Dick Bong

airnutz · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 5:14 pm

warbird1 wrote:

mustangdriver wrote:

PinecastleAAF wrote:

Cool. I was wondering how the artist got the highlight affect around her hair. Thanks!

It was a black and white photo that an artist then added color touched too according to the EAA Museum

It looks like they used some kind of grey or dark-colored grease pencil to make the photo more "printable". The same equivalent function for those of you familiar with photoshop would be the "sharpen" tool.

In the hand tinting, the tint washes have various densities or layers one can rely on to soften or sharpen areas. You can
also use "dodging and burning" techniques in the dark room prior to tinting to vary contrast throughout the image.

As for the halo effect around Marges hair, it can be created in the original image by strategically placed backllighting.
Having not seen the original image they were working with...I cunna' say captain.

It was fun "back in the day" playing about with lighting and technique in the composition and processing of the images.
...still got some of that stuff in a box somewhere.

Edit
Forgot to add a modern color shot of "Marge"..
www.lakesuperior.com/online/246/246jrnlp38.jpg

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 5:19 pm

That is a great shot there Jack

TonyM · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 10:19 pm

For an accurate description of the accident that killed Major Richard I. Bong,
see page 1150, Volume III of FATAL ARMY AIR FORCES AVIATION ACCIDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1941-1945.

The summary in this reference work is based solely on the USAAF Form No. 14 Aircraft Accident Report and is very accurate as to the cause of the accident and what happened during the flight.

Some facts about the accident:

*The P-80 (44-85048) suffered a fuel pump failure in flight;
*Bong never climbed above 400 feet agl during the flight;
*The airplane apparently entered a stall soon after he released the canopy at 400 feet agl;
*The airplane fell off to the right before diving into the ground;
*Bong bailed out at very low altitude and his body struck the ground near the airplane;
*Bong did not steer the airplane away from any school.
*The General Electric fuel governor that was originally on the airplane had been removed and used on another aircraft; it had been replaced with an earlier type that had been rejected by Allison engineers; the faulty fuel governors were rejected because of a tendency to become stuck in the "by-pass condition".

From the accident report:

"...it is the opinion of the board that the pilot cleared the cockpit shortly after the aircraft began its downward dive, following the ship very close. Evidence of parachute shroud lines [coming in contact] with the leading edge portion of the tail surface and the rip cord being pulled indicated that the parachute was snagged on the tail surface."

The accident report is available from AFHRA to anybody for the asking.

Tony Mireles

airnutz · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 10:36 pm

TriangleP wrote:

retroaviation wrote:

TriangleP, I'd be interested in seeing the rest of that article.......do you happen to have a link to Page 8, Column 6

Gary

Yeah, here's the link with all the pages. But I don't think the LA Times put the rest of the article on the page it references to, its only a sports page, I can't find anything about Bong on it. Can you?
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/thedail ... tomic.html

Yep, they goofed. The page 8 their showing is from part II of the issue. The page showing for page 2 of the Bomb article is properly in part I.

If ya really wanna read page 8, column 6, go to latimes.com. $3.95 per page and there were 4 hits. :wink:

Aug 7, 1945 searchword-Bong.

Edit for wording

RyanShort1 · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 11:06 pm

Here are two clips from the The Billings County Pioneer from Aug. 17th and 23rd 1945 courtesy of Footnote.com.

Ryan

Randy Haskin · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 1:10 am

Isn't the idea of a 24-year old Major, 40 kills, MoH recipient, DSC, Silver Star, DFC x 7, just phenomenal?!

My, how times are different during a *real* war.

TonyM · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 10:26 am

mike furline wrote:

IIRC he didn't turn on the fuel boost pumps and the engine flamed out or something along those lines.

Regards,
Mike

The main Fuel pump failed (as stated in my previous post above) and Bong had failed to use the I-16 Auxiliary Fuel Pump when the main unit failed.

From the AAF Form No. 14 Aircraft Accident Report:

"Major Bong had admitted neglecting to use the I-16 emergency fuel pump on several flights."

Additionally, Chuck Yeager backs up Jack's assertion that Bong did not know a lot about the aircraft. He talks about the accident in his usual frank manner; see Page 180 in "Yeager" by Leo Janos:

"Dick [Bong] wasn't interested in homework. ...He had neglected to turn on his auxiliary fuel pump because he hadn't read the pilot's handbook..."

Bong had about 4 hours time on P-80 airplanes.

I'm not here to beat up on Richard Bong, far from it, but there seems to be a lot of misinformation floating around about this accident.

TonyM.

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 1:34 pm

Quote:

Additionally, Chuck Yeager backs up Jack's assertion

OK, well I was never expecting to ever see something like this in print :shock:

TonyM · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 2:52 pm

Jack,

I was wondering how that was going to go over.

TonyM.

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 3:07 pm

Jack Cook wrote:

Quote:

Additionally, Chuck Yeager backs up Jack's assertion

OK, well I was never expecting to ever see something like this in print :shock:

Yeah, I about spit milk out of my nose!!

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 3:20 pm

Can I assume that's a blanket statement reflecting agreement on everything I've ever uttered on this board :idea:

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 3:59 pm

Ha ha

John Lane · **Posted:** Sat Jun 06, 2009 6:34 pm

As told to my father during a Fighter Aces board meeting in the early 80's by Chuck Yeager! Yeager had given Bong a full cockpit check out in the P-80 prior to his demise. Bong said to, Yeager, do you know who your dealing with here!! Yeager replied, I didn't care who you are, if you don't pay close attention to the fuel management (boost pump) in this airplane it will kill you!! Yeager had indicated that at the time the engine driven fuel pump was not capable of supplying enough fuel to the engine during take off and was one of the issue's they were working on at Lockheed!! Yeager felt that Bong may have purposely left it off to see for himself as he wasn't about to take Yeager's advise after their confrontation!!

Dad said that Bong was just that sort of guy, he knew well as Bong had scored his first few victories in my dad's P-38 #15 "THUMPER" as TDY to the 39th F.S., 35th F.G., 5th AAF, SWP

:!:

Jack Cook · **Posted:** Sat Jun 06, 2009 7:45 pm

Quote:

my dad's P-38 #15 "THUMPER" 39th F.S., 35th F.G., 5th AAF, SWP

John do you mean...............

This guy?

Or this guy?

retroaviation · **Posted:** Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:38 pm

Holy crap, Jack! That is SO cool! Good job finding and posting those pictures!

Gary

Warbird Information Exchange

Dick Bong

Who is online