Posted In: Blog Posts|March 20, 2025
Fly·ing ace | noun | a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat.
During World War I, the concept of “Ace” emerged alongside aerial dogfighting to provide people at home with wartime heroes. Their image was disseminated as a chivalrous knight, reminiscent of a bygone era, and they held themselves to a noble standard of battle that would change and evolve as strategies and technology advanced in World War II.
Approximately 60,000 pilots flew in conflicts from World War I through Vietnam, only about 5% were considered Aces and only 19 would go on to receive the United States Armed Forces’ highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. In 2014, Congress also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to all American Fighter Aces.
By Katie Cayer, Assistant Archivist
- Edward Vernon Rickenbacker
Edward Vernon Rickenbacker was born on October 8, 1890, in Columbus, Ohio, to Swedish immigrants. At the age of five, he developed a desire to stand out from his peers by hawking newspapers to help support his family. During this time, he was recognized by his friends as someone who wasn’t afraid to take risks in life. When he was thirteen, his father passed away and he dropped out of school to work full time in a glass factory, working seventy-two hours a week. Over the next couple of years, he worked at a foundry, a shoe factory, a monument works, and at a Pennsylvania Railroad maintenance shop in Columbus.
When Rickenbacker was fourteen, he stumbled upon a crowd that had gathered to watch a car salesman show off a Ford Model C. Convincing the showman to give him a ride, he ignited a passion for speed that would stick with him throughout the rest of his life. Soon after, he was given a new assignment at the railroad maintenance shop as an apprentice machinist, allowing him to acquire practical skills. But this wasn’t enough for Rickenbacker, so he sent away for a mail-order course in mechanical engineering. The course proved difficult, as he had a limited formal education, but he persisted. He began to look for ways to apply his learning and in the spring of 1906, he began doing odd jobs at the Oscar Lear Automobile Company, which was part owned by Lee Frayer. Frayer, who was impressed by his dedication, introduced him to the sport of auto racing.
The excitement and danger of auto racing had a profound effect on Rickenbacker so much that he did not want to build cars, he wanted to race them. He dreamed of being behind the wheel and soon had his chance when Frayer left Oscar Lear to become chief engineer for the Columbus Buggy Company. Rickenbacker went with him and became the chief testing engineer. He spent the next four years traveling the country, helping to open new dealerships and promote the company’s first car, the Firestone-Columbus, and decided that the best way to advertise a car was to enter a race.
In 1910, Rickenbacker entered his first race, which was held on a dirt track in Red Oak, Iowa. He did not win or even complete the race because he took one of the turns too fast, sending the car rolling. He was thrown from the vehicle, but only sustained minor injuries. In 1911, he served as Frayer’s relief driver in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 and competed again the following year as the starting driver, in which he finished eleventh. After that, he quit his job at the Columbus Buggy Company, dedicating his early adult life to professional race car driving. He became known as “Fast Eddie” in the racing circuit, attracting national attention for several different teams, and he competed in the Indy 500 three more times, even finishing in tenth place in 1914.
In 1916, while preparing for a race in California, he met aviation pioneer Glenn Martin, who would go on to become the founder of Lockheed Martin. Martin offered Rickenbacker a ride in an airplane – Rickenbacker’s first time in the air – and it was an experience that would turn the page to the next phase of Rickenbacker’s life.
In the spring of 1917, Rickenbacker enlisted in the US Army to fight in France. Because of his racing background, the Army made him a chauffeur and assigned him to drive top Army officers. Despite the position carrying the rank of sergeant first class, he wasn’t satisfied and got himself transferred in the US Army Aviation Section, a part of the US Army Signal Corps in 1917. One of his old racing buddies, James Ely Miller, was serving as a captain in the air service and was in charge of setting up an American pilot training facility in France. He offered Rickenbacker a position as an engineering officer, which Rickenbacker accepted on one condition: that he could enter flight training and become a pilot.
Despite being too old, lacking a formal education, and having vision problems, Rickenbacker did not let these things stop him from excelling in the same ways he excelled at everything else – through hard work and dedication. He completed the fourth month pilot training course in only seventeen days and was commissioned a first lieutenant. In the midst of his everyday duties as an engineering officer, he used every spare minute to get in the air and practice, and when an opportunity arose to get into a French gunnery school, he took it.
