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Fighter pilot rattles nerves, windows in western suburbs
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Back in 1942 or 43, a young fighter jock looped the Golden Gate Bridge and then proceeded to fly "down Market Street" in his goverment-issue P-38 waving to the secretaries who were watching from the skyscraper windows. His commander chewed him out royally for the transgression and I'm pretty sure he was in the doghouse for a while. But... sometimes you just have to let the ponies run, you know? He went on to accumulate 40 victories in the Pacific Theater, becoming the USA Ace of Aces. His record still stands. Richard Ira Bong.
RIB was a badass
Here's the Wikipedia version:
On June 12, 1942, Bong flew very low over ("buzzed") a house in nearby San Anselmo, the home of a pilot who had just been married. He was cited and temporarily grounded for breaking flying rules, along with three other P-38 pilots who had looped around the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day. For looping the Golden Gate Bridge, for flying at low level down Market Street in San Francisco and for blowing the clothes off of an Oakland woman's clothesline, Bong was reprimanded by General George C. Kenney, commanding officer of the Fourth Air Force, who told him, "If you didn't want to fly down Market Street, I wouldn't have you in my Air Force, but you are not to do it any more and I mean what I say." Kenney later wrote: "We needed kids like this lad." In all subsequent accounts, Bong denied flying under the Golden Gate Bridge. Nevertheless, Bong was still grounded when the rest of his group was sent without him to England in July 1942.
Note the "along with three other pilots who had looped around the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day" part. That doesn't mean he did it, too, and he also denied doing it.
I also wonder how many skyscrapers there were in San Francisco in 1942. (Clue: Not many.)
Great stories are just that: great stories.
On June 12, 1942, Bong flew very low over ("buzzed") a house in nearby San Anselmo, the home of a pilot who had just been married. He was cited and temporarily grounded for breaking flying rules, along with three other P-38 pilots who had looped around the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day. For looping the Golden Gate Bridge, for flying at low level down Market Street in San Francisco and for blowing the clothes off of an Oakland woman's clothesline, Bong was reprimanded by General George C. Kenney, commanding officer of the Fourth Air Force, who told him, "If you didn't want to fly down Market Street, I wouldn't have you in my Air Force, but you are not to do it any more and I mean what I say." Kenney later wrote: "We needed kids like this lad." In all subsequent accounts, Bong denied flying under the Golden Gate Bridge. Nevertheless, Bong was still grounded when the rest of his group was sent without him to England in July 1942.
Note the "along with three other pilots who had looped around the Golden Gate Bridge on the same day" part. That doesn't mean he did it, too, and he also denied doing it.
I also wonder how many skyscrapers there were in San Francisco in 1942. (Clue: Not many.)
Great stories are just that: great stories.
First things first Wikipedia is not always credible. Wiki has serious reliability and legitimacy issues. The problem is: anyone and everyone can post ANYTHING about a given subject on that site. You do not need to be an "expert" on a given subject but you can add an opinion or modify the article to that effect. Wiki is aware of this and have taken steps to try and legitimize their website but thus far, most in the Academia world will tell you, do not cite Wiki at all (for obvious reasons).
A case of a Wiki article gone amok. Sarah Palin's commentary on Paul Revere's ride. That article on Wiki was changed eight or nine times before the editors at Wiki stepped in and shut it down. It seemed that Sarah's followers modified the article to reflect her inept and illogical opinion on that subject.
I will look at Wiki to see the footnotes. They oftentimes DO help while doing a bit of research. Just be careful when reviewing Wiki articles and ALWAYS, ALWAYS question the primary sources the article cites.
A case of a Wiki article gone amok. Sarah Palin's commentary on Paul Revere's ride. That article on Wiki was changed eight or nine times before the editors at Wiki stepped in and shut it down. It seemed that Sarah's followers modified the article to reflect her inept and illogical opinion on that subject.
I will look at Wiki to see the footnotes. They oftentimes DO help while doing a bit of research. Just be careful when reviewing Wiki articles and ALWAYS, ALWAYS question the primary sources the article cites.
What's a skyscraper in 1942? There were 16 buildings that were 300ft or better in SF at the time, the tallest being 452. So as far as clues go, you might say "not many" or you might say "enough", depending on whether you're a wet blanket or not...
Yep, they even had a Media back then!
So glad an expert was there to tell us about the plane's rockets at full throttle.