Shown, in the photo above, is famous "Lightning" "Pudgy IV" flown by Thomas McGuire. In the photos below, are: McGuire and Charles A. Lindbergh, "Putt-Putt Maru" - P-38 flown by Col Charles H. McDonald, Richard I. Bong with his last P-38 - "Marge".
Of all the World War II aces, Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. stands out of the crowd for one reason: he openly lusted for the fame that would come with being a leading ace, and thereby the best pilot. In the American and British air forces, there is a tradition of modesty regarding this goal. No one will ever accuse a man like Chuck Yeager of lack of ego, but it is kept in public check behind an "aw shucks, I was just doin' the job" attitude. McGuire's lust for fame and glory would make him America's Number Two ace of all time, with 38 victories behind the 40 of his great rival, Richard I. Bong, but it would also insure he could never become Number One. Perhaps this is the poetic justice of the universe at work.
After service in the Alaska Air Command during the Aleutian fighting, McGuire arrived in Australia in March, 1943, assigned to the 49th Fighter Group, which at that time was the leading fighter unit fighting in New Guinea. Before he could fly in combat with them, he was assigned to the newly-created 475th Fighter Group.
A word needs to be said here about the 475th Fighter Group: in 1943, the Allied forces fighting in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) were at the end of a very long supply line, and not at the top of the priority list back home. General George Kenney, commander of the 5th U.S. Army Air Force - the American air commander in SWPA - wanted the P-38 "Lightning", which had the range to take the war to the enemy at Rabaul and the north coast of New Guinea, and the performance to outfight the opponents it would find. He began to get P-38s in December 1942, but by the Summer of 1943 had only been able to get enough "Lightnings" to equip three squadrons - one in the 80th Fighter Group, one in the 35th, and one in the 49th.
In June 1943, General Kenney managed to obtain enough new P-38s to form an entire group (48 aircraft with 4 spares). He ransacked 5th Fighter Command for the best pilots available, and transferred them to the new unit, the 475th Fighter Group, which would be commanded by Lt. Col. Charles H. McDonald. Proving leadership means "follow me," McDonald would go on to score 27 victories and become the 3rd ranking USAAF ace in the Pacific War. The 475th was one of only two USAAF Fighter Groups to be created in an overseas combat zone; the 4th Fighter Group - the former RAF Eagle Squadrons - being the other in the ETO. The 475th went on to become the top-scoring Fighter Group, with three of the five top-scoring USAAF aces of the Pacific War.
When the unit went into combat in New Guinea in August
1943, McGuire distinguished himself as he quickly became an ace,
scoring a triple on 18 August, and a double on 21 August. By
mid-October 1943, his score was 18, including another triple on
12 October. On this day, he also found out what it was like to be
on the receiving end when he was shot down by a "Zeke";
wounded in this action, he was sidelined until December 1943.
Here is McGuire's combat report from 17 October 1943, describing this dramatic event (text added by Dariusz Tyminski from McGuire site):
"We were at 23,000 feet when we sighted the enemy at a position of 11 o'clock, slightly above us (a group of 15 to 20 Zekes). After we dropped our belly tanks, Lieutenant Kirby, in his capacity as squadron leader that day, led us in to a head-on attack, climbing slightly. I selected one Zeke at the right of the formation and began firing. He started smoking and rolled out and down to his right. I followed, firing intermittently, to 18,000 feet, then pulled back to rejoin our formation.
I lost my second element and my wingman by this time. My wingman could only drop one belly tank, and because of this could not pull out of his dive until he reached 4,000 feet. He saw the Zeke that I had fired on going straight down, still smoking. I pulled up behind Red Flight at 21,000 feet and arrived in time to see two Zekes attacking from a position of 4 o'clock high. After I had fired at them in an attempt to drive them away, four other Zekes started down on me from 6 o'clock high, forcing me to dive to about 1,000 feet.
I had begun a climb when I sighted two Zekes at 3 o'clock and about 1,000 feet below me. I dived to attack, getting several shots with no results observed. I was at 18,000 feet when three Zekes from 8 o'clock high attacked me. As I was diving out, one closed in to very close range, putting about two slugs into the cockpit and possibly other parts of the ship. My evasive maneuver in this instance was to increase my dive to vertical, diving to 7,000 feet, then pulling back up to 12,000 feet.
At that time I saw seven Zekes in a loose formation and to the rear of a P-38, which appeared to be in trouble. As one Zeke began his pass at the P-38, I made my attack on him at 90-degree deflection. I fired a long burst and saw him break into flame. Feeling that I could distract them from the P-38 by making an attack, I pulled up slightly and to the right, getting a direct tail shot. I closed to about 100 feet and began firing. The Zeke immediately started burning and rolled slowly to the left and down. The remaining Zekes attacked and hit me at that time.
