Of the main participants in World War II, the United States was probably the only country that did not have an air force as an independent branch of the armed forces. As such, the US Air Force was only formed on September 18, 1947. Nevertheless, despite various formal and informal absurdities and difficulties, all kinds of American military aviation made a significant contribution to the victory in the European and Pacific theaters of war. This article was prepared on the basis of materials from foreign periodicals of different years and the book by Robert Jackson "Fighter aces of WWII".
THE BEST OF THE BEST
Officially, the most productive American fighter pilot of the Second World War is Richard Bong, who fought in the Pacific and chalked up 40 downed aircraft. He is followed by Thomas McGuire (38 aircraft) and Charles McDonald (27 aircraft), who also fought in the Pacific Theater. In air battles in Europe, Robert Johnson and his friend Francis Gabreschi became the best fighters - 28 aircraft shot down each (Francis Gabreschi later increased his overall victory list by shooting down six more aircraft during the 1950-1953 Korean War, this time jet).
Robert Johnson was born in 1920, and the decision to become a pilot came to him at the age of eight, when, standing in a crowd of spectators of a flight show on a field in Oklahoma, he watched with delight as airplanes, controlled by pilots, fly over his head with ease, most of which were veterans of the First World War. He would be a pilot, young Bob decided, nothing else suited him.
Robert Jackson writes about Johnson: “… the path he took was not easy. As a youth, he had to work as a cabinetmaker in his hometown of Lawton for four dollars a week, and exactly a third of this amount went to pay for 15-minute flying lessons that he took every Sunday morning. After spending $ 39 and flying with an instructor for six and a half hours, Robert took off on his own, believing that he knew everything about flying. 16 years later, having extensive combat experience and over a thousand flight hours, he had to admit to himself that the training process is just beginning."
Johnson enrolled in a Texas college in September 1941, but dropped out two months later and became a cadet in the US Army Air Corps. Jackson notes the connection with this that “… flight training showed that he is an above average pilot, but in other subjects he is frankly weak. This was especially true of aerial shooting, in which he did not succeed during his studies. Poor results in this discipline made him theoretically more suitable for the specialty of a bomber pilot, therefore, after completing a basic training course in 1942, he was sent to a specialized flight school, where training was carried out on twin-engine combat training aircraft."
Johnson worked hard to eliminate his shortcomings, and by mid-1942 his results in aerial shooting had improved so much that he was transferred to single-seat fighters and sent to the 56th fighter group, which, under the leadership of Hubert Zemke, was vigorously cobbled together into a full-fledged combat unit. In mid-January 1943, the group arrived in England, a few weeks later received all its 48 regular P-47 Thunderbolts and in the spring began combat missions.
Johnson first sniffed gunpowder in April 1943, and only shot down his first plane in June of that year. On that day, writes R. Jackson, “the squadron was patrolling over northern France, and Johnson noticed a dozen German Fw-190s, which were several thousand feet lower. During the described period of the war, the tactics of the American fighter aircraft mainly consisted of waiting for an attack from the enemy, with which the young pilot strongly disagreed. He sharply violated the order of battle and swooped down on the Germans, who noticed him only when it was already too late. Johnson raced at high speed through the formation of German aircraft and in a short burst of his six machine guns tore apart one of the German aircraft and began to return to his formation with a climb. The remaining Focke-Wulfs rushed after him, and in the ensuing battle Colonel Zemke shot down two German planes. Then, on the ground, Johnson nevertheless received a harsh reprimand for unauthorized violation of order of battle and was unequivocally warned that if this was repeated, he would be suspended from flights.
Soon after this, American fighter aircraft in Europe switched to more offensive tactics, which was to the liking of R. Johnson and many other pilots of the 56th group. By the end of the war, it will become obvious that the best American fighter pilots in the European theater fought in the 56th Zemke group - Zemke himself will end the war with 17 downed aircraft, and his subordinates, whom he once commissioned, will achieve even more significant results. As we have already mentioned, R. Johnson and F. Gabreschi will have 28 aircraft each, while Major W. Makhurin and Colonel D. Schilling will each have 24, 5 and 22, 5 victories, respectively.
The first months of hostilities, in which Johnson participated, were not unusual for something unusual, nevertheless, he managed to develop his own clear air combat tactics, which inevitably had to give a return. He was the second person in the group, after Zemke, to whom newcomers were drawn to learn from him, and his advice to novice pilots, as Robert Jackson notes, was relatively simple: “Never give a German a chance to catch you in sight. It doesn't matter how far away from you, 100 or 1000 yards, a 20mm cannon cannon can easily travel 1000 yards and blow your plane apart. If the German is at 25,000 feet and you are at 20,000, then it is better to have a good speed than to face him at a stall speed. If a German falls on top of you, hurry to meet him, and in 9 cases out of 10, when you are about to collide with him head-on, he will go to the right. Now he is yours - sit on his tail and do it."
Johnson's tally continued to grow steadily, and by the spring of 1944 - by that time he was already a squadron commander - Johnson became the first American fighter pilot to equal the number of aircraft shot down by the American World War I ace E. Rickenbacker (25 victories in aerial battles). Johnson was now head-to-head with another top-notch American fighter pilot, Richard Bong, who fought in the Pacific Theater as part of the 49th Fighter Group in his P-38 Lightning.
At the beginning of March 1944, Johnson was looking forward to the offensive on the 6th - on this day, the first day's raid of B-17 and B-24 bombers on Berlin was planned. To cover the raid of 660 heavy bombers of the US 8th Air Force, it was planned to use the 56th Zemke Fighter Group, which gave Johnson the chance to shoot down his 26th plane and become the first American fighter pilot of the Second World War to surpass Rickenbacker. However, Johnson was in for disappointment: on March 5, the day before the raid on Berlin, news came from the Pacific Ocean that R. Bong had shot down two more Japanese aircraft, bringing his list of victories to 27 aircraft.
TOO VALUABLE STAFF
The raid planned for March 6 took place, and from that day on, the German capital began to be subjected to round-the-clock Allied air raids - at night it was bombed by Lancasters and Halifaxes of the British Air Force Bomber Command, and by day the Fortresses and Liberators of the US 8th VA. That first day's raid cost the Americans 69 bombers and 11 fighters; the Germans killed almost 80 "Focke-Wulfs" and "Messerschmitts". Johnson shot down two enemy fighters and again caught up with Bong. They were on par with Bong as of late March, when Johnson shot down his 28th plane. All of Johnson's victories were won in just 11 months of aerial combat, which was a unique achievement for American pilots who fought in the European theater.
And then the authorities decided that both Bong and Johnson were too valuable personnel to risk being killed at the current stage of the war, and they needed a break from the fighting. Both were sent to the United States, and for the next several months they traveled around the country, promoting the sale of war bonds: Bong flew the P-38, and Johnson flew the P-47.
After that Johnson no longer participated in the hostilities, and Bong, after completing a short course at the British Air Force School of Air Warfare, was again sent to the Pacific Ocean as a headquarters position in the 5th Fighter Command. Bong's new service did not imply his direct participation in battles, but he flew out on combat missions whenever the opportunity presented itself, and shot down 12 more Japanese aircraft, making him the most prolific American ace of World War II. In December 1944, Bong was finally recalled to the United States, where he became one of the first pilots to begin retraining for the P-80 Shooting Star jet fighters. Bong died on August 6, 1945, when the P-80 he piloted crashed on takeoff at one of the airfields in California.
THE EMPEROR'S TROOPS BE DEFEATED
Francis Gabreschi continued to replenish the account of his victories in the Korean War. Photo from the site www.af.mil
In the Pacific theater, the imperial troops of Japan, allied with the Germans, in the fall of 1944 found themselves in a desperate situation, falling into the pincers of a powerful enemy onslaught. From the south, from Australia, they were attacked by the Americans and the forces of the British Commonwealth of Nations under the general command of American General Douglas MacArthur, and from the east, from Pearl Harbor, the American Navy grouping in the Pacific Ocean under the command of Admiral Chester Nimitz intensified pressure on the Japanese.
In October 1944, the ticks closed in the Philippines. The main blow of the allies fell on the island of Leyte, on which the Japanese defense was the weakest. Four American divisions landed in the eastern part of the island, and for some time they experienced moderate opposition from the Japanese, but then the Japanese decided to hold the island, isolating and destroying the landed American troops, and threw all their resources on the island. In addition, the Japanese sent three naval strike groups to the area to support the operations of the ground forces on the island. But the American Navy defeated the Japanese naval forces, the losses of which amounted to three battleships, one large and three small aircraft carriers, 10 cruisers and many other smaller ships.
Despite their failure, by the beginning of November 1944, the Japanese managed to transfer several tens of thousands of reinforcements to the island through their base in Ormoc Bay, so General MacArthur decided to land an American division there, which would attack the Japanese positions. The date of the landing was adopted on December 7, 1944, to ensure the landing it was planned to use the 49th (commander - Colonel D. Johnson) and 475 (commander - Colonel C. McDonald) fighter groups, which were based on the hastily constructed runway in the eastern part Leyte Islands.
As R. Jackson notes, “… tall, with strict facial features, Ch. MacDonald was a professional officer for whom quick decisions were second nature. In 1942, he participated in the great American retreat from the Pacific Ocean, and in air combat in 1943 he excelled as a fighter pilot and an excellent leader, both in the air and on the ground. With 15 downed planes on his account, he became the commander of the 475th group in the summer of 1944."
The 475th and 49th groups arrived at Leyte in October 1944 and somehow managed to adapt to the difficult conditions of the island - the hastily constructed runways, from which the planes of both groups took off, after each rain became seas of stinking mud, and the personnel had to live and work in temporary shed buildings covered with tarpaulins. The participation of the 475th group in the landing of the American division at Ormoc Bay was to provide close fighter cover for ships with amphibious assault on their route to the landing site. Two squadrons were to operate at low altitudes on the flanks of the landing troops, and the third, having risen several thousand feet higher, was to cover the entire landing area from the air. The fighters of the 49th group were tasked with patrolling the airspace over the island in order to prevent Japanese aviation from breaking through to the ships with the landing party.
The takeoff of American fighters on December 7 was timed to coincide with sunrise, a later time was unacceptable, since the Japanese aviation could venture to attack the bases of American aircraft in the early morning. The first to take off were MacDonald and the planes of the squadron to which he was assigned. After them, a squadron took off under the command of Major Tommy McGuire, who at that time had the largest list of victories among the pilots of the 475th group - more than 30 aircraft.
After Robert Johnson left the European theater, McGuire became the closest rival of Richard Bong. Earlier, in his first air battle with the Japanese over the town, Uehuak McGuire shot down three enemy aircraft - and this result he repeated five more times; on five other occasions he shot down two Japanese aircraft in aerial combat. However, on December 7, the hero of the day will not be McGuire, but Charles McDonald, who will shoot down three Japanese planes. Another Japanese fighter, for which MacDonald was hunting, dived sharply towards the ships with the American landing. MacDonald was forced to end the pursuit, as he risked falling into a curtain of naval anti-aircraft artillery fire, and the Japanese continued to dive into one of the ships with a landing party and after a few moments crashed into it. So in the lexicon of the war in the Pacific Ocean entered a new word - "kamikaze".
Shortly after returning to base, MacDonald received a call from Group 49 - the commander of this group, Colonel Johnson, also shot down three planes, and in just three minutes. On the day that marked the third anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Colonel MacDonald's 475th Group destroyed 28 enemy aircraft, two of which were on the account of Tommy McGuire. On December 26, McGuire shot down four more enemy aircraft, bringing his list of victories to 38 units - just two less aircraft than Bong's (40 aircraft).
On January 7, 1945, McGuire, writes R. Jackson in his book, led a four "lightning" to the enemy airfield at Los Negros. The Americans noticed a single Japanese Zero fighter under them and swooped down on it. The Japanese pilot waited for the Americans to approach him at the maximum range of opening fire from their cannons and machine guns, and then made a sharp left turn and ended up on the tail of McGuire's wingman, Lieutenant Rittmeyer. A short burst followed, after which Rittmeyer's plane caught fire and began to fall, and the Japanese continued the attack and began to catch up with the remaining three "lightnings". In an attempt to gain an advantageous position to open fire, McGuire made one of the worst flying mistakes - he began a sharp turn at low speed. His P-38 went into a tailspin and fell into the jungle, and a couple of the remaining American planes withdrew from the battle.
Of the best aces of the Battle of Leyte, McGuire died first, and a few months after this incident, the commander of the 49th group, Colonel Johnson, was also killed in a plane crash.
Charles MacDonald survived the war and, with 27 enemy aircraft shot down, became the fifth best American fighter pilot in World War II; he was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Excellence Cross and five times the Distinguished Flight Merit Cross. He retired from the United States Air Force in the mid-1950s.
