There's few things that generate more heat than light than when one player feels a kill was stolen by a fellow player. I won't go into the various ways and means by which this is accomplished, we have all been the victim and, on occasion, the thief.
During WWII perceptions of stealing a kill sometimes led to fist fights among pilots. In the AVG, stealing a kill meant stealing $500, and such behavior, if overt, was not tolerated. An old fashioned "blanket party" would be in order.
However, sometimes perceptions are incorrect. Sometimes pilots just couldn't seem to get the handle on an enemy fighter. Other times they simply blew an easy opportunity. Do either of the above and you could bet your paycheck that some other friendly fighter jock would pick up your slack and splash the bandit. Under those circumstances, a pilot may be annoyed, but he had his chance and everyone knew it. So, he would have to zip his lip and accept the result. Unless, that is, you were a hotshot leading ace trying to gain the scoring lead. Then no matter what, you were gonna whine loud and long.
Such was the case when America's second ranked ace thought that he had a kill swiped from under his nose.
December 26, 1944 was a busy day for the P-38 pilots of the 5th Air Force. Both the 49th and 475th Fighter Groups took off from Tacloban and headed to Clark Field, escorting B-24s. They had been there before, on the 21st. Typical of the seasonal weather over Luzon, there was substantial cloud cover. Arriving at Clark, the P-38s encountered the Japanese up in force. Down came the Lightnings tearing into a large gaggle of Japanese Army and Navy fighters. Within minutes 14 of the enemy had gone down, either burning or in various states of disassembly. Major Thomas McGuire had already killed four of the Mitsubishi fighters and was working hard to get number five. McGuire and seven other P-38s of the 475th had isolated a lone Zero. Time and time again he would make a run at a Zeke, only to have the agile fighter twist out of the line of fire. McGuire was becoming increasingly frustrated. Dutifully, the other seven 475th pilots trailed behind, covering their leader.
Meanwhile, the 49th had been just as busy. Nine Japanese fighters had been blasted from the Philippine sky. Lt. Sammy Pierce was responsible for three of them, two Zeros and a Ki-44 Tojo. Spotting McGuire and his flock contending with the lone Japanese fighter, Pierce headed over to investigate. Banking his P-38L, Pierce watched McGuire make run after run on the green painted Zero. Each time the skillful Japanese pilot managed to evade the attack. Pierce watched for several minutes and observed that the pilot of the Zero had fallen into a pattern. He would break hard left, pull up and roll right, forcing McGuire to extend out reverse and arch in again. Having discerned the Zero pilot's method Sammy decided that McGuire had just about used up his allocation of opportunities.
Having avoided McGuire's last attack, the Zero banked over, unloaded and raced for a solid bank of heavy rain clouds.
Seeing the escape attempt, Pierce split-s'd his big Lightning and came roaring down.
Probably seeing the sunlight glinting off of the big American fighter and recognizing this new threat, the Japanese pilot prepared to take evasive action yet again.
Clawing around with his throttles firewalled, McGuire saw Pierce's P-38 flash by, heading for the fleeing Zeke. Recognizing it as belonging to the 8th Fighter Squadron, McGuire swore out loud, his microphone switch depressed.
Sammy heard McGuire's epithet, but ignored it. He was closing rapidly on the Zero, almost within gun range.
Nose slightly down, the Zero accelerated towards the broiling cloud bank. Despite the pilot's best efforts one of the P-38s was closing very quickly. Waiting until the last possible second, the Japanese pilot pushed the stick left with every ounce of strength he had and chopped his power.
Sammy was waiting for the Zero to break left. With the range down to well under 500 yards, he saw the left wing dip. Pierce pulled back his left throttle and kicked left rudder, turning the yoke to the right, the big Lockheed yawed left. Sammy pushed the gun button as the Zero filled his windscreen.
There was a blinding flash as the Mitsubishi disappeared in a ball of fire. Sammy's #66 was rocked by the blast, the yoke was almost yanked from his grip. "Geez almighty", Sammy muttered to himself.
A split second later his headset reverberated with the howls of one very upset Major. "Golly-geen it! You thieving interloper!"
Sammy broke into a huge grin.
"Pilot of the P-38 that just shot down that Zero, indentify yourself!"
Still grinning from ear to ear, Pierce replied in his best Carolina drawl. "This ere's Raccoon Blue numbah fo'ah."
"Pierce, you bast--d, is that you?"
"That is affirmative Majah."
A moment of radio silence followed. Everyone on the frequency waited for McGuire's next tirade.
They were surprised by what they heard next... Laughing.
With a hearty chuckle McGuire said, "Nice shot, Pierce.
Sammy pushed his left throttle forward and the engine backfired violently. Pierce watched the cylinder head temperature rise towards the red zone. He throttled back the engine and announced his problem. McGuire, along with Neil Castle, slid in beside Sammy and the three diverted to Hill Field, home base of the Head Hunters of the 80th Fighter Squadron.
Landing without incident, Sammy's nose gear collapsed as he taxied into a protective revetment. Climbing out, Sammy discovered that he had flown through the bulk of the wreckage of the exploding Zero. His port radiator was partially blocked by a piece of aluminum skin from the Zeke. The leading edges of the wings were scorched from the fireball and dented from debris. The Zero's propeller had torn several holes in the underside of the fuselage, damaging the nose strut. McGuire commented that perhaps Sammy had gotten in a bit too close. Indeed he had.
Later that evening, Pierce and McGuire met at the Officer's Club and celebrated their combined eight kills. Adding these four to Sammy's previous 3 brought him up to seven confirmed victories. McGuire's four brought his total to 38.
Little did they realize that this would be the last kills that either would get to celebrate. Twelve days later McGuire would be dead. Sammy never encountered another Japanese aircraft.
Sammy Pierce
Sammy's bio 
Tommy McGuire
McGuire's bio My regards,
Widewing
