Again: Twin Aces

The ace business was tied up again.

Last month Major Richard Ira Bong, a P-38 Lightning pilot, shot down his 26th and 27th planes over New Guinea, breaking a tie which had long existed between two marine pilots, Major Joe Foss (Grumman Wildcat) and missing Major Gregory Boyington (Vought Corsair). Thus Dick Bong became the U.S. Ace of Aces.

This week 24-year-old Captain Robert S. Johnson of Lawton, Okla., who used to be a woodworker in his father's cabinet shop, shot down his 26th and 27th planes over Hitler's Europe.

Since Johnson flies a P47 Thunderbolt, Army airmen can continue their argument about the relative merits of P-38s and P-475. Johnson flies against the Germans and Bong against the Japs; most airmen lately have been willing to concede that the Germans provide tougher opposition.

Six British aces still top any U.S. pilots. Last week R.A.F. Wing Commander J. R. D. Braham shot down his 28th German plane near Copenhagen and Wing Commander J. E. Johnson got his 28th over France. Group Captain A.G. Malan is credited with 32, as was the late Brendan ("Paddy") Finucane. Canadian Flight Lieut. George ("Screwball") Beurling shot down 31 before he was grounded, and Wing Commander Standford Tuck had 29 when he was forced to bail out over Germany. U.S. aces had a chance to surpass any of these records, but Russian Major Alexander Pokryshkin's record of 59 was apparently safe for a long time.

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