My colleague Lt. Col. Jay Stout, USMC (Ret) was a Hornet pilot in Desert Storm, and he’s become a significant historian with a dozen books spanning WW II up to the present. His next volume, Savage Skies, Emerald Hell, details the New Guinea air campaign, scheduled for December release.
In comparing notes with Jay, I related some contacts I had over the decades. Most are vignettes not relevant to broader coverage but I’m presenting them here so they’ll be preserved in cyberspace if nowhere else.
Charles Lindbergh: I knew some 475th Fighter Group pilots well, especially aces Joe Forster and Jack Purdy. I met their group commander, Col. Charles MacDonald one time—very low key for the AAF’s third-ranked Pacific ace. I didn't realize at the time that “Colonel Mac” had been at Pearl Harbor. The pilots had tremendous respect for CAL but were none too enthused when he squeezed 10 hours out of a 38's fuel. He's been credited with inventing the cruise-control technique he taught but IIRC he passed along info from Lockheed and Allison, which the AAF apparently neglected.
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Ralph Wandrey was a pleasant Midwesterner, inevitably cheerful. I included him in a short anthology for Flight Journal. This Pacific Wrecks installment mentions the episode I referenced.
https://pacificwrecks.com/people/veterans/wandrey/index.html
Ralph was assigned as keeper of the 9th Fighter Squadron mascot, a Muscovy Duck called Huckleberry (there was a popular tune). Transiting to a new base, Ralph flew with Major Jerry Johnson in their new P-47s with Huckleberry wrapped in a sheet on the floor. Unexpectedly the Forty-Niners found some targets and engaged. Ralph said when he pushed over, Huckleberry raised to eye level and—distressed under unaccustomed negative G—let loose one loud QUACK!
Ralph said, "I was useless for the next few minutes.”
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I got to know Col. Charles Sullivan when I was secretary of the American Fighter Aces Association. (Postwar he changed to his grandfather's O'Sullivan.) He featured in one of the classic escape and evasion stories from the Southwest Pacific Theater. He jumped out of his 39th Squadron P-38 in '43 and was picked up by locals who treated him well. Invited him to dine in the mens' long house, which he inferred was an honor. Until he realized he was the main course. Charlie shot his way clear with his .45, ran into the tall grass where he hid as the cannibals hunted for him and the widows wailed. He said "By the time the sun rose, I had the fastest reload in the SW Pacific." Later came across some Aussies.
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Another 39er was an ace whom I saw frequently in the 80s. His son was well known in the warbird community and recently died with a golden rep. I won’t reveal his father’s full name because he has living relatives, but one day the P-38 pilot confided that he had a recurring nightmare. Three Japanese Army Ki-43s caught him at low level and all he could do was try to keep his speed up, turning into each attack as possible. It seemed futile—he was resigned to dying. But finally an Oscar pilot made a mistake and my friend climbed away. Considering how many aces and other vets I knew pretty well, semi surprising that more didn't report similar reactions.
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Colonel Neel Kearby pioneered the P-47 Thunderbolt in the Pacific. One of my favorite aces and occasional pheasant hunting partner was Col. Mort Magoffin, CO of the 9th AF's 362nd FG. He hung his Distinguished Service Cross beside his hole-in-one certificate. He'd flown P-35s with Kearby at Selfridge Field and said nobody could beat him. A tie was a win. Leading the 348th Group, Kearby received a posthumous Medal of Honor.
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A 348th ace (I recall two candidates) recounted a Hollywood visit to New Guinea. John Wayne was popular, and bonded with Kearby in the CO's tent one night until JW passed out. He awoke face-down on a cot in the HQ area, becoming aware of daylight and a crowd. The GIs had never seen a naked movie star before…
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Major Thomas McGuire was widely regarded as the best P-38 pilot this side of Lockheed’s Tony Levier. Fortunately, I interviewed Lt. Col. Joe Forster for my website. A really good guy—low-key like so many whose tiger blood stirred when they strapped in. He described the culture in the 475th Group, and departed the pattern in 2013.
https://btillman.com/interview-with-p-38-ace-joe-forster/
Everybody seemed to like Richard Bong, the down-home Wisconsin farm kid who remains our ace of aces. But I wonder what he would've done in the postwar AAF. A 24-year-old major with no leadership experience beyond flight commander. A subject that remains unaddressed, apparently.
Meandering:
I've oft noted that Fifth Air Force’s General George Kenney wasted (in the Vietnam sense) some fine leaders in pursuit of his goal: the top ace would be a SWP man. The notion that Bong was "an instructor" in a combat zone was absurd: not much known but officially he was V FC's P-38 standardization officer while in fact he chose where to carve notches for the general. I don't know about Lt. Col. Thomas Lynch (KIA with 20 victories) but apparently Kearby and McGuire were glad to comply even at the squadron and group level.
A final note about New Guinea air ops. In June 1942, Texas Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson had a direct commission as a lieutenant commander, touring the Pacific on a “fact finding mission.” Actually the trip was a political stunt on behalf of FDR who intended to recall the “volunteers” in time for that fall’s election.
Johnson received a massively undeserved Silver Star for his airplane ride, but he wore the lapel pin the rest of his misbegotten life.
Here’s a detailed assessment of “The Mission” (title of Martin Caiden’s egregious 1964 book.)
https://medicinthegreentime.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/LBJ-SSM-CNN.pdf
Following publication of our Naval History expose’, my partner Henry Sakaida and I were approached by CNN, which produced a documentary in 2000.
If this month’s blog has a Message, it’s this:
No matter how small a veteran’s recollection may seem, write or record it for future reference.
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