February 21, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, Richard “Dick” Bong was a hero in an era of heroes. Here’s the History Guy with the story.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we continue with our American stories. Up next comes
a man who's simply known as the History Guy. His
videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of
all ages over on YouTube. The History Guy has also
heard here regularly and our American stories. Richard Bong was
a hero in an era of heroes. Here's the History
(00:32):
Guy with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It has often been said that war is the most
dramatic of human endeavors, and of the millions of people
who served throughout the globe in the Second World War,
they're countless stories of those who went above and beyond
to serve their country, to protect their comrades, and to
do their part to try to bring an end to
the most destructive war in human history. And among those
stories is the story of Richard Ira Bong, a US
(00:57):
Army fighter pilot and the Pacific who was so successful
that he became America's Ace of Aces. Richard Ira Bong
was born September twenty fourth, nineteen twenty in Superior, Wisconsin,
the oldest of nine children born to Carl Bong, a
Swedish immigrant and American door bryce. He had an interest
(01:18):
in planes from a young age and saw air mail
planes fly over the farm. When President Calvin Coolidge was
at his summer white house in Superior, he recalled that
the mail plane flew right over our house, and I
knew that I wanted to be a pilot. He attended
the Superior State Teachers College beginning in nineteen thirty eight,
where he enrolled in the civilian pilot training program started
(01:38):
just that year to train pilots both for civilian roles
and the possibility of war. On May twenty ninth, nineteen
forty one, Bong enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation
Cadet program. His gunnery instructor in Arizona was Barry Goldwater,
later a Senator in presidential nominee, who said that Bong
was a very bright student and was already showing his
talent as a pilot. Earned his pilot wings and was
(02:01):
commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force Reserves
on January ninth, nineteen forty two, just a month after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Bong was kept at
Luke Field for several months, where he worked as a
gunnery instructor until he was transferred to Hamilton Field near
San Francisco, where he trained to fly the lockeed P
thirty eight lightning. A number of stories have come out
(02:23):
of Bong's time at Hamilton. On June twelfth, nineteen forty two,
we cited for buzzing the house of a pilot who
had just gotten married. The same day, several other pilots
were cited for a flying a loop around the center
span of the Golden Gate Bridge. Bong has awesome been
accused of looping the bridge, though he always denied it. Later, however,
he did apparently fly low down Market Street in San Francisco,
(02:44):
so low that he knocked some laundry off a line
and waved at people in the lower floors of some
of the buildings. General George Kinney, commander of the Fourth
Air Force, remembers dressing Bong down for the stunts, saying,
now I don't need to tell you again how serious
this matter is. If you didn't want to fly down
Market Street, wouldn't want to in my Air Force. But
you're not to do it anymore. And I mean what
I say. Kenny made Bong help the woman with her laundry.
(03:08):
Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area
chose Kenny over General James Doolittle to command the Fifth
Air Force who were flying out of Australia. Bong was
hand picked by Kenny as one of fifty P thirty
eight pilots brought to Australia in September, Bong was assigned
to the ninth Fighter Squadron of the forty ninth Fighter Group,
nicknamed the Flying Knights. In a P thirty eight, he
(03:30):
and several others engaged a larger force of Japanese planes
near Buna, New Guinea on December twenty seventh, nineteen forty two.
Bank scored his first aerial victory here, shooting down two
Japanese planes himself. He was awarded the Silver Star for
the action. On January seventh, his squadron attacked to convoy
bringing reinforcements to New Guinea and he shot down two
more planes. The very next day, he was escorting a
(03:51):
bomber formation when he and seven accompanying pilots attacked approximately
twenty enemy fighters. The citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross
said that Lieutenant Bong shot down at enemy aircraft with
a long burst at a distance of two hundred yards.
