Major Richard Bong, the P-38 Lightning Over New Guinea, and the Wisconsin Farm Kid Who Became America's Ace of Aces

Richard Ira Bong flew 40 confirmed aerial kills in the Pacific Theater of World War II, a number no American pilot has matched in any conflict since. Born in 1920 on a farm near Lake Superior in Poplar, Wisconsin, he became America’s Ace of Aces by age 24 - and died the same morning the atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima.

From Wisconsin Farm to General Kenney’s Office

Bong enlisted in May 1941, months before Pearl Harbor drew the United States into the war. His instructors recognized his talent immediately, and the Army Air Forces kept him stateside as a flight instructor - a decision Bong resented.

His frustration surfaced in October 1942 in San Francisco. A P-38 Lightning made low passes along the waterfront, rolled through bay fog, and flew so close to a residential street near the Golden Gate that a woman named Margaret Carver wrote her congressman to complain she could smell exhaust through her open window.

That incident put the 22-year-old in front of General George Kenney, commander of the Fifth Air Force. Kenney, known for his sharp eye for talent, assigned Bong extra duties - including, by some accounts, mowing the general’s lawn - and then sent him to New Guinea with the Fifth Air Force.

Why the P-38 Lightning Dominated the Pacific

The aircraft waiting for Bong was the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, and it was unlike anything else flying in the Pacific. Twin Allison liquid-cooled engines sat behind twin tail booms, with a central nacelle housing the cockpit. In the nose: one 20mm cannon and four .50-caliber machine guns, all pointing straight forward.

Because every weapon was nose-mounted, there was no convergence problem. Aim the airplane, and everything hits the same point.

The Lightning spanned nearly 40 feet and was capable of over 400 miles per hour at altitude. But in the Pacific, its most important feature was the second engine. Island-hopping combat meant long overwater legs where a single-engine failure was almost always fatal. The P-38’s range and redundancy made it the right tool for a theater where bases were hundreds of miles apart across open water and jungle. The Japanese named it the fork-tailed devil.

Forty Kills Over New Guinea

Bong’s first confirmed kill came in December 1942. The kills accumulated steadily through the following years as the Fifth Air Force fought for air superiority across the Southwest Pacific - the battles over the Bismarck Sea in March 1943 being a turning point, when low-altitude skip bombing devastated a Japanese convoy and shifted the campaign’s momentum.

By end of 1943, Bong’s score stood at 21 confirmed kills. His gunnery set him apart. In aerial combat, hitting a moving target from a moving aircraft requires calculating deflection angles across three dimensions, under g-load, often under fire. Bong closed to what other pilots considered recklessly short range before opening fire - and gun camera footage consistently showed he rarely missed.

He named his P-38 Marge, after Marge Vattendahl of Superior, Wisconsin. Her photograph rode on the nose of the airplane from one engagement to the next.

Racing Rickenbacker’s Record

Flying a special assignment under Kenney - attached to no permanent unit, free to fly with whichever group needed him - Bong continued climbing a list that only one American had topped before him. Eddie Rickenbacker’s 26 aerial victories over France in World War I had stood as the American benchmark for 26 years.

Bong passed Rickenbacker’s record in late 1944.

He was not alone in that pursuit. Thomas McGuire, also flying with the Fifth Air Force, reached 38 kills before being shot down in January 1945 at age 24, caught at low altitude in his P-38 with no room to recover. Bong had already moved beyond him.

Bong’s 40th kill came in December 1944. General Douglas MacArthur pinned the Medal of Honor on him in person in the Philippines. Photographers were present. MacArthur understood the strategic weight of the moment. Bong, by all accounts, looked like a farm kid from Wisconsin who would rather have been back in his cockpit.

General Kenney then made the call that pulled Bong from combat. Not by requirement - by choice. The Army needed its Ace of Aces alive.

Coming Home

Bong returned to the United States in early 1945 and toured the country for war bonds, standing in auditoriums and gymnasiums telling stories about combat over New Guinea. In February 1945, he married Marge Vattendahl. The newspapers covered the wedding.

He transitioned to jets. The Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star - the Army’s first operational jet fighter - was a complete departure from everything piston-powered pilots had known. No propeller, no mixture control, a different sound and a different feel. Bong was assigned as a test pilot at Lockheed’s facility in Burbank, California, and took to the P-80 as he had taken to every airplane before it.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, he taxied out for a routine test flight at Burbank Airport. During the takeoff roll, the fuel booster pump failed to engage. The engine flamed out. At that speed and that point on the runway, the options had collapsed. He ejected - too low for the parachute to open.

He was 24 years old.

Across the Pacific that same morning, the Enola Gay was opening its bomb bay doors over Hiroshima.

A Record That Still Stands

Forty aerial victories. No American pilot has reached that number in Korea, Vietnam, or any conflict in the eight decades since. Bong sits alone at the top of that list.

The Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Poplar, Wisconsin preserves his story, with a P-38 replica on display. The National Museum of the United States Air Force holds additional documentation of his record. Carroll Glines wrote a biography for readers who want the full account.

Key Takeaways

Richard Bong achieved 40 confirmed aerial kills in the Pacific Theater, a record no American pilot has ever surpassed.
He flew the P-38 Lightning with the Fifth Air Force under General George Kenney in the New Guinea campaign, beginning in late 1942.
His exceptional gunnery - closing to very short range before firing - set him apart from other high-scoring aces.
He surpassed Eddie Rickenbacker’s 26-kill World War I record in late 1944 and received the Medal of Honor from General MacArthur.
Bong died in a P-80 Shooting Star test flight accident on August 6, 1945 - the same day as the Hiroshima bombing - at age 24.