In the spring of 1918, he was assigned to the 94th Aero Squadron, known as the “Hat in the Ring” Squadron. It was one of the first American pursuit squadrons sent to the Western Front. That summer, he developed a reputation as a skilled and daring pilot, and by June, he had shot down five enemy aircrafts, becoming the second American flying ace of the war. On September 14th, he was promoted to the rank of captain, becoming deputy commander of the 94th, and while out on patrol that same day, he encountered a formation of German Fokker fighter planes bearing the brightly colored markings of the German squadron known as the Flying Circus. He brought down one of the planes and the following day, downed another German plane, giving him a total of seven aerial victories. This made him America’s top flying ace, which was a position known as the Ace of Aces.
On September 25, 1918, he was again on patrol when he spotted two German photographic reconnaissance aircrafts. Five Fokker fighter escorts came into view, and knowing that the intelligence gathered by these reconnaissance planes would prove deadly to Allied troops, he acted quickly and without hesitation, positioned himself to attack. Maneuvering his plane above and behind the German aircraft, he opened fire on one of the escort planes, bringing it down, and while the element of surprise remained, he dropped down among the formation and performed a series of maneuvers that were designed to avoid a retaliatory attack. As the enemy planes regrouped and began to return fire, Rickenbacker slipped in between the two reconnaissance planes, bringing down one before he disengaged and headed home.
For this act of bravery, he was awarded his fifth Distinguished Service Cross, which was converted to the Medal of Honor in 1930. By the end of the war, he had amassed an unmatched total of twenty-six aerial victories.
2. Thomas Buchanan McGuire, Jr.
Thomas Buchanan McGuire, Jr., was born on August 1, 1920, in Ridgewood, New Jersey. He and his mother moved to Sebring, Florida, in the late 1920’s and he graduated from Sebring High School in 1938. He then went to Georgia Institute of Technology to study aeronautical engineering and as soon as he acquired his diploma, he shoved it in a drawer and enlisted as an Aviation Cadet on July 12, 1941.
McGuire reported to flying school in Corsicana, Texas, as an aviation cadet and received further training in San Antonio. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot wings at Kelly Field, Texas on February 2, 1942. He was then assigned to the 313th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field, Michigan, from February to May and then the 56th Pursuit Squadron at Paine Field, Texas.
His first combat mission was in June of 1942. He flew patrols over the Aleutian Islands in a Bell P-39 Airacobra while assigned to the 54th Fighter Group until October 1942. He was able to hone his skills as a pilot and in February 1943, he reported to the Orange County Airport for transition training in the Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
In 1943, he received orders to ship out to the 49th Fighter Group, Fifth Air Force, in the Southwest Pacific. He often flew with Dick Bong, another flying ace, and they were competitive as they flew together. McGuire seemed destined to remain about eight planes behind Bong. But no one seemed to know of McGuire’s prowess in the air. As many of the official records of the Fifth Air Force were destroyed in a Japanese bombing attack and the details of his combat history have vanished.
In the summer of 1944, after transferring from the 49th to the 475th Fighter Group, which was still within the Fifth Air Force, American forces in the Pacific mustered their strength, striking a series of massive blows against the Philippine Islands. Almost every morning, Japanese forces attacked and all through the month of November, the Lightnings fought back hard. McGuire stayed grimly behind Bong and by December, he had 28 Japanese flags painted on his airplane.
One Christmas Day 1944, McGuire volunteered to lead a squadron of fifteen P-38’s, which would serve as top cover for heavy bombers attacking the Japanese aidrome at Mabalacat. His formation was attacked by twenty Japanese Zero type aircrafts. In the ensuing action, McGuire flew to assist his squadron mates who were relentlessly attacked and exposed his own aircraft to enemy fire. He was sometimes outnumbered three to one. He was successful in driving off the enemy’s assaults, but soon found his guns jammed. He flew aggressively, forcing Japanese aircrafts into his own wingman’s line of fire, and when the fight was finally over, he led his squadron home again.
On the following day, McGuire again volunteered to lead his squadron on an escort mission to Japanese-held Clark Field. The enemy airbase was strongly defended and one of the bombers was hit by flak, crippling it and causing it to fall out of formation. As it fell, the formation was jumped by a swarm of Japanese fighters. In an effort to rescue the straggling bomber, McGuire exposed himself to an enemy aircraft, and within seconds, he shot down one, dodging four, and took out three more by himself. His heroic actions here would earn him the Congressional Medal of Honor.
