February 20, 1942 – Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare

[Arlo]

February 20, 1942 – Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare (March 13, 1914 – November 26, 1943) becomes US Navy's first flying ace when he single-handedly attacked a formation of nine heavy bombers approaching his aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga (CV-3). Even though he had a limited amount of ammunition, he managed to shoot down five enemy bombers. On April 21, 1942, he became the first naval recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II.
O'Hare's final action took place on the night of November 26, 1943, while he was leading the U.S. Navy's first-ever nighttime fighter attack launched from an aircraft carrier. During this encounter with a group of Japanese torpedo bombers, O'Hare's Grumman F6F Hellcat was shot down; his aircraft was never found. In 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS O'Hare (DD-889) was named in his honor.

A few years later, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, suggested that the name of Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport be changed as a tribute to Butch O'Hare. On September 19, 1949, the Chicago, Illinois airport was renamed O'Hare International Airport to honor O'Hare's bravery. The airport displays a Grumman F4F-3 museum aircraft replicating the one flown by Butch O'Hare during his Medal of Honor flight. The Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat on display was recovered virtually intact from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where it sank after a training accident in 1943 when it went off the training aircraft carrier USS Wolverine (IX-64). In 2001, the Air Classics Museum remodeled the aircraft to replicate the F4F-3 Wildcat that O'Hare flew on his Medal of Honor flight. The restored Wildcat is exhibited in the west end of Terminal 2 behind the security checkpoint to honor O'Hare International Airport's namesake.

Sources: Naval History and Heritage Command, Wikipedia, and Navsource via to US Naval History Buffs

Images:


1.   Lt. Butch O'Hare seated in the cockpit of his Grumman F4F "Wildcat" fighter, circa spring 1942. The plane is marked with five Japanese flags, representing the five enemy bombers he was credited with shooting down


2.   The Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3).


3.   VF-3: Front row, second from right: Lt. Edward Butch O'Hare.


4.   Original insignia of VF-2B, VF-3, VF6B.


5.   F4F-3A Wildcats flown by LCMDR Thach (F-1) and Lt. O'Hare (F-13) during the aerial photography flight of April 11, 1942.

[Devil 505]

Tanks for sharing, Arlo.

 

[LNG15]

I believe he was flying from CV-6 Enterprise with the new night group called "The Black Panthers" and engaged betty bombers and inadventernly flew into the fire zone of a betties front guns and ended up being injured or killed his plane fell from the sky and thus we lost a great hero. I remember watching that info on Battle 360.

[Arlo]

via National Naval Aviation Museum FB group

[Chalenge]

I believe he was flying from CV-6 Enterprise with the new night group called "The Black Panthers" and engaged betty bombers and inadventernly flew into the fire zone of a betties front guns and ended up being injured or killed his plane fell from the sky and thus we lost a great hero. I remember watching that info on Battle 360.

The crewmen at the time stated that O'Hare and his men had trouble locating the Avenger, so when O'Hare finally found them he requested that they turn on their running lights so he could be sure. That's when the Avenger tailgunner spotted the Betty bomber above O'Hare, and when the Betty nosegunner opened fire upon the Avenger. O'Hare, being in the middle, was the first to be hit. An eye witness reported the pilot got out, but no parachute was seen.

[Shuffler]

 

[Nwbie]

Are you guys aware of his father? 

More interesting reading I promise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_J._O%27Hare

[Shuffler]

Good read