Okla-homey
2/20/2008, 08:01 AM
http://aycu01.webshots.com/image/42280/2001892485132933876_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001892485132933876)
With movie star good looks, Butch O'Hare was a gifted and aggressive young Navy fighter jock when the Japanese Empire sucker punched the US at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
February 20, 1942: Navy Lieutenant Butch O'Hare becomes first American WWII flying ace.
66 years ago, on this day in 1942, Lt. Edward (Butch) O'Hare takes off from the aircraft carrier Lexington in a raid against the Japanese position at Rabaul and minutes later becomes America's first flying ace.
O'Hare was born in St. Louis but was raised on Chicago's south side. His lawyer dad E.J. O'Hare made sure he got a good education and Butch made it to the Naval Academy graduating in 1937. O'Hare did two years in surface ships and applied for flight training. When America entered WWII on Dec. 8, 1941, O'Hare was a young fighter jock serving aboard USS Lexington in Fighting Squadron 3.
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/45769/2001881110316172753_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001881110316172753)
VF-3: Front row, second from right: Lt. Edward Butch O'Hare
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/44052/2001439063635465542_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001439063635465542)
VF-3's sqaudron patch sported a bomb-wielding Felix the Cat
In mid-February 1942, Lexington sailed into the Coral Sea. Rabaul, a town at the very tip of New Britain, one of the islands that comprised the Bismarck Archipelago, had been invaded in January by the Japanese and transformed into a stronghold--in fact, one huge airbase.
The Japanese were now in prime striking position for the Solomon Islands, next on the agenda for expanding their ever-growing Pacific empire. The Lexington's mission was to destabilize the Japanese position on Rabaul with a bombing raid.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/43294/2001885023590145488_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001885023590145488)
As Lexington left Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific (and still free from Japanese control), for Rabaul, ship radar picked up Japanese bombers headed straight for the carrier.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/45297/2001894585242590561_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001894585242590561)
Five meatballs graced Butch O'Hare's Wildcat after the fight that saved his ship and earned him the Medal of Honor
O'Hare and his team went into action, piloting F4F Wildcats. In a mere four minutes, O'Hare shot down five Japanese G4M1 Betty bombers--bringing a swift end to the Japanese attack and earning O'Hare the designation "ace" (given to any pilot who had five or more downed enemy planes to his credit).
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/43294/2001893997680605448_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001893997680605448)
Mitsubishi G4M Betty.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/43709/2001831074991613232_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001831074991613232)
Photo (taken later in the war) of a splashed Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty, the same type of Japanese bomber, O'Hare encountered.
Although Lexington's fighters flamed the Japanese bombers, the element of surprise was gone, and the attempt to raid Rabaul was aborted for the time being. O'Hare was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery--and excellent aim.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/45630/2001815002501243609_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001815002501243609)
April 22, 1942: O'Hare and wife Rita on the day he received his MOH from FDR.
O'Hare disappeared in late November 1943 while leading the Navy's first aerial night fighting mission. Night fighting was a new concept and they were still working out the kinks. It involved use of a radar-equipped Grumman TBF "Avenger" which would fly in formation with non-radar equipped fighters. These formations were called "Bat teams" for obvious reasons.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/45297/2001891346122223225_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001891346122223225)
The roomy TBF Avengers were capable of sporting air-to-air radar.
The tactic required the Avenger crew to vector the fighters against the Japanese blips on the Avenger radar. Butch O'Hare had been well aware of the deadly danger of friendly fire in this situation - he radioed to the Avenger Pilot of his section, "Hey, Phil, turn those running lights on. I want to be sure it's a yellow devil I'm drilling."
O'Hare was most likely killed by a lucky shot from a gunner aboard one of the Japanese bombers his flight was trying to kill, but we'll never know for sure. No trace was ever found of O'Hare or his aircraft.
After his death, O'Hare got a (then) small airport in Chicago named for him. Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, (and, a graduate of your correspondent's undergrad alma mater "The Citadel") suggested a name change of Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport as tribute to Butch O'Hare. On September 19, 1949, the Chicago, Illinois airport was renamed O'Hare International Airport.
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/46151/2001806514028844430_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001806514028844430)
The airport displays a Grumman F4F-3 museum aircraft replicating the one flown by Butch O'Hare during his Medal of Honor flight. The Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat on display was recovered virtually intact from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where it sank after a training accident in 1943 when it went off the training aircraft carrier USS Wolverine (IX-64). The Air Classics Museum restored the aircraft in 2001 to look like the exact one that O'Hare flew. The restored Wildcat is exhibited in Terminal Two at the west end of the ticketing lobby to honor O'Hare International Airport's namesake.
As an aside, in 1939, Butch's dad E.J. O'Hare was gunned down by Al Capone's gunmen, most likely because he had given the government information useful in its prosecution of Capone. As a lawyer on Chicago's South side, E.J. had defended more than a few indicted mob types. Capone's people apparently took offense when E.J. would finger other wise guys as responsible for crimes for which E.J.'s clients had been indicted. :eek: The gangland-style murder made big headlines, and the newspapers printed numerous speculations on the circumstances of the murder.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/43888/2004294939602847787_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004294939602847787)
With movie star good looks, Butch O'Hare was a gifted and aggressive young Navy fighter jock when the Japanese Empire sucker punched the US at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
February 20, 1942: Navy Lieutenant Butch O'Hare becomes first American WWII flying ace.