McGuire’s last fight took place on January 7, 1945. Despite the weakening effects of recurring malaria, he volunteered again to lead a four-plane fighter sweep over Los Negros Island, hoping to “break in” two green newcomers to the squadron. The formation was suddenly attacked by a lone Japanese Zero. McGuire was able to maneuver his aircraft to trap the Zero pilot in a tight circle with the other P-38’s and broke up the maneuver just above ground. Freed of the trap, the Japanese fighter immediately got on the tail of another pilot’s P-38 and McGuire dove to the rescue. He did not have time to drop his wing tanks and was only flying at an altitude of 200 hundred feet. The P-38 stalled in a tight turn and McGuire’s plane crashed, taking his life.
3. Richard Ira Bong
Richard Ira Bong was born on September 24, 1920, in Superior, Wisconsin. He attended Superior State Teachers’ College until January 1941 and in the following month, he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Force. He completed his Advanced Flying Training at Luke Field, Arizona on January 9, 1942 and was appointed Second Lieutenant, Air Reserve. He was then ordered to extended active duty with the Air Corps Advanced Flying School at Luke Field.
When Bong finished his training, he had hoped for a combat assignment but found himself assigned as an instructor at Luke Field. He spent three and a half months teaching, while still improving his flying and aerial gunnery skills so that if he did end up in combat, he would be better equipped for the job. He was then assigned to Hamilton field in California, where he spent four months flying P-38’s before being shipped to Australia. He reported to Brisbane on September 10, 1942 and was assigned to a P-38 squadron that was just beginning to assemble its newly arrived airplanes. That squadron was the Ninth Squadron of the Forty-ninth Fighter Group of the Fifth Air Force.
In November of 1942, he was reassigned to the 39th Squadron of the 35th Group and destroyed five enemy fighter planes before returning to the 9th Squadron in January or 1943. He flew the 9th until November and was promoted to first lieutenant in April and then to captain in August. On November 11, 1943, he was given 60 days leave and reassigned to Headquarters V Fighter Command in New Guinea as the assistant operations officer in charge of replacing airplanes. Here, he continued to fly combat missions in P-39’s and increased his aerial victories to 28.
In April of 1944, he was promoted to major and sent home to instruct others in the art of aerial superiority in Foster Field, Texas. When he returned to the Pacific with the Fifth Fighter Command in September of 1944, he acted as the gunnery training officer. Although it was not required for him to perform further combat flying, he voluntarily put in thirty more combat missions, destroying twelve more enemy planes to bring his total to 40. It was his selflessness and bravery during these combat missions that would earn Bong a Medal of Honor. It was personally awarded to him by General Douglas MacArthur, who praised him as being the greatest fighter ace of all Americans.
Bong then went on to become a test pilot at Wright Field, Ohio. In June 1945, he went to Burbank, California as the Chief of Flight Operations And Air Force Plant Representative to Lockheed Aircraft Company, engaging in developing and manufacturing the P-80 jet aircraft. He then received a full training course for P-80s at Muroc Lake Flight Test Base in California, but died that August due to engine failure during a flight over Burbank.
4. Gregory “Pappy” Boyington
Gregory “Pappy” Boyington was born in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, on December 4, 1912. His family moved to the logging town of St. Maries, Idaho, when he was three and he lived there until the age of twelve. He then lived in Tacoma, Washington, where he graduated from Lincoln High School. He attended the University of Washington, where he majored in aeronautical engineering, and graduated in 1934. He was a member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and was an athlete, participating in wrestling and swimming, and was a one-time holder of the Pacific Northwest Intercollegiate middle-weight wrestling title.
He started his military career while attending college as a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps for four years. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Reserve in June of 1934 and served two months of active duty with the 630th Coast Artillery at Fort Worden, Washington. On June 13, 1935, he enlisted in the Volunteer Marine Corps Reserve. He went on active duty that date, but then returned to inactive duty on July 16th.
In the meantime, he became a draftsman and engineer for Boeing in Seattle, Washington. On February 18, 1936, he accepted an appointment as an aviation cadet in the Marine Corps Reserve and was stationed at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, for flight training. On March 11, 1937, he was designated a Naval Aviator and was transferred to Quantico, Virginia for duty with Aircraft One, Fleet Marine Force. He was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on July 1, 1937, in order to accept a second lieutenant’s commission in the regular Marine Corps the following day.
