Quote:
|
Originally Posted by GlobalExplorer
GSpector, that story sounds a bit exaggerated. Otherwise Richard Bong must have been quite a simple simon, which I don't believe.
|
"Bong described combat flying as fun and a great game that made life interesting."
Source: http://www.acepilots.com/usaaf_bong.html
"
It was at Hamilton that Bong first raised the ire and the admiration of Major General George C. Kenney, commanding General of the Fourth Air Force. The field's location resulted in some aerial antics by Bong, such as "looping the loop" around the center span of the Golden Gate Bridge in his P-38, and waving to stenographers in office buildings as he flew along Market Street. But more serious was his blowing clean wash off a clothesline in Oakland. That was the last straw for Kenney, who chewed him out and told him, "Monday morning you check this address out in Oakland and if the woman has any washing to be hung out on the line, you do it for her. Then you hang around being useful - mowing the lawn or something - and when the clothes are dry, take them off the line and bring them into the house. And don't drop any of them on the ground or you will have to wash them all over again. I want this woman to think we are good for something else besides annoying people. Now get out of here before I get mad and change my mind. That's all!" ..... National Aviation Hall of Fame"
Source: http://usfighter.tripod.com/bong.htm
The day after his 40th kill, Major Richard Bong was standing on the Airfield of Mindoro Air Base with other pilots when he saw a P-38 shot down a Zero. What made him realize what was really happening was when he noticed the Zero pilot jump from the plane and never opened the chute. It was at that moment that he realized it was not a game and he remembered all 40 Kills to his record. He never flew in combat since.
Source: Medal of Honor by Dark Horse, issue 1.
On August 6, 1945 (the day the Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima) Dick Bong was killed when the P-80 he was testing stalled on takeoff and he bailed out at low altitude. His body, partially wrapped in the shrouds of his parachute, was found 100 feet from the plane's jet engine. On 8 August 1945 he was burried in the Poplar cemetary, Poplar, Wisconsin.
Source: http://usfighter.tripod.com/bong.htm