Dick Bong: America’s Ace of Aces – IOTW Report

Dick Bong: America’s Ace of Aces

Friday, 16 July 2021, 17:45 Dr. Tar Uncategorized 31

The History Guy’s latest video on YouTube is on the highest scoring fighter pilot in American history and a relative local boy here in NW Wisconsin. Watch

31 Comments on Dick Bong: America’s Ace of Aces

  5. Groucho Marxist
    JULY 16, 2021 AT 5:50 PM

    “Wondered how he disappeared from history”

    …nice people didn’t talk about Dicks OR Bongs back in the day, is why…

    4

  6. I have a friend who shot down five Japanese planes. He flew a Corsair off the Bunker Hill. At Okinawa the Bunker Hill was hit by Kamikazes. He said Zeros come apart like cardboard when hit, the Corsair could absorb a lot of damage and keep flying. He is well into his 90s now, I am going to have to go by and have him refresh my memory on his combat experiences.

    13

  7. There are numerous stories of Chuck Yeager being an asshole. One was reportedly at Dobbins Air Base in Atlanta. It seems that “Ole Chuck” was wanting to get on the base and refused to show the gate guard his id. The base commander had to go to the gate and straighten it out…..real nice guy that one.

    4

  9. I don’t know about that. Chuck Yeager was on the same flight I was on to the Shot Show in 1992 or 1993. It was in New Orleans that year. He sat in the row in front of us in coach. Both me and my traveling companion thought he was a real nice guy.

    6

  11. Most fighter pilots that I knew had enormous egos and were very good at what they did. I had to laugh at the stories of these pilots and their hotdogging by flying under the Golden Gate Bridge etc. Which explains why military pilots still push the envelope and do things like the Navy pilots from NAS Whidbey Island, Wash. who got caught recently in the last few years drawing giant penises in the sky with their contrails coming out of the back of their jets. It takes a special breed of fearless young men to fly a fighter jet and to excell at it. As a young Airman in the Navy I enjoyed the heck out of being a Plane Captain and being able to assist the pilots in my fighter squadron and being trusted by them at the age of 21 and 22 in doing so.

    9

  15. I’ve had the privilege of meeting both Chuck Yeager and Robin Olds at AirVenture, Robin in ’04 and Chuck in ’05. Both amazing guys, and my favorite aces. Fun fact:
    Olds is the only man to ace in both the P38 and P51.

    5

  16. “The base commander had to go to the gate and straighten it out…..real nice guy that one.”

    Been on quite a few military bases. Worked there, housed there. Not ONE time have I ever heard of the base commanding officer EVER having to “go to the gate” to straighten out a damned thing. Not one time, not ever.

    People who write this shit don’t know how the military works. And they make that plain when they write shit like this.

    3

  17. Two years ago I was on Historic US Highway 10 in Washington State by the Columbia River. A fighter jet came screaming through the canyon. I would have liked to have taken a photo but it went by so fast it was gone before I could ever get my camera ready. Another one came by a few minutes later and the same thing happened.

    I read a story about Bong. He had been ordered back to the US. He was walking with his commanding officer on the air strip when a Japanese plane came in to strafe. There was an American fighter airborne and shot him down. The plane was so close when it flew by Bong that he could see the face of the pilot in the throws of death. Prior to that the concept of shooting down Japanese planes was somewhat abstract to Bong. Now he saw it was actually a human being flying the plane. His commander said he could tell by the look on his face that Bong would never be able to shoot down another plane.

    1

  19. JDHasty
    Chul lived near me for over 40 years.Was “good people”!

    Of course that he was a Ronny man may have biased me!

    BTW frequently over 120 ‘MPH on Artesia FWY! Unlike me, I think he never got a ticket. I did.
    BTW Chuck IMHO proves that college (and I have many sheepskins) is not all GWB and “our betters” say it is. Chuck got his commission because he was good . Chuck NEVER WENT TO DOLLEGE!

    1

  21. Amazon.com. Kidd Hofer. Two books. America’s greatest fighter pilot flying in WW2 ETO with a fighter group that produced 81 Aces. Met Jim Goodson, Don Blakeslee, Chuck Yeager Archie Donahue, Saburo Sakai, Rex Barber Pappy Boyington Bud Anderson Francis Gabreski during various reunions and working CAF airshows in Harlingen. A more remarkable body of men would be hard to find. Charismatic one and all. And had wicked sense of humor.

    4

  22. My brother attended EAA at Oshkosh, WI maybe 20 years ago to hear a Chuck Yeager. The question of what Chuck thought of Richard Bong’s flying abilities as a test pilot came up. Yeager gave the old adage about “old pilots and bold pilots…” and reiterated that Bong’s recklessness got him killed.

    Given that another test pilot had been killed in the same aircraft about 3 days prior to Bong’s crash, I’d wonder if there wasn’t something dangerous about the aircraft before disparaging the dead.

    “A report by the Army Air Forces Office of Flying Safety concluded that a minor explosion in the jet’s power plant caused the P-80 to lose power. There was no evidence of pilot error. Richard Bong was killed instantly when he struck the ground.” https://www.wpr.org/richard-bong-part-3-last-flight

    Oh, and apparently Yeager got to be a bit of prick about signing autographs as he got up in years.

    https://www.pilotsofamerica.com/community/threads/somebody-please-shut-chuck-yeager-up.59879/

    You know, Yeager was pretty free with his opinions, I’ll be free with mine.

    4

  25. Bong was a hero. I love fighter pilots from that era. I was stationed in the UK in 1974 and rented a cottage in the village of Kings Cliffe. I knew nothing of the place but learned about the American WWII fighter base there very quickly. It was the home of the 56th Fighter Group, known as Zemke’s Wolfpack. It’s members included the likes of Francis Gabreski, Zemke, Robert Johnson, Schilling, Dade and others who were all aces. Gabreski and Johnson became the top American aces in the European theatre for WWII. They flew P-47 Thunderbolts. I read an incredible book titled ‘Thunderbolt’ about the exploits of the men in the 56th. One of the pilots that flew with them was a man who became a country doctor in Jasper, Texas. My grandparents are buried there so one day I stopped to visit him. We had a great visit. My landlady in Kings Cliffe was around eighteen during the time those guys flew out of Kings Cliffe Airfield and she probably knew some of them on some level. (hummm!) Kings Cliffe Airfield was where Glenn Miller played his very last hangar dance before he was lost over the English Channel. Kings Cliffe later became the home of the 20th Fighter Group known as the ‘Loco Busters’ and they flew P-38′ Lightnings and later P-51 Mustangs. I’ve traveled back to Kings Cliffe several times over the years and it never seems to change. It’s a beautiful place.

    4

  29. Flip – THG is one of the finest channels on u2b.

    Can’t find THG on You Tube. U2B search just returns You Tube.
    I’d like to see this – can you provide a link please?

    1

Comments are closed.

iOTWreport.com ©2024 ----- iOTWreport is not responsible for the content of comments. All opinions in comments are solely the commenter's.