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Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsin's 'Ace of Aces' | Local Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsin’s 'Ace of Aces' Eric Johnson May 25, 2020 SALE! Subscribe for $1/mo. Richard I. Bong: Remembering WisconsinʼsSHARE THIS 'Ace 4 of comments Aces' Then Capt. RicharD I. BonG, a Wisconsin farm boy turneD American fighter pilot with the 5th Air Force, neeDeD one more score to tie the American shootinG down of enemy plane record set by record of Eddie Rickenbacker, when this photo was taken on March 30, 1944. https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 2 of 15 Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM ASSOCIATED PRESS file photo ENOSHA COUNTY — As the nation pauses to solemnly honor its fallen K military heroes on Memorial Day, few names in Wisconsin are more revered than that of Poplar native U.S. Army Air Force Major Richard Ira Bong, one of America’s most decorated World War II fighter pilots. The country’s “Ace of Aces” with 40 downed enemy aircraft “kill” victories in Pacific Theater aerial combat action, Bong is widely revered as America’s all- time highest-scoring fighter pilot. Said to be “quiet, shy and introverted on the ground,” in the cockpit Bong was anything but, described as “aggressive, hostile and fearless in the air.” Known for his penchant for taking on his aerial enemies in head-on duels that logged at least 16 of his 40 aerial kills, Bong was famously noted as telling his squadron mates that the secret to his success was his strategy of getting close enough to his enemy to “put the gun muzzle in the... [enemy’s] cockpit.” On one notable sortie, Bong returned to base with a flat right tire and a right tail boom riddled with hits and severed hydraulic lines — along with a smile on his face as he surveyed the damage. ‘Know what makes it tickʼ In a June 10, 1944 letter to his mother, Bong included some advice for a younger brother who was considering joining the Army Air Force in his footsteps, “He must not get contemptuous of any airplane, no matter how simple and easy it https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 3 of 15 Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM may be to fly. Don’t just get in and fly it, but know what makes it tick … If he forgets, why, any airplane in the world can kill him if he isn’t its complete master.” Presented with numerous decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal, on Dec. 8, 1944 General Douglas MacArthur, on the recommendation of Major General George C. Kenney and with Congressional approval, presented Bong with the Medal of Honor citation for his “aggressiveness and daring” and “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty” in the Southwest Pacific. Read the citation in part, “Though assigned to duty as gunnery instructor and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Major Bong voluntarily and at his own urgent request participated in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorties…” In presenting the Medal of Honor, MacArthur famously threw away his prepared speech and said extemporaneously, “Major Richard Ira Bong, who has ruled the air from New Guinea to the Philippines, I now induct you into the society of the bravest of the brave – the wearers of the Medal of Honor of the United States of America.” https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 4 of 15 Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM Bong, 24, died stateside in North Hollywood, California on Aug. 6, 1945 while flight-testing Lockheed’s first jet fighter, the P-80, shortly before the war ended. He was buried in Douglas County at Poplar Cemetery in his hometown of Poplar, near Superior. He was survived by his wife, Marjorie Vattendahl (1923- 2003), whom he married in February 1945. An early interest in aviation Born in Superior to Swedish immigrant Carl Terre Bong and his American wife, Dora May Bryce, Richard Bong grew up on the family farm in nearby Poplar, the oldest of nine children. He became intrigued with aviation early after watching planes fly over the farm delivering air mail to President Calvin Coolidge at his “summer White House” in Superior. Recalled Bong, “The president’s mail plane flew right over my house. I knew then I wanted to be a pilot.” After graduating from Superior High School in 1938, Bong enrolled at Superior State Teacher’s College, today’s UW-Superior, where the would-be engineer also enrolled in the Civilian Pilot’s Training Program, augmenting his studies with private flying lessons. https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 5 of 15 Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM Possessing the values and expectations of the era, including a duty-bound deep sense of patriotism, Bong enrolled in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet program in May 1941. Entering the service at Wausau, Bong was sent to Rankin Aeronautical Academy in Tulare, Calif., for primary flight instruction and was subsequently send to Gardner Field at Taft, Calif. for basic military flight training. Bong was then sent to Luke Field near Phoenix, Ariz. for advanced single-engine flight training. At Taft, Bong’s fighter gunnery instructor was Capt. Barry Goldwater, later a five-term U.S. Senator and the Republican Party’s 1964 presidential nominee. Recalled Goldwater of Bong, “He was a very bright student. But the most important thing came from a P-38 pilot who said Bong was the finest natural pilot he ever met. The pilot recalled that he could never prevent Bong from getting on his tail, even though Bong flew an AT-6, a very slow plane.” Made a gunnery instructor and awarded his pilot wings in January 1942, a month after Japan’s surprise attack on U.S. Naval Forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Bong in May 1942 was assigned to Hamilton Field near San Francisco for aerial combat training in twin-engine, twin-tail P-38 Lightning fighters. https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 6 of 15 Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM At Hamilton, Bong concurrently attracted both the ire and admiration of Kenney for his aerial antic over San Francisco — “looping the loop” around the central span of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay and waving to stenographers as he flew past the office buildings lining Market Street in Downtown San Francisco. Bong was assigned to the Pacific Theater in September 1942, the first fighter pilot to be handpicked by Kenney. By April 1944, Bong had shot down his 26th and 27th aircraft, tying and then propelling him past the record held by World War I “ace” American pilot Edward V. “Eddie” Rickenbacker. Said Rickenbacker to Bong in a congratulatory 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.” Bong, whose trademark combat technique was swooping down on his targets, blasting them at dangerously close range and then pulling up fast, came just shy of doubling Rickenbacker’s mark. https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 7 of 15 Richard I. Bong: Remembering Wisconsinʼs 'Ace of Aces' | Local News | journaltimes.com 5/30/20, 812 AM After scoring his 40th victory on Dec. 17, 1944 over San Jose, Mindoro, Kenney ordered Bong to permanently park his P-38L fighter after logging 500 combat hours over two years, sending him stateside to a hero’s welcome and an additional order to “marry Marjorie and start thinking about raising a lot of towheaded Swedes.” Following Kenney’s orders. Bong tied the knot with Vattendahl on Feb. 10, 1945 in wedding ceremony attended by 1,200 guests. Test pilot finale Bong spent the remainder of the war researching the latest in air combat aviation technology, working with the Lockheed P-80 “Shooting Star” jet fighter, first at the Flight Test Section at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio and then at Lockheed’s plant in Burbank, Calif. On Aug. 6, 1945, Bong died when the P-80 he was testing stalled and crashed on take-off in a routine test flight. So famous was Bong nationally, the passing of “America’s Ace of Aces” competed for top newspaper headline billing with news of the Army Air Force’s dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, which led to Japan’s hastened Aug. 15, 1945 surrender to U.S. forces. News of Bong’s death of threw a heavy pall over the U.S. Army Air Force during https://journaltimes.com/news/local/richard-i-bong-remembering-wis…f.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=email&utm_campaign=user-share Page 8 of 15 Richard I.
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