Good Night, Snippy.
Let's hope the pics show up this tomorrow morning.
Sorry I missed getting in on the Neil Armstrong thread a few days ago ... He's always been my HERO!!!!
Keep up the good work kids! Your threads are GREAT reading .. someday I'll have some kinda highspeed connection so I can respond more often .... till then ... I'll check in when I can .... BRAVO ZULU to you both for your hard work.
±
"The Era of Osama lasted about an hour, from the time the first plane hit the tower to the moment the General Militia of Flight 93 reported for duty." 
Toward FREEDOM
Good morning, snippy and everyone at the Freper foxhole.
AM Greetings to the denizens of the FR Foxhole
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Major Richard Bong
1940's -- Hap Arnold and Dick Bong
1/30/2004 - 1940 -- Richard Ira Bong, America's "Ace of Aces" in World War II was born Sept. 1920, the son of a Swedish immigrant in Superior, Wis.
He started at Superior State Teachers College in 1938, where he enrolled in the Civilian Pilot training program, also taking private flying lessons. In 1941, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program.
He did his primary flight training at Rankin Aeronautical Academy in California in June 1941, and completed basic training at Gardner Field, Calif. He went to Luke Field, Ariz., for advanced training in single-engine fighter planes, where he learned to master the AT-6 under Capt. Barry Goldwater. In January 1942, just after Pearl Harbor, Bong earned his Army Air Corps commission and his pilot's wings. After a few months he got the chance to train in Lockheed's new fighter, the P-38. While mastering the twin-engine craft at Hamilton Field, San Francisco, he first attracted the attention of Gen. George Kenney, his future mentor and head of the Fifth Air Force.
When General Kenney went to the Pacific in Sept., 1942, Bong was one of the pilots he tasked to join the 49th Fighter Group. Bong was assigned to the 9th Fighter Squadron, the "Flying Knights," and was sent to Australia. While waiting for P-38s to be delivered, he flew with the 39th FS of the 35th FG, operating out of Port Moresby, New Guinea. On Dec. 27, 1942, while flying with the 35th, Bong scored his first aerial victories, a Zero and an Oscar, and earned a Silver Star.
Bong began shooting down Japanese planes at a rapid rate. After his 27th victory, General Kenney took him out of action and promoted him to major. When Eddie Rickenbacker heard about it, he sent a message of congratulations reading, "Just received the good news that you are the first one to break my record in World War I by bringing down 27 planes in combat, as well as your promotion, so justly deserved. I hasten to offer my sincere congratulations with the hope that you will double or triple this number. But in trying, use the same calculating techniques that has brought you results to date, for we will need your kind back home after this war is over." Bong was sent back home to instruct others in the art of aerial superiority at Foster Field, Texas. In Sept., 1944 he returned to the Pacific as a gunnery training officer, but he voluntarily flew 30 more combat missions over Borneo and the Philippine Islands, destroying more enemy aircraft.
Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur presented the Medal of Honor to Bong on Dec. 12, 1944. The citation reads in part:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty in the Southwest Pacific area from 10 October to 15 November 1944. Though assigned to duty as gunnery instructor and neither required nor expected to perform combat duty, Maj. Bong voluntarily and at his own urgent request engaged in repeated combat missions, including unusually hazardous sorties over Balikpapan, Borneo, and in the Leyte area of the Philippines. His aggressiveness and daring resulted in his shooting down eight enemy airplanes during this period.
After Bong scored his 40th victory, he was sent home. He was America's "Ace of Aces," with 40 aerial victories, 200 combat missions and more than 500 combat hours behind him. Among his many medals were the Distinguished Service Cross, seven Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Silver Stars and 15 Air Medals.
He went to work at Wright Field as a test pilot, helping to develop the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star. He studied jet propulsion theory and learned the engineering details of the new plane for two months, before flying one. After being checked out in the P-80, he flew it 11 times that summer.
On Aug. 6, 1945, Bong stepped into an airplane for the last time. His P-80 malfunctioned just after take-off, and while he bailed out, he was too close to the ground. After surviving two years of combat flying, Bong died on a routine acceptance flight.
Sources compiled from Air Force Historical Research Agency and Air Force History Support Off
hugs, duckie/sw
Morning!
I'll be back in a bit.
Cambodia? Cambodia? Now where have I heard about Cambodia recently??