66 years ago, on this day in 1942, Lt. Edward (Butch) O'Hare takes off from the aircraft carrier Lexington in a raid against the Japanese position at Rabaul and minutes later becomes America's first flying ace.
O'Hare was born in St. Louis but was raised on Chicago's south side. His lawyer dad E.J. O'Hare made sure he got a good education and Butch made it to the Naval Academy graduating in 1937. O'Hare did two years in surface ships and applied for flight training. When America entered WWII on Dec. 8, 1941, O'Hare was a young fighter jock serving aboard USS Lexington in Fighting Squadron 3.
http://aycu10.webshots.com/image/45769/2001881110316172753_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001881110316172753)
VF-3: Front row, second from right: Lt. Edward Butch O'Hare
http://aycu13.webshots.com/image/44052/2001439063635465542_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001439063635465542)
VF-3's sqaudron patch sported a bomb-wielding Felix the Cat
In mid-February 1942, Lexington sailed into the Coral Sea. Rabaul, a town at the very tip of New Britain, one of the islands that comprised the Bismarck Archipelago, had been invaded in January by the Japanese and transformed into a stronghold--in fact, one huge airbase.
The Japanese were now in prime striking position for the Solomon Islands, next on the agenda for expanding their ever-growing Pacific empire. The Lexington's mission was to destabilize the Japanese position on Rabaul with a bombing raid.
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/43294/2001885023590145488_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001885023590145488)
As Lexington left Bougainville, the largest of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific (and still free from Japanese control), for Rabaul, ship radar picked up Japanese bombers headed straight for the carrier.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/45297/2001894585242590561_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001894585242590561)
Five meatballs graced Butch O'Hare's Wildcat after the fight that saved his ship and earned him the Medal of Honor
O'Hare and his team went into action, piloting F4F Wildcats. In a mere four minutes, O'Hare shot down five Japanese G4M1 Betty bombers--bringing a swift end to the Japanese attack and earning O'Hare the designation "ace" (given to any pilot who had five or more downed enemy planes to his credit).
http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/43294/2001893997680605448_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001893997680605448)
Mitsubishi G4M Betty.
http://aycu30.webshots.com/image/43709/2001831074991613232_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001831074991613232)
Photo (taken later in the war) of a splashed Mitsubishi G4M1 Betty, the same type of Japanese bomber, O'Hare encountered.
Although Lexington's fighters flamed the Japanese bombers, the element of surprise was gone, and the attempt to raid Rabaul was aborted for the time being. O'Hare was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery--and excellent aim.
http://aycu31.webshots.com/image/45630/2001815002501243609_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001815002501243609)
April 22, 1942: O'Hare and wife Rita on the day he received his MOH from FDR.
O'Hare disappeared in late November 1943 while leading the Navy's first aerial night fighting mission. Night fighting was a new concept and they were still working out the kinks. It involved use of a radar-equipped Grumman TBF "Avenger" which would fly in formation with non-radar equipped fighters. These formations were called "Bat teams" for obvious reasons.
http://aycu18.webshots.com/image/45297/2001891346122223225_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001891346122223225)
The roomy TBF Avengers were capable of sporting air-to-air radar.
The tactic required the Avenger crew to vector the fighters against the Japanese blips on the Avenger radar. Butch O'Hare had been well aware of the deadly danger of friendly fire in this situation - he radioed to the Avenger Pilot of his section, "Hey, Phil, turn those running lights on. I want to be sure it's a yellow devil I'm drilling."
O'Hare was most likely killed by a lucky shot from a gunner aboard one of the Japanese bombers his flight was trying to kill, but we'll never know for sure. No trace was ever found of O'Hare or his aircraft.
After his death, O'Hare got a (then) small airport in Chicago named for him. Colonel Robert R. McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune, (and, a graduate of your correspondent's undergrad alma mater "The Citadel") suggested a name change of Chicago's Orchard Depot Airport as tribute to Butch O'Hare. On September 19, 1949, the Chicago, Illinois airport was renamed O'Hare International Airport.
http://aycu32.webshots.com/image/46151/2001806514028844430_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2001806514028844430)
The airport displays a Grumman F4F-3 museum aircraft replicating the one flown by Butch O'Hare during his Medal of Honor flight. The Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat on display was recovered virtually intact from the bottom of Lake Michigan, where it sank after a training accident in 1943 when it went off the training aircraft carrier USS Wolverine (IX-64). The Air Classics Museum restored the aircraft in 2001 to look like the exact one that O'Hare flew. The restored Wildcat is exhibited in Terminal Two at the west end of the ticketing lobby to honor O'Hare International Airport's namesake.
As an aside, in 1939, Butch's dad E.J. O'Hare was gunned down by Al Capone's gunmen, most likely because he had given the government information useful in its prosecution of Capone. As a lawyer on Chicago's South side, E.J. had defended more than a few indicted mob types. Capone's people apparently took offense when E.J. would finger other wise guys as responsible for crimes for which E.J.'s clients had been indicted. :eek: The gangland-style murder made big headlines, and the newspapers printed numerous speculations on the circumstances of the murder.
http://aycu09.webshots.com/image/43888/2004294939602847787_rs.jpg (http://allyoucanupload.webshots.com/v/2004294939602847787)