Dick Bong: The Life and Legacy of America’s Greatest Combat Ace during World War II

During World War II, greatly increased engine power allowed these aircraft to slice through the sky at speeds of 200 miles per hour (mph), 300 mph, or even in excess of 400 mph when flying flat-out. Service ceilings jumped to 30,000 feet, altitudes unthinkable to World War I’s aviators.

pilots had to adapt to countless technological improvements, and a select few truly mastered the art of dogfighting during history’s deadliest war. In the United States, the top ace came from almost literally out of nowhere. Richard “Dick” Ira Bong was born on September 24, 1920 in Superior, Wisconsin on the westernmost tip of Lake Superior, the son of Swedish immigrants. America was a very popular destination for Swedes seeking a new life during the early 20th century, and many Swedes headed for Wisconsin, with the greatest number arriving between 1880 and 1900. Dick’s father Carl, arrived in America at the age of eight, and he eventually married Dora Bryce, of Scottish-English descent. When Dick was born, they were living on a farm in the very small town of Poplar, in Douglas County, Wisconsin. Even in the 21st century, it is still diminutive, with a population of around 600.

Dick’s first memorable encounter with an aircraft was as a child playing in and around the farm, and in the summer of 1928, when Dick was seven, President Calvin Coolidge had a summer holiday residence at Cedar Island Lodge on the Brule River by Brule, another very small town a few miles east of Poplar, down the Route 2 highway that is now known as the “Major Richard I. Bong Memorial Highway.” Most days a small silver Navy biplane filled the role of a mail plane responsible for delivering and receiving presidential correspondence, and it would fly over the Bong farmstead. This touched off a lifelong fascination that would lead to Bong shooting down 40 enemy planes in the Pacific Theater during the war, making him the country’s top ace before he had even reached the age of 25.

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