A subsequent interview of Captain Weaver had quoted Weaver as saying that McGuire called for a diving turn to the left (a Luffberry), and had reduced his throttle settings in an attempt to slow enough to increase his turn. The Ki-43 flown by Sugimoto, according to Thropp, attacked Thropp first, as McGuire and Weaver were turning to engage. However, Sugimoto broke off his attack on Thropp and dove on McGuire and Weaver. Weaver called "he's on me now" just as Thropp had turned onto Sugimoto's tail, and saw that he was diving on McGuire and Weaver. Thropp had been preparing to warn Weaver and McGuire when Weaver called out, and Thropp was diving on Sugimoto.
Of the four pilots, Thropp was the least experienced, and the lowest in rank, with Rittmayer and McGuire being majors, Weaver a capt., and Thropp a lt.
As to knowing whether McGuire's engine was shot out, Weaver stated on seperate occasions that Sugimoto did not fire at McGuire, and in fact did not have a shot at him. This is in contrast to Thropp, who stated he felt that Sugimoto had a good angle and the proper lead for a shot at both. However, Thropp says he could not tell if Sugimoto ever fired. Weaver also never mentions Sugimoto ever firing on him, although at least one account has Sugimoto firing several long busts into Weaver's plane. there is also no report of such damage to Weaver's plane.
If you'll read the story in the link Toad provided, you'll see that it appears Thropp was upset with Weaver for telling him to RTB, instead of joining up with him. You'll also notice that Fukuda says that a Japanese pilot claimed to have shot McGuire down. However, Sugimoto was shot down, and the Fillipinos shot him to death when he crash landed, so there is little chance of a claim by Sugimoto of shooting McGuire down. You'll also notice that Rittmayer reported engine problems, but Thropp states he felt Rittmayer had no such engine problems. Thropp says he never saw McGuire crash, or even stall, and in fact, he thought that Sugimoto had shot down Weaver. However, Weaver was very close to McGuire, and stated on several occasions he saw Mcguire, saw his plane shudder, then saw it snap roll to the left, and he lost sight of it while it was inverted and nosed down 30 degrees.
Rittmayer was shot down by Fukuda. An interview of Fukuda done years ago states that Fukuda saw Rittmayer as the planes passed nose to nose, and described Rittmayer as wearing a crimsom scarf around his neck. Rittmayer wore no such scarf, and as the head on burst from Fukuda hit the center nacelle of Rittmayers plane, it is believed that Rittmayer was killed instantly by the burst he took from Fukuda on the head on pass.
There is no "speculation" of there being two Japanese planes, there were two Japanese planes, the Ki-43 flown by Sugimoto, and the Ki-84 flown by Fukuda. It was not at all uncommon for U.S. pilots to I.D. any Japanese single engine fighter as a "Zeke", and the two Japanese planes were painted similarly, and as such, since they (the two Japanese planes) were never both in view of the P-38s at the same time, it was assumed by Thropp and Weaver that there was only one. However, Fukuda was in one and Sugimoto in the other, and witnesses on the ground DID see both Japanese planes at once.
Another note about the article found at the link provided by Toad. That article was published long before any conclusion was reached by David Mason (in fact, Mason's investigation is open, and on hold as he serves the military under private industry contract since 9/11/2001). The investigation by Mason is by no means even close to complete. Mr. Mason contacted me with several questions about the P-38, and about tests that may or may not have been performed. At that time, _AFTER_ that article was published, Mason was looking into the theory that McGuire experienced a structural failure resulting in wing seperation. I forwarded his inquiry to Widewing, Warren Bodie, Stan Richardson Jr., Art Heiden, and Dr. Carlo Kopp. The theory of wing seperation (which was brought up by witnesses who found a large section of wing some distance from the crash set) was set aside, as Stan, Art, Warren, and Dr. Kopp all four stated that they knew of no such seperations outside of terminal compression dives (certainly not the case here). At this point, both Stan and Art said that the only way they were ever able to stall a P-38 and have it snap roll inverted was to turn extremely hard into a dead or shut down engine. What happened to McGuire was far outside the normal flight characteristics of a P-38, even heavily laden, so long as both engines were running and at equal power output.
As far as knowing what another pilot was doing goes, read the story that Ack-Ack provided the link to. Not only did other pilots hear McGuire throttle up, but he throttled up, yanked his plane around sharply, at low speed and low altitude, and successfully attacked the Japanese fighter.
McGuire was not flying his own plane, but rather the plane of Hal Gray Jr. There has been some arguement over what plane McGuire was flying and what was on the nose, however at the bottom of this page:
http://www.475thfghf.org/legacy.htm ,you'll find that Major General Hal Gray Jr. states that it was his plane that McGuire was flying. As Mcguire was tough on planes, and his crew was very meticulous ("McGuire's Pudgy IV" to a back seat only to Mcdonald's "Putt Putt Maru" when it came to new parts and repairs, McDonald was the CO, but McGuire supposedly had a better ground crew), there is some speculation as to whether Gray's plane had ever been pushed as hard as McGuire pushed it. Although McGuire and his crew did check Gray's plane out late into the night before, McGuire had evidently never flown it before.
There is a great deal more research and investigation to be done before this matter is truly settled, if it ever really will be. In all honesty, unless McGuire is wherever you feel "Heaven" exists, and you are fortunate enough to meet him, you'll never know for sure, since McGuire took the answer to that question to his grave.
Big Crate, I'd like to see the rest of that article, and see who it is attributed to if you don't mind. While it is a somewhat valid theory, what happened to McGuire was described much differently. All the same, information is information, and I'd like to see it, since it provides a theory that cannot be dismissed out of hand.
I hope to provide more at a later date, if anyone is actually interested.
