Ok, another in the series of USAF (and predecessor) Medal of Honor recipient. This recipient is a member of a list of very few but lucky recipients. He served in WWII where he earned the medal. He passed away in 1990 at 81. So, earned the medal and survived the war. There aren't a lot of those folks.
In any case, on with the story which takes place in the Pacific AOR. I'll confess that I didn't realize that P-51s were in use there.
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| Source |
I thought the primary fighter for the long range needed in the Pacific was the P-38. Well, evidently I was mistaken and learned something new. The P-51 went into action in the Pacifi in January 1945. So...Thanks Sarge for offering me the opportunity to learn some History.
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7 of those 8 Japanese flags occurred on ONE sortie! |
In any case, the subject for this week is Major William A Shomo.
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Major Shomo |
Take a look at that picture. Does he look like a badass or what? Well, let me tell you his story and believe me, when you've read it, you'll add a new definition to the word "Badass".
Prior to December 1944, after Major Shomo had been stationed in Papua, New Guinea and flying very short range P-36's and P-40s (a big problem in the little lake called the Pacific Ocean). At that point, he was transferred to Mindoro, in the Phillipines. He was given command of an F-6D squadron at that point. While armed with the standard P-51 6x50 cal machine guns, the F-6D's primary mission was photo reconnaissance.
F-6D |
That makes this story a little bit more interesting.
On January 9, 1945, Major Shomo was leading a reconnaissance mission over northern Luzon. On spotting a Japanese "Val" dive bomber approaching it's airfield to land. Major Shomo immediately dived on it and shot it down for his first victory.
Two days later, on another reconnaissance mission to photograph Japanese airfields on Luzon, they saw 12 Japanese fighters escorting a bomber. Major Shomo immediately pulled up in an Immelman turn (basically an vertical 180 degree turn) and engaged the formation. In the engagement, he attacked two of the escorting fighters and then the bomber. All of which he shot down. At that point he engaged some of the other escorts, shooting down four of them. His wingman shot down 3 of the remainng 6 aircraft.
I expect morale in the Japanese squadron took a hit.
Folks, flying and fighting like that takes a lot of guts and even more skill. AND...That's not the highest score for a single engagement. Just so my Navy friends don't protest. The highest single engagement victory count is. Commander David McCamble shot down 9 Japanese fighters and two probables in a single engagement.
President Reagan (and I have quoted him recently) said "Where do we get such men?"
Good Question.
Citation for the award of Medal of Honor
For conspicuous
gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the
call of duty. Maj. Shomo was lead pilot of a flight of two fighter
planes charged with an armed photographic and strafing mission against
the Aparri and Laoag airdromes. While en route to the objective, he
observed an enemy twin engine bomber, protected by 12 fighters, flying
about 2,500 feet above him and in the opposite direction. Although the
odds were 13 to 2, Maj. Shomo immediately ordered an attack. Accompanied
by his wingman he closed on the enemy formation in a climbing turn and
scored hits on the leading plane of the third element, which exploded in
midair. Maj. Shomo then attacked the second element from the left side
of the formation and shot another fighter down in flames. When the enemy
formed for counterattack, Maj. Shomo moved to the other side of the
formation and hit a third fighter which exploded and fell. Diving below
the bomber, he put a burst