I'm sorry it's been so long. Here's another update (thanks in large part to Mark for his recent post on
Thumper - that was a new one on me, one that took a bit of research into getting my facts straight).
*Highest scoring USAAF ace in the PTO (40 kills)
P-38J-15-LO
Marge42-103993
9th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group, V Fighter Command, US 5th Air Force, US Army Air Forces Far East
591
MAJ Richard I. Bong
Dick Bong was the son of Swedish immigrants farming in the American mid-West (Wisconsin, mainly). Stationed with the 49FG for the vast majority of his service, Bong – like Gabreski, in Europe – was admittedly not a natural-born fighter pilot. Bong compensated for his poor gunnery skills by engaging his targets as close as possible; so much so that at times he damaged his own aircraft by flying through debris.
Of course, the P-38 was an ideal mount for a pilot such as Bong, its nose-armament negating the often problematic effects of crossing wing-mounted guns. Bong’s most famous mount was, of course, his last, which he named
Marge after Margorie Vattendahl, whom he began dating during leave in the US during the winter of 1943. Gluing an enlarged photo of Marge onto the P-38’s nose, the aircraft above was in use at the time of Bong’s awarding of the Congressional Medal of Honor in 1944 – ostensibly earned for flying combat missions while no longer required to do so by V Fighter Command.
Bong's aircraft did not survive the war, but then again, neither did Bong, as he was killed test-flying the Lockheed P-80 jet fighter after a short war-bond tour in 1945 – Bong’s actions that day remain controversial. The news of his death was overshadowed by the news of Hiroshima’s bombardment that same day. Dick Bong remains the highest scoring fighter ace in US history.
*First B-29 to complete 40 missions and return home
B-29-40-BW
Thumper42-24623
870th Bomb Squadron, 497th Bomb Group, 73rd Bombardment Wing, XXI Bomber Command, US 20th Air Force
21
Crew (Left to Right)
(Back Row) SSGT Joseph A. R. Boisvert (Radar), TSGT Emanuel B. Smith (CFC), SSGT Eduard P. Didier (Right Waist), SSGT William C. Banker (Left Waist), SSGT Leroy B. Arringdale (Tail), SSGT Carl H. Barthold (Radio),
(Front Row) 1LT Morris H. Newhouse (Bombardier), 2LT Reuben R. Brown (Co-Pilot), CPT James M. Campbell (Pilot), 2LT Gerald J. Rau (Navigator), 1LT Charles B. Francis (Engineer)
Like the
Memphis Belle before her, it seems that poor marketing led many to believe that
Thumper was the first B-29 over Tokyo – even though USAAF records clearly indicate that she was not (though she was present on said raid,
Thumper was not the lead aircraft, much less present in the lead element). That said, she did return to a hero’s welcome as the first B-29 to return stateside for a war-bond tour.
Thumper was the command plane of LTC “Pappy” Haynes and, as such, was used as a test-bed for much of the 497BG’s experiments, such as MG Curtis LeMay’s 1945 implementation of what was later-termed “featherweight” (stripping the bomber’s of non-essentials to save weight on night-raids). It does appear, however, that
Thumper was at least partially reassembled before returning stateside. This photo of
Thumper visiting Boeing workers shows that LeMay’s directives had even reached stateside as the new B-29s in the distance have already had their belly’s painted black.
While
Thumper was eventually scrapped, her noseart was apparently saved, as this photo was taken at the Pacific War Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas.
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