Seeing Clinger's plane made me dig out an old book I have with a brief excerpt about him. The book is "Zero Fighter" by Martin Caidin (no apologies for any inaccuracies contained within - I am aware of Mr. Caidin's reputation of favoring the story over historical accuracy - but it was and still is entertaining reading, and one of my first introductions to air combat writing as a boy).
Hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do:
"Brigadier General Robert Scott, USAF (Ret) once told the writer about a man he considered to be one of the great fighter pilots of all time. Actually, he did not specify fighter pilot - just fighter. The man was Lt. Dallas Clinger from Wyoming. Bob Scott, who shot down 13 Japanese planes in Asia, told the author: 'Clinger was another man who in years gone by in the Old West would have been a great gunman like Tex Hill. Only Clinger wouldn't have cared whether he was on the side of the Law, the Mormons, the Church, or Jesse James. He just wanted to fight.'
Because Clinger fought Zeroes, and performed the impossible in a P-40 against Zero fighters, this brief episode deserves a place in these pages.
One of Clinger's brief combat reports describes a fight he had over Hengyang, while flying with two other P-40s: 'I was flying on my leader's wing - Lt Lombard - at 23,000 ft when we saw three enemy planes down below circling. There were larger formations reported around. Just then I heard my flight leader say: "There are three stragglers - let's attack 'em." So we dived into them like mad. As I shot into the Zero on the right of the formation I saw that we were in the midst of twenty-four other Zeros, all shooting at us. I got mad and shot at every plane I could get my sights on. I think I shot one down but I was so busy I didn’t see it crash.’
The report was signed: ‘Dallas Clinger, 2nd Lt, almost unemployed.’ Robert Scott fills in the details omitted by Clinger: ‘What Clinger had really done was the greatest piece of daredevil flying that any of us had ever seen. Instead of diving away from the twenty-seven ship circus as the others had done, he stayed and fought the old-fashioned dogfight until the Japs just about took him to pieces from sheer weight of numbers. When they straggled home they must have been the most surprised bunch of pilots in all Japan, for this crazy American with his heavy P-40 had done everything in or out of the book. He fought right side up and upside down, from 23,000 ft to less than 1,000. As many Japs as could fill the air behind Clinger would get there and hang on while they shot; but Clinger wouldn’t fight fair and stay there. In the end, he came right over the field, diving from the enemy until he had outdistanced them enough to turn; then he’d pull into an Immelman and come back shooting at them head-on. He was last seen after the unequal fight skimming out across the rice paddies, making just about 500 mph, with some ten to twelve Zeros following. For some reason they seemed reluctant, as though they didn’t know whether run after Clinger or leave him alone. He came in for lunch with his ship badly shot up by their cannon. But he had shot down one of them.’ "
I think Clinger would have definitely fit into the AH Main Arena, don't you?