Upon the completion of his studies, Boyington was transferred to the Second Marine Aircraft Group at the San Diego Naval Air Station. With this unit, he took part in fleet problems off the aircraft carriers USS Lexington and USS Yorktown.
On November 4, 1940, he was promoted to first lieutenant and went back to Pensacola as an instructor the following month. On August 26, 1941, he resigned his commission to accept a position with the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, a civilian organization formed for the protection of the Burma Road. This unit later became known as the American Volunteer Group, the famed “Flying Tigers” of China. During his time with the “Tigers,” Boyington became a squadron commander and shot down six enemy planes.
He returned to the United States in July 1942 and accepted a first lieutenant’s commission in the Marine Corps Reserve on September 29, 1942. He reported for active duty at the Naval Air Station in San Diego on November 23, 1942 and was assigned to Marine Aircraft Wings in the Pacific. He joined Marine Aircraft Group Eleven of the First Marine Aircraft Wing, becoming the Commanding Officer of Marine Fighting Squadron Two Fourteen after a short tour in the Solomons with another squadron. This new squadron, dubbed the “Black Sheep” squadron, was made up of a group of casuals, replacements and green pilots.
Before organizing the “Black Sheep,” Boyington had done some combat flying in Guadalcanal, but he did not add to his score there. During these two periods, it was here that he gained the nickname “Pappy,” so named because of his age – 31 – compared to that of his men. He also continued to add to his total almost daily due to the intense activity in the Russell Islands and Bougainville areas. During his squadron’s first tour of combat, he personally shot down 14 enemy fighter planes in just 32 days. On December 17, 1943, he headed the first Allied fighter sweep over impregnable Rabaul. By December 27, his record was 25 and he tied the then-existing American record of 26 when he shot down another fighter over Rabaul on January 4th..
On January 4, 1944, 48 American planes, including one division of four planes from the “Black Sheep” squadron, took off from Bougainville for a fighter sweep over Rabaul. Boyington was the tactical commander of the flight, arriving over Rabaul at eight o’clock in the morning. In the ensuing action, he was seen shooting down his 26th plane. He then became mixed in the general melee and was not seen or heard from again. Following a determined search, which proved futile, it was declared that Boyington was missing in action.
He was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese and on August 29, 1945, he was liberated from Japanese custody at Omori Prison Camp in the Tokyo area and arrived in the United States shortly after. On September 6, he accepted his temporary lieutenant colonel’s commission in the Marine Corps after spending the past twenty months as a prisoner of the Japanese. At the time of his release, it was confirmed that he had taken down two Japanese planes before being shot down himself, setting his total at 28 planes.
Shortly after his return, Boyington was ordered to return to Washington to receive the Medal of Honor. It had been awarded by the late president, Franklin D. Roosevelt in March of 1944, but was held in the Capital until he was able to receive it.
He retired from the Marine Corps on August 1, 1947.
5. James Howell Howard
James Howell Howard was born in Guangzhou (then called Canton), China, on April 8, 1913, to missionary parents. He spent the first fourteen years of his life in China before moving to California. He studied at Pomona College but left in 1937 to go to the Navy’s flying school in Pensacola, Florida.
In December 1937, he entered as an aviation cadet in the United States Naval Reserve and after finishing his training, he was rated a Naval Aviator. On August 17, 1939, he was appointed ensign in the Naval Reserve and served as such until his relief from active duty on June 21, 1941.
He served with the American Volunteer Group, Chinese Air Force, from August 15, 1941 to July 4, 1942. He was given the rank of Vice Squadron Leader, appointed Group Operations Officer, and was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. During his service with the American Volunteer Group, he destroyed a total of six enemy fighters and shared the destruction of one bomber with two other pilots. He was commended for his participation in the bombing and strafing missions in the far east.
On January 31, 1943, he entered active military service with the rank of pilot and was assigned to March Field in California. He became commander of the 356th Fighter Squadron while assigned to Hamilton Field in California. He was then assigned to duty as Assistant A-3 and later Operational Staff Officer, Headquarters Ninth Air Force, while stationed in the United States and the European Theater of Operations.
When he became separated from his fighter squadron of P-51 Mustangs in January 1944, he found himself alone as he flew to the defense of the B-17 bomber formations after a raid over central Germany. For more than thirty minutes, he fought off some 30 German fighters who were attacking the Flying Fortresses. He was credited with shooting down at least four German aircrafts before being forced to return to base in England. His actions on January 11, 1944 in Oschersleben, Germany would garner Howard the Medal of Honor.
