The story of an American P-38 pilot who survived a dogfight with 9 enemy fighters

World War II was the first major armed conflict in which aviation played a dominant role in all theaters of operations.

The Niš incident, a fierce aerial combat between Americans and Soviets in WWII
An analysis of the engineering of the legendary American fighter Lockheed P-38 Lightning

During that war, many pilots became aces and accumulated numerous victories against enemy aircraft. The American pilot with the most confirmed victories was Richard Ira "Dick" Bong, born on September 24, 1920, in Superior, Wisconsin, the son of a Swedish immigrant and a British mother. Bong enlisted in the U.S. Army on May 29, 1941, entering the Aviation Cadet Program and demonstrating great skill during training. He received his pilot's wings on January 19, 1942.

That same year, Bong was sent to Australia, where he was assigned to the 17th Fighter Squadron, a unit equipped with long-range Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters. He was later transferred to the 9th Fighter Squadron based in the Australian city of Darwin. On December 27, 1942, Bong achieved his first two kills: an A6M Zero fighter of the Japanese Navy and a Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar" (popularly known as "Army Zero" by American pilots) of the Japanese Army.

On January 8, 1943, Bong achieved his fifth victory, becoming an ace, on a mission over Lae, Papua New Guinea, piloting a P-38F Lightning (serial number 42-12653) and shooting down a Ki-43 "Oscar". On March 11, 1943, Bong carried out his most difficult mission, piloting a P-38G-15 east of Oro Bay, Papua New Guinea. In this mission, he managed to shoot down two Ki-43 "Oscar" fighters of the Japanese Army in a dogfight where he faced nine enemy fighters alone, surviving to tell the tale. A few days ago, TJ3 History published a video recreating this historic battle:

What happened on March 11, 1943, demonstrates the P-38's resistance to enemy fire, something that cannot be said of either the Ki-43 "Oscar" or its naval equivalent, the A6M Zero, two aircraft that had very little resistance to enemy fire. Bong achieved 40 confirmed victories, all of them with the P-38 Lightning, one of the best fighters of that war. On December 8, 1944, he was awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration of the United States Armed Forces.

Sadly, Bong died on August 6, 1945, shortly before the end of the war, while flying a Lockheed P-80 jet during a test flight in Burbank, California. Today, the airport in his hometown bears his name, and several sites and monuments in both the United States and Australia are dedicated to him. He is remembered as one of the great legends of American military aviation.

---

Main image: TJ3 History.