053 - Never Say Die

The Medal of Honor Flight of Butch O' Hare

.
Tex Hill wasn’t the only American Hero of the skies in the early stages of the Pacific War. A U.S. Navy Fighter Pilot by the name of Edward “Butch” O’ Hare took on a squadron of 9 Japanese Bombers single-handedly.

.

On the morning of February 20th, an operator aboard the USS Lexington detected a plane on his radar screen. 6 F4F Wildcats of Fighter Squadron 3 (VF-3) were immediately sent into Combat Air Patrol. When two Wildcats went to investigate, they encountered and shot down a Japanese “Mavis” scout plane.

.

Meanwhile, the radar operators detected another blip. Two more of the Combat Air Patrol went to investigate and shot down another Mavis Scout Plane.

.

Soon, another set of blips appeared on the Lexington’s radar screen. Another fighter squadron, which included Lt. O’ Hare, was sent to investigate. However, O’ Hare soon noticed his plane had not been properly refueled and had to return to the Lexington with his wing-man, Lt. Marion “Duff” Dufilho. As the two neared the Lexington, they spotted a flight of 9 Betty Bombers approaching the USS Saratoga.

.

When Butch and Duff attempted to engage the bombers, the machine guns on Duff’s plane jammed. Still, Duff maneuvered through the air and distracted the bomber crews. O’Hare then attacked the Bettys single-handedly.

.

O’ Hare made a diving run at the rear-most bomber, quickly setting it afire with a quick burst of incendiary rounds. As it went down in flames, O’ Hare swooped to the left and took out the next closest Betty, again with a small burst of gunfire. He quickly leveled off and made two more runs at the remaining bombers. Soon, he downed the lead bombers, making it three kills in a matter of minutes.

.

Out of bullets, O’ Hare returned to the Saratoga, only to take on a hail of Anti-Aircraft fire by one of his own gunners.  However, when he approached the AA Operator, he simply stated, “Son, if you fire on me again while I have my wheels down for landing, I’m going to have a little talk with the gunnery commander.”

.