McGuire's Reputation As An Ace Combat Pilot Was Earned Early

Editor's note: This is an excerpt from former Sebring resident Charles A. Martin's book "The Last Great Ace." The book is about Highlands County's most decorated soldier. Major Thomas B. McGuire, Jr. earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroics as a pilot fighting in the South Pacific. Here is the first of three parts from chapter 28 of the book. This chapter tells of some of his heoric feats that earned him numerous honors, and nearly killed him. If you're interested in purchasing the book and reading the entire history, visit: http://www.lastgreatace.com/

Part 1

By October, 1943, Major Thomas McGuire had earned a reputation as an outstanding combat pilot. In two short months of combat he was credited with downing 10 Japanese planes, but everyone said he had shot down more than that. At any rate he was the 475th Fighter Group's leading ace, and was spoken of in awe: "What a shot - he just points 'Pudgy' and shoots - there's no wasted ammo. I've seen him hit two or three Japs on a single run."

McGuire was accumulating flying time faster than anyone in his squadron. He had almost caught up with Major Nichols, captains Hood and Jett, and a few others who had been around much longer than he. The pilots in the squadron were split. Some thought he was too eager, but others appreciated what he was doing and wished they could do the same.

While most pilots slept late on non-combat days, McGuire was up flying tests. One of the pilots said, "Why doesn't [he] wait till 9 o'clock to fly? Every time we have a day off he's out flying at 7:30. Hell, I always think I've overslept and missed a mission."

Another replied, "You'd better be glad Mac's doing the testing. The way he wrings out a plane you know it's got to be all right." A third said, "Sergeant Clem Lewicki, one of the armorers over at Three-Mile Strip, says Mac sticks with each plane until they have it bore-sighted and then does the test-firing himself. He keeps his nose right in the middle of it. Lewicki says he's the only pilot around that knows anything about bore-sighting P-38s."

The 431st Squadron started October in the doldrums. They were kept out of action by bad weather and the movement of the squadron from Port Moresby to Dubodura. Their P-38s had provided long-range escort for the complete destruction of the Japanese forces at Wewak, far to the west. Now it was time to turn their attention to the powerful Japanese naval and air installation at Rabaul. The Japanese were dominating the Solomon Islands and the sea around them with their forces at Rabaul.

The long-range P-38s were vital to any mission against that stronghold, reportedly one of the most heavily fortified ports in the world. Rabaul was 450 miles north of New Guinea. Missions across the Solomon Sea to Rabaul on the northern shore of New Britain could only be flown from Dobodura, so the 475th Group was ordered to transfer across the mountains from Port Moresby to Dobo.
On Oct. 2 the officers got a quantity of liquor and had a party, which lasted late into the night. Shortly after they bedded down for the night the camp was awakened at 2 a.m. and told to pack. Everything was to be at the airstrip by 7 a.m. As usual, there was a delay and loading didn't start until 10 a.m.

On Oct. 5, the squadron had its first payday in two months, followed by three days of rain, and the pilots wore out the seats in the alert-shack. Large quantities of money flowed in a three-day, non-stop poker game. Everyone was itching to get back in action. McGuire flew to and from Port Moresby each day to coordinate movement of the maintenance people and supplies.

By the 11th of the month the weather had cleared. McGuire had gotten "Pudgy II" back from the service squadron where they had replaced the left engine and repaired the damage that had forced him to leave it at Tsili-Tsili two weeks before.

On Oct. 12, the purpose for the move across New Guinea became a reality as the 431st and 100 other P-38s flew cover for 230 bombers making their first strike on Rabaul. The Japanese didn't expect the raid, but the sky was black with ack-ack. With little aerial resistance from the enemy, American bombers caught Japanese airfields glutted with planes and destroyed over 100 of them. In the harbor they laid waste to 120 vessels including three destroyers and three large cargo ships. It was one of the most important victories since the Battle of the Coral Sea.

The Japanese sensed another invasion was about to follow the Rabaul raid as it had the Wewak raids. They sent night bombers over Dobodura several nights in a row to damage the field and interrupt the sleep of the pilots and crews. Then, on Oct. 15, they made an attempt to catch American forces marshalling in nearby Oro Bay, New Guinea. Controllers sounded a scramble at 8:30 a.m. An all-out effort was needed to combat 60 enemy planes coming in from Rabaul. While standby pilots taxied to the runway and took off in pairs, other pilots grabbed jeeps, and jumped on trucks in the tent area and raced to the revetments, and their own planes.

Fifty P-38s from the 475th Group entered the battle at some stage of the assault. The cooks, clerks and ground crews who had spent day and night the last few months to keep the P-38s flying were now, for the first time, witnesses to the Group's onslaught. They watched and cheered as the P-38s destroyed a record 21 enemy bombers and 15 enemy fighters. The ones that escaped were badly damaged and estimates were made that six or less of the original force made it back to their home base.

The 431st Squadron accounted for 10 of the enemy planes with Lieutenant Lent getting three, and McGuire and six other pilots getting one each. The squadron lost a plane but the pilot was later found and returned to the squadron.

On Oct. 17, McGuire's "Pudgy II" was out of service, when a large flight of Japanese bombers and fighters was spotted heading for the American shipping in Oro Bay, the same target they had tried unsuccessfully to hit two days before. The call came down, "SCRAMBLE - SCRAMBLE, get everything in the air that will fly."