George Kenney

Big deal.

The guy that he's taking orders from at this point is General Kenney, the guy running the air war for the entire Pacific Theater.

And he's like, dude, that was outrageously effective.

We need to start mass producing these B-25s that you've figured out how to make.

By December of 44 he was closing in on 40.

General George Kenney, who commanded Fifth Air Force and did not distribute praise lightly, said publicly that Dick Bong was the finest combat pilot he had encountered in any theater of the war, any air force, any country.

That is a statement worth sitting with for a moment.

December 12, 1944.

Down at Hamilton Field, a very young pilot was about to have the most important conversation of his life.

General George Kenney called him in.

Kenney was Fifth Air Force.

He had a reputation for plain speaking and an eye for talent that had made him one of MacArthur's most trusted commanders.

The highest total of any American fighter pilot in history, a record that still stands.

General George Kenney, who commanded the 5th Air Force in the Pacific and who was not given to easy praise, said flat out that Bong was the finest combat pilot he had ever seen.

In December of 1944, in a ceremony in the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur stood in front of the assembled troops and pinned the Medal of Honor on Richard Bong's chest.

MacArthur, who understood theater, kept the speech short.

The P-38 Lightning went on to compile the highest confirmed kill total of any American fighter in the Pacific.

Major Richard Bong of Wisconsin, flying Lightnings under General Kenney's Fifth Air Force in the Southwest Pacific, finished the war with 40 confirmed victories, the highest total of any American pilot in the conflict.

Dick Bong was 24 years old when the war ended.

Yamamoto had understood, better than most of his colleagues, what the war against the United States would eventually mean.

They are the one best hope of victory.

They are following the trail of glory blazed by names like General Millard F. Harmon, General George C. Kenney, and General Claire Chenault.

Our aviation cadets will fly that course straight and true to the ultimate victory high in the sky above Rome, above Berlin, and over Tokyo.

The End © BF-WATCH TV 2021

Great.

So my topic actually came around, we read MacArthur's Airmen by Griffiths, and I really liked the story of General, uh, George C. Kenney, you know, and how he really helped the Pacific Air Forces during World War II.

And so that really led me down the path of, hey, I love reading all these stories about, you know, these pivotal characters, and so who is somebody in space that really helped bring space about today, and who have we, like, is lesser known in the space community? And so that made me think of the Gulf War.

I saw that as a turning point for space, where we leveraged, you know, our space capabilities and we were able to use them at the tactical level.