Upon his return to the Zone of Interior in November 1944, he attended the Third Fighter Gunnery School in Florida for six weeks before being assigned to Headquarters Third Air Force in Tampa, Florida. He remained there until November 30, 1945, when he was relieved from active duty.
6. David McCampbell
David McCampbell was born on January 16, 1910, in Bessemer, Alabama, to Andrew Jackson and LaValle Perry McCampbell, and moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, at an early age where his father was in the furniture business.
He attended Staunton Military Academy in Virginia and Georgia Tech before being appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. As a midshipman, he qualified as an expert rifleman and was active in athletics. Upon his graduation on June 1, 1933, due to Congressional legislation limiting commissions in the US Navy that year, he was honorably discharged from the Navy and on the same day, was commissioned ensign in the US Naval Reserve. While in inactive status in the Naval Reserve, he was employed by a construction company in Alabama and as an assembly mechanic with the Douglas Aircraft Corporation. In 1934, he was called to active duty as an ensign and was assigned to the cruiser Portland, serving for three years, before reporting for flight training in Pensacola, Florida.
Beginning in April 1938, he served two years on the USS Ranger before being transferred to the USS Wasp as a Landing Signal Officer. While on this assignment, then Lieutenant McCampbell participated in the Neutrality Patrol and Convoy Duties in the Atlantic, and while working with the British Home Fleet, he made two trips to the Mediterranean to deliver Spitfires to Malta. In June of 1942, the Wasp was dispatched to the South Pacific to support the Marine landings on Guadalcanal, where she was subsequently sunk by enemy submarine action on September 15, 1942.
McCampbell then returned to the United States and was promoted to Lt. Commander and was assigned to duty as a Landing Signal Officer Instructor at the NAS in Melbourne, Floria. In August 1943, he was ordered to the NAS in Atlantic City to commission and train Fighting Squadron 15 as its commanding officer. After a brief shakedown aboard the new USS Hornet, McCampbell fleeted up to command of Air Group 15, which included fighter, bomber and torpedo planes. In February 1944, the Hornet transited the Panama Canal, debarking at Pearl Harbor for six weeks of advanced training.
Air Group 15 embarked on the USS Essex in April 1944 and had its “baptism of fire” over Marcus Island in May. For the next six months, the Essex and its Air Group were to see almost continuous combat action and were to participate in two major air-sea battles. It was for actions during this period that McCampbell would receive the Medal of Honor.
McCampbell received the Medal of Honor for his leadership and courage during the aerial battles against enemy aerial forces in the first and second battles of the Philippine Sea. He became the Navy’s highest scoring pilot, with a total of 34 airborne enemy planes destroyed, the greatest number ever shot down by an American pilot during a single tour of combat duty. In one fight alone, he destroyed nine aircraft and is also credited with the destruction of twenty grounded planes.
Other notable Medal of Honor flying aces:
- Harold William Bauer
- George Andrew Davis, Jr.
- Jefferson Joseph DeBlanc
- Joseph Jacob Foss
- Robert Edward Galer
- Robert Murray Hanson
- Neel Ernest Kearby
- Frank Luke, Jr.
- Edward Henry “Butch” O’Hare
- William Arthur Shomo
- John Lucian Smith
- James Elms Swett
- Kenneth Ambrose Walsh
About the Congressional Medal of Honor Society
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Medal of Honor, inspiring America to live the values the Medal represents, and supporting Recipients of the Medal as they connect with communities across America.
Chartered by Congress in 1958, its membership consists exclusively of those individuals who have received the Medal of Honor. There are fewer than 70 living Recipients.
The Society carries out its mission through outreach, education and preservation programs, including theMedal of Honor Museum,Medal of Honor Outreach Programs, theMedal of Honor Character Development Program, and theMedal of Honor Citizen Honors Awards for Valor and Service. The Society’s programs and operations are funded by donations.
As part of Public Law 106-83, the Medal of the Honor Memorial Act, the Medal of Honor Museum, which is co-located with the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s headquarters on board the U.S.S. Yorktown at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, was designated as one of three national Medal of Honor sites.
Learn more about the Medal of Honor and the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s initiatives atcmohs.org
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