A difficult shot and already his fifth confirmed kill, Lieutenant
(04:12):
Dick Bong had become a fighter ace. Not two weeks
after his first engagement, Bong participated in the Battle of
the Bismarck Sea, where American planes attacked transports and destroyers
carrying nearly seven thousand reinforcements to New Guinea. He shot
down a Mitsubishi A six M zero, known as a
formidable fighter aircraft in the combat, and eight transports were
(04:34):
destroyed in a significant defeat for the Japanese and a
major propaganda victory for the Army Air Force. By April,
he shot down five more planes, becoming a double ace
and was promoted to first lieutenant. On July twenty sixth,
leading a flight of ten P thirty eighth over New Guinea,
he spotted a formation of twenty Japanese planes. He led
three attacks on the formation, shooting down two of the
(04:54):
aircraft himself. When fifteen more Japanese planes arrived, Bong, disregarding
the greatly superior numbers of the enemy, attacked the new planes,
taking down another to himself. In all, outnumbered three to one,
Bong's team shot down eleven planes without a loss. Bong
himself taking four. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
(05:16):
for the action. In August, he was promoted again to captain.
An engagement later that year nearly cost him his life.
According to General Kenney, Bong saw a Japanese fighter chasing
down an injured P thirty eight, which was flying towards
a nearby cloud bank. For cover, Bong turned off one
of his engines and drew the attention of the enemy.
Once the other plane was clear, he flipped his engine
(05:36):
back on and outraced the Japanese pilot back to base. Unfortunately,
on his return he noticed that the plane was damaged
worse than he thought. Half of his tail was gone,
and as he prepared the land he found that his
ailerons were also damaged. When he finally touched down, he
discovered that he had no brakes and one of the
wheels was punctured. He ended up in a ditch alive,
(05:56):
but his plane was a total loss. The behind his
head was pitted with dance, and the plane had fifty
bullet holes in it. Both fuel tanks were punctured by
a self sealing rubber system that kept them from leaking.
In another engagement, he was circling above the jungle where
a pilot had ditched below him. Soldiers had gotten in
a rubber boat across a lake to get to the pilot,
and Bong sided a crocodile. Following them, he dipped load
(06:19):
to the water, sided and blasted the encroaching crocodile with
twenty millimeters round. Captain Bong was granted leave stateside when
he reached twenty one confirmed kills. He was able to
spend the holidays nineteen forty three at home in Wisconsin,
where he met Marjorie Vattendahl and began dating her. He
also participated in a ship launching where the Welderettes named
(06:42):
him their number one pinup boy. When asked how he
was so good at what he did, he modestly answered, Oh,
I'm just lucky. I guess a lot of Japanese happened
to get in my way. I keep shooting plenty of
lead and finally some of them get hit. When he
returned to the Pacific in nineteen forty four, he christened
his plane March had his girl's face painted on the nose.
(07:03):
He was reassigned to the Fifth Air Force HQ, but
allowed to freelance. Bong had on April twelfth, been credited
with three more victories, which brought his total to twenty eight,
officially beating Eddie Rickenbacker's twenty six. During World War One,
Kenny made Bong a major and took the chance to
send him home. Rickenbacker and Kenny had earlier promise cases
of Scotts to ever beat Rickenbacker's record first, and both
(07:24):
of them sent along a case. For three months, he
was on leave in the United States, doing publicity tours,
surging civilians to buy bonds and generally supporting the war effort.
When he got back, he was put in charge of
gunnery training and told not to engage except in self defense.
On October tenth, he accompanied his trainees shotdown two more
planes solellion self defense. Of course, Bong, still officially gunnery
(07:48):
instructor and not required to fly combat missions, continued to
find ways to do so, and between October tenth and
November fifteenth he engaged in unusually hazardous sorties and shot
down eight more planes. He was recommended for and received
the Medal of Honor. MacArthur gave it to him personally
with a short congratulations. Major Richard ira Baum, who has
(08:08):
ruled the heir from New Guinea to the Philippines. I
now inducted you into the Society of the Bravest of
the Brave, the wearers of the Congressional Medal of Honor
of the United States. But December seventeenth, Bong got his
fortieth victory and Kenny ordered him home. In fact, Kenny
was convinced that Bong actually had many more victories than that.