One was about 100 feet behind me and closing. As I started to dive out, my left engine began to burn, my right engine was smoking, a cannon shell burst into the radio compartment, and a 7.7 shell hit my wrist and passed into the instrument panel. Other shells hit at the base of the control column. I received shrapnel in my right arm and my hips. I tried to pull out of my dive, but found my elevator controls were entirely useless. I then released my escape hatch and bailed out. I landed in the sea about 25 miles from shore and remained there for approximately 30 minutes. I was unable to inflate my life raft due to shrapnel holes in it. I was picked up by a Navy PT boat, No. 152, and carried to PT tender Hilo in Buna Bay. During the engagement I saw at least 30 enemy fighters and clusters of bombs that had been dropped about 28 miles offshore."
The first half of 1944 saw McGuire's score slowly rise as targets became increasingly scarce over New Guinea. Personally, he only saw one rival: Richard Ira Bong, the first American to become an ace in the P-38, whose score was always just a few ahead of his. McGuire became commanding officer of the 431st Fighter Squadron during this time.
In August 1944 they were joined by the great Charles A. Lindbergh, who would fly with them for two months. Lindberg had resigned his Army commission when he was a leader in the America First movement, fighting to keep America out of the war. When the war came, he volunteered for service but President Roosevelt refused to let the Army accept him, due to his political activities. Undeterred, Lindbergh became a technical representative for United Aircraft and went to the Pacific to teach what he know of flying long distances over open ocean to the young pilots flying combat. By the time he arrived at the 475th, Lindbergh had flown "Corsairs" with the Marine units in the Marshall Islands. He taught cruise control and the proper way to trim an airplane for long distance flight, and by so doing extended the P-38's range by 45 percent with no extra fuel. It is not well known that on a mission to Peleliu in September 1944 with both Colonel McDonald and McGuire, Lindbergh shot down two Japanese planes. These were never officially credited - though they are part of the Group's total - due to his civilian status.
The unit moved up to Morotai - an island group between New Guniea and the Philippines - in begin of October 1944. In the witness relation, Colonel Sam W. van der Weide (USAF, Retired): "I was a member of the ground forces who made the D-Day landing on Morotai Island 15 September 1944 and was an active participant in the construction of the 'Wama' fighter strips and the two 'Pitoe' bomber strips. It was 1 October 1944 before the first planes landed on 'Wama' and those were B-24's returning from Borneo strikes. On the afternoon of 4 October 1944 a squadron of P-38's and four P-61's arrived." (many thanks Mr. van der Weide for kind help!)
The 475th transferred to Tacloban on Leyte Island a
week after the October 24, 1944 invasion of the Philippines, and
McGuire led the first flight to go up from Morotai. As he was on
final approach to landing, two "Oscars" swept over the
field in a strafing attack. McGuire quickly raised gear and
flaps, poured on the coal and shot down both directly over the
field, an amazing feat in the big heavy "Lightning". He
landed to discover he and the other 475th pilots were to hand
over their airplanes to the 49th Fighter Group (Bong's unit), to
make up for attrition. McGuire is reported to have been "fit
to be tied" as he watched P-38 #131, "Pudgy IV,"
towed across the muddy field to the 49th's dispersal.
McGuire made up for that as soon as he could climb into "Pudgy V." By 13 December 1944, his score was 31. That was the week Bong scored his 40th and was removed from operations by General Kenney to go home to the U.S.A. and be awarded the Medal of Honor. On Christmas Day, McGuire scored victories 37 and 38 - putting him only two behind Bong - and was grounded by General Kenney until Bong could get home and receive his hero's welcome.
Allowed back in the air on January 7, 1945, McGuire was
out for blood. Leading a flight of 4, he spotted a lone
"Zero" low over the jungle of Negros Island. He had
always preached never to get low, slow and heavy with the P-38,
but this time he didn't let go his drop tanks. He saw the
"Zero" as an easy kill, and with it and one more he
would tie Bong. He made the fatal decision to keep his tanks,
make the bounce, and continue the hunt.
Unfortunately for McGuire, the pilot he attacked was NAP 1/c Soichi Sugita, at that time the top-scoring surviving IJN ace with 80-odd kills scored over Rabaul, a master at the controls of a "Zero". In the ensuing fight, Sugita managed to shoot down one of McGuire's wingmen, and severely damage the other two. He then went after McGuire. Low over the jungle, heavy with fuel, McGuire stalled out trying to get away from Sugita and crashed to his death, a pointed example of the dark side of the lust for fame and glory.
The USAAF couldn't admit the truth about the real nature of their Number Two ace. The official account of McGuire's demise has his flight attacked by a lone Zero, which shot down his junior wingman and damaged the other two, who only escaped with their lives when McGuire came to their rescue and tangled with the "Zero", only to stall over the jungle and crash. For this selfless act, "above and beyond the call of duty," McGuire was awarded a posthumous Medal of Honor. McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey is named in his honor.
This time instead McGuires aircraft colour profiles - a snapshot of 1/48 scale P-38's replica, fantastic made by author of all above text, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. To bewonder his collection of models, superb air-to-air photos and other interesting aviation stuff, please visit his site: THE AERONUT HOMEPAGE . To see another, 1/72 model of McGuire's "Lightning", please look into Dariusz Tyminski's WW II AIRCRAFT SCALE MODEL GALLERY.
2001.03.02, © WW II Ace Stories.