borneo, and the Philippines. His aggressiveness and daring resulted in his shooting down eight enemy planes during this critical period.”

Tags: Aces, Aerial Combat, Aviation History, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures, World War II

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