In 1943 the South Pacific was a deadly arena where American pilots battled experienced Japanese fighters across vast ...
On March 11, 1943, Major Richard Bong, flying an olive drab P-38 Lightning over North New Guinea, found himself alone against nine highly skilled Japanese KI-43 “Oscar” fighters escorting a formation ...
The first P-38s became operational with the 1st Fighter Group in April 1941, and the initial combat deployments were made in Alaska, the Southwest Pacific and North Africa during the latter part of ...