Eddie Rickenbacker and Dick Bong: The Lives of America's Top Fighter Aces during the World Wars

Like lethal insects undergoing a series of metamorphoses into ever more mature and dangerous forms, military aircraft moved rapidly from stage to stage of their development as the 20th century progressed. The catalyst of war provided the swiftest impetus to this evolution. The new mechanized armies existing from the later period of World War I onward seized on the fresh technology and sought to squeeze every possible drop of advantage from it that the limits of science and the era's materials would allow.

Some who fought in World War I ended up being young enough to fight in World War II, and Eddie Rickenbacker was one of them. Though he served only in a civilian capacity during World War II, he remains today a romantic hero of a bygone era, a man who flew airplanes that were little more than hang gliders with engines and guns but survived to help design jets. His service won him the Medal of Honor, along with more awards for valor than any other person fighting in World War I. But participating in the wars was not nearly enough time in the air for the ambitious Rickenbacker. When he was not setting new records in the air, he was setting new speed records on the ground, most notably as a first-generation race car driver who not only drove cars but designed them. He also served for decades as the president of one of the world's first major commercial passenger aviation companies, Eastern Air Lines, seeing it through the ups and downs of the financial and technological boom and bust in America between the wars.

By the time World War II arrived, the fighter airplane was a much different beast than the purpose-built aircraft-hunting machines of 1917 and 1918. Though propellers still provided motive force, greatly increased engine power allowed these aircraft to slice through the sky at speeds of 200 miles per hour (mph), 300 mph, or even in excess of 400 mph when flying flat-out. Service ceilings jumped to 25,000 feet, 30,000 feet, or higher, altitudes unthinkable to World War I's aviators. Engineering and research and development began working scientifically to shave time off the climb rate and address a host of other problems and possibilities.

The huge spaces of the Pacific also called for different aircraft design than the relatively confined areas of Europe. The distinctive twin-boom P-38 Lightning came into its own in the war between America and Japan, with its impressive range and heavy firepower. In the warm tropical climates where it operated, its engines functioned much more reliably than in the cool damp of the skies over France and Germany.

All of this meant that pilots had to adapt to the technological improvements, and a select few truly mastered the art of dogfighting during history's deadliest war. In the United States, the top ace came from almost literally out of nowhere. Richard "Dick" Ira Bong was born on September 24, 1920 in Superior, Wisconsin on the westernmost tip of Lake Superior, the son of Swedish immigrants. America was a very popular destination for Swedes seeking a new life during the early 20th century, and many Swedes headed for Wisconsin, with the greatest number arriving between 1880 and 1900.[1] Dick's father Carl, arrived in America at the age of eight, and he eventually married Dora Bryce, of Scottish-English descent. When Dick was born, they were living on a farm in the very small town of Poplar, in Douglas County, Wisconsin. Even in the 21st century, it is still diminutive, with a population of around 600, but during history's deadliest war, Bong would shoot down 40 enemy planes in the Pacific Theater during the war, making him the country's top ace before he had even reached the age of 25.