Tommy McGuire: WW2 Ace Extraordinaire

38 Kills, lost in a battle between two Aces

Tommy McGuire was top U.S. Ace in WW2 second only to Richard Bong who was forced to stop fighting after 40 kills. On one engagement over New Guinea, McGuire downed several Japanese fighters only to have his P-38 badly shot up. Trying to bail out at 12,000 ft, he fought to free his feet only bailing out at 5000 ft as the burning plane fell. His parachute lines cut, he had to grasp behind him to find the chute opener which he did at 1000 ft, landing in the water. He suffered several injuries but was back to fighting over the Philippines where he met a Japanese Ace(Akira Sugimoto) who engaged him at 300 ft. Making a dangerous turn to save a fellow pilot from the Japanese Ace’s guns, he crashed into the ground and was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for saving his fellow airman.

He was a gentleman, a professional and cared more about his men than himself. Valor is in you. Set it free.