Stories abounded that he had given away kills to wing
(08:30):
men when he had really done the shooting. He had
flown one hundred and forty six combat missions and had
four hundred hours of combat time. Richard Ira Baanng married
Marjorie Battendahl on February tenth, nineteen forty five. Having already
given so much in the services country to come one
of the most dangerous jobs a nation could ask, becoming
(08:50):
a test pilot for Lockheed testing their new P eighty
Shooting star jet. On August sixth, nineteen forty five, Bong
took off an IS twelve flight in the plane, a
Lockheed service mechanic later reported, we knew something was wrong
when we saw puff of black smoke come out just
as he level off in flight. Within four minutes of takeoff,
the plane exploded just some fifty feet off the ground
(09:12):
over North Hollywood. A witness quoted in the Los Angeles
Times saw Bong eject from the plane, but he was
too low for his parachute to open and it was
caught in the explosion. America's Ace of Aces died the
same day the first atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima.
His death shared front page news with the first reports.
Among American fighter pilots in the Second World War, only
(09:34):
five percent became aces, and yet those five percent accounted
for half of all enemy aircraft claimed in air to
air combat. And simply put that means that a huge
burden was placed on the shoulders of a very few.
When Major Dick Bong died, he was just twenty four.
(09:56):
In his brief life, he became one of the most
decorated pilots in American history, having earned the Medal of Honor,
the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, seven Distinguished Flying Crosses,
and fifteen Air Medals.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the terrific
production into The History Guy, who you can find at
his YouTube channel The History Guy. History deserves to be remembered,
and my goodness, what a story. One hundred and forty
six missions. That's crazy. The story of Richard Dick boung
Here on our American Stories
And we continue with our American stories. Up next comes
a man who's simply known as the History Guy. His
videos are watched by hundreds of thousands of people of
all ages over on YouTube. The History Guy has also
heard here regularly and our American stories. Richard Bong was
a hero in an era of heroes. Here's the History
(00:32):
Guy with the story.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
It has often been said that war is the most
dramatic of human endeavors, and of the millions of people
who served throughout the globe in the Second World War,
they're countless stories of those who went above and beyond
to serve their country, to protect their comrades, and to
do their part to try to bring an end to
the most destructive war in human history. And among those
stories is the story of Richard Ira Bong, a US
(00:57):
Army fighter pilot and the Pacific who was so successful
that he became America's Ace of Aces. Richard Ira Bong
was born September twenty fourth, nineteen twenty in Superior, Wisconsin,
the oldest of nine children born to Carl Bong, a
Swedish immigrant and American door bryce. He had an interest
(01:18):
in planes from a young age and saw air mail
planes fly over the farm. When President Calvin Coolidge was
at his summer white house in Superior, he recalled that
the mail plane flew right over our house, and I
knew that I wanted to be a pilot. He attended
the Superior State Teachers College beginning in nineteen thirty eight,
where he enrolled in the civilian pilot training program started
(01:38):
just that year to train pilots both for civilian roles
and the possibility of war. On May twenty ninth, nineteen
forty one, Bong enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation
Cadet program. His gunnery instructor in Arizona was Barry Goldwater,
later a Senator in presidential nominee, who said that Bong
was a very bright student and was already showing his
talent as a pilot. Earned his pilot wings and was
(02:01):
commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Force Reserves
on January ninth, nineteen forty two, just a month after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Bong was kept at
Luke Field for several months, where he worked as a
gunnery instructor until he was transferred to Hamilton Field near
San Francisco, where he trained to fly the lockeed P
thirty eight lightning. A number of stories have come out
(02:23):
of Bong's time at Hamilton. On June twelfth, nineteen forty two,
we cited for buzzing the house of a pilot who
had just gotten married. The same day, several other pilots
were cited for a flying a loop around the center
span of the Golden Gate Bridge. Bong has awesome been
accused of looping the bridge, though he always denied it. Later, however,
he did apparently fly low down Market Street in San Francisco,
(02:44):
so low that he knocked some laundry off a line
and waved at people in the lower floors of some
of the buildings. General George Kinney, commander of the Fourth
Air Force, remembers dressing Bong down for the stunts, saying,
now I don't need to tell you again how serious
this matter is. If you didn't want to fly down
Market Street, wouldn't want to in my Air Force. But
you're not to do it anymore. And I mean what
I say. Kenny made Bong help the woman with her laundry.
(03:08):
Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area
chose Kenny over General James Doolittle to command the Fifth
Air Force who were flying out of Australia. Bong was
hand picked by Kenny as one of fifty P thirty
eight pilots brought to Australia in September, Bong was assigned
to the ninth Fighter Squadron of the forty ninth Fighter Group,
nicknamed the Flying Knights. In a P thirty eight, he
(03:30):
and several others engaged a larger force of Japanese planes
near Buna, New Guinea on December twenty seventh, nineteen forty two.
Bank scored his first aerial victory here, shooting down two
Japanese planes himself. He was awarded the Silver Star for
the action. On January seventh, his squadron attacked to convoy
bringing reinforcements to New Guinea and he shot down two
more planes. The very next day, he was escorting a
(03:51):
bomber formation when he and seven accompanying pilots attacked approximately
twenty enemy fighters. The citation for his Distinguished Flying Cross
said that Lieutenant Bong shot down at enemy aircraft with
a long burst at a distance of two hundred yards.
A difficult shot and already his fifth confirmed kill, Lieutenant
(04:12):
Dick Bong had become a fighter ace. Not two weeks
after his first engagement, Bong participated in the Battle of
the Bismarck Sea, where American planes attacked transports and destroyers
carrying nearly seven thousand reinforcements to New Guinea. He shot
down a Mitsubishi A six M zero, known as a
formidable fighter aircraft in the combat, and eight transports were
(04:34):
destroyed in a significant defeat for the Japanese and a
major propaganda victory for the Army Air Force. By April,
he shot down five more planes, becoming a double ace
and was promoted to first lieutenant. On July twenty sixth,
leading a flight of ten P thirty eighth over New Guinea,
he spotted a formation of twenty Japanese planes. He led
three attacks on the formation, shooting down two of the
(04:54):
aircraft himself. When fifteen more Japanese planes arrived, Bong, disregarding
the greatly superior numbers of the enemy, attacked the new planes,
taking down another to himself. In all, outnumbered three to one,
Bong's team shot down eleven planes without a loss. Bong
himself taking four. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross
(05:16):
for the action. In August, he was promoted again to captain.
An engagement later that year nearly cost him his life.
According to General Kenney, Bong saw a Japanese fighter chasing
down an injured P thirty eight, which was flying towards
a nearby cloud bank. For cover, Bong turned off one
of his engines and drew the attention of the enemy.
Once the other plane was clear, he flipped his engine
(05:36):
back on and outraced the Japanese pilot back to base. Unfortunately,
on his return he noticed that the plane was damaged
worse than he thought. Half of his tail was gone,
and as he prepared the land he found that his
ailerons were also damaged. When he finally touched down, he
discovered that he had no brakes and one of the
wheels was punctured. He ended up in a ditch alive,
(05:56):
but his plane was a total loss. The behind his
head was pitted with dance, and the plane had fifty
bullet holes in it. Both fuel tanks were punctured by
a self sealing rubber system that kept them from leaking.
In another engagement, he was circling above the jungle where
a pilot had ditched below him. Soldiers had gotten in
a rubber boat across a lake to get to the pilot,
and Bong sided a crocodile. Following them, he dipped load
(06:19):
to the water, sided and blasted the encroaching crocodile with
twenty millimeters round. Captain Bong was granted leave stateside when
he reached twenty one confirmed kills. He was able to
spend the holidays nineteen forty three at home in Wisconsin,
where he met Marjorie Vattendahl and began dating her. He
also participated in a ship launching where the Welderettes named
(06:42):
him their number one pinup boy. When asked how he
was so good at what he did, he modestly answered, Oh,
I'm just lucky. I guess a lot of Japanese happened
to get in my way. I keep shooting plenty of
lead and finally some of them get hit. When he
returned to the Pacific in nineteen forty four, he christened
his plane March had his girl's face painted on the nose.
(07:03):
He was reassigned to the Fifth Air Force HQ, but
allowed to freelance. Bong had on April twelfth, been credited
with three more victories, which brought his total to twenty eight,
officially beating Eddie Rickenbacker's twenty six. During World War One,
Kenny made Bong a major and took the chance to
send him home. Rickenbacker and Kenny had earlier promise cases
of Scotts to ever beat Rickenbacker's record first, and both
(07:24):
of them sent along a case. For three months, he
was on leave in the United States, doing publicity tours,
surging civilians to buy bonds and generally supporting the war effort.
When he got back, he was put in charge of
gunnery training and told not to engage except in self defense.
On October tenth, he accompanied his trainees shotdown two more
planes solellion self defense. Of course, Bong, still officially gunnery
(07:48):
instructor and not required to fly combat missions, continued to
find ways to do so, and between October tenth and
November fifteenth he engaged in unusually hazardous sorties and shot
down eight more planes. He was recommended for and received
the Medal of Honor. MacArthur gave it to him personally
with a short congratulations. Major Richard ira Baum, who has
(08:08):
ruled the heir from New Guinea to the Philippines. I
now inducted you into the Society of the Bravest of
the Brave, the wearers of the Congressional Medal of Honor
of the United States. But December seventeenth, Bong got his
fortieth victory and Kenny ordered him home. In fact, Kenny
was convinced that Bong actually had many more victories than that.
Stories abounded that he had given away kills to wing
(08:30):
men when he had really done the shooting. He had
flown one hundred and forty six combat missions and had
four hundred hours of combat time. Richard Ira Baanng married
Marjorie Battendahl on February tenth, nineteen forty five. Having already
given so much in the services country to come one
of the most dangerous jobs a nation could ask, becoming
(08:50):
a test pilot for Lockheed testing their new P eighty
Shooting star jet. On August sixth, nineteen forty five, Bong
took off an IS twelve flight in the plane, a
Lockheed service mechanic later reported, we knew something was wrong
when we saw puff of black smoke come out just
as he level off in flight. Within four minutes of takeoff,
the plane exploded just some fifty feet off the ground
(09:12):
over North Hollywood. A witness quoted in the Los Angeles
Times saw Bong eject from the plane, but he was
too low for his parachute to open and it was
caught in the explosion. America's Ace of Aces died the
same day the first atomic bomb was detonated over Hiroshima.
His death shared front page news with the first reports.
Among American fighter pilots in the Second World War, only
(09:34):
five percent became aces, and yet those five percent accounted
for half of all enemy aircraft claimed in air to
air combat. And simply put that means that a huge
burden was placed on the shoulders of a very few.
When Major Dick Bong died, he was just twenty four.
(09:56):
In his brief life, he became one of the most
decorated pilots in American history, having earned the Medal of Honor,
the Distinguished Service Cross, two Silver Stars, seven Distinguished Flying Crosses,
and fifteen Air Medals.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And a special thanks to Greg Hangler for the terrific
production into The History Guy, who you can find at
his YouTube channel The History Guy. History deserves to be remembered,
and my goodness, what a story. One hundred and forty
six missions. That's crazy. The story of Richard Dick boung
Here on our American Stories
Host
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