McCampbell is usually the "forgotten one". Sure folks are quick to name Bong, Boyington, Vraciu, Gay and others. But this badass was keeping score with pencil hash marks on the dashboard of his F6F-5, while downing 9 in one day during the Marianas Turkey Shoot. He had already shot 7 in day four months prior. He is the only American to repeat this.
Also note that when he landed the 9 kills, he literally had 2 rounds of .50 cal left. If you ever come across "McCampbell's Heroes", get it. I read it for the first time 21 years ago in the 8th grade. I've read it a few times since as it a good narrative.
Indeed, Bong and McGuire get a great deal of attention, while David McCampbell is generally ignored...
His accomplishments, however, do outshine the P-38 aces in many respects.
McCampbell shot down 34 Japanese and had 21 ground kills. He also had 5 probables. Moreover, he managed all of this in one 6 month deployment. His best day was described above, but I will add that he shot down 7 Zeros and 2 Ki-43, with two probables (spinning towards the ocean on fire, but not seen to crash). It should be noted that this was done during a
single sortie, not multiple sorties in a single day or over several days. This feat is the single sortie record for Allied pilots in WWII. Earlier, on June 19, McCampbell had shot down 7 Japanese fighters during a single sortie.
In contrast, McGuire was in combat for nearly a year and a half, except for 7 weeks when he was recovering from injuries sustained when his P-38 was demolished by Zeros and he was forced to bail out. The best McGuire managed was 7 kills over two days.
Bong was in combat for a total of just over 18 months. His best single day score was 4 kills.
All three of these gents were superior fighter pilots, but only McCampbell is generally unknown. Part of that results from the Navy not making the massive public relations effort that the USAAF did during the war. Also, unlike Bong and McGuire, McCampbell survived the war. This meant that his name wasn't splashed all over the National news media as Bong's tragic accident was. McGuire didn't garner the attention of American media due to a stateside accident, but his loss was reported extensively in newspapers and newsreels. McCampbell remained in the Navy, retiring in 1964. He died in 1996 and is buried at Arlington.
There's little doubt that had McCampbell been able to fly a second tour (as did both Bong and McGuire), he would have easily exceeded both in total kills.
My regards,
Widewing
