Dick Bong: Ace Of Aces

Major Richard "Dick" Ira Bong died at the tender age of 24 on the 6th August 1945 in a flight accident during testing of the P-80 Shooting Star Fighter. His fame was such that news of his death vied with the atomic bomb attack on Hiroshima in the US press, his legendary exploits at the helm of his P-38 Lightning had made him a household name. Bong had only recently received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his exploits of downing 40 enemy Japanese planes in the Southwestern Pacific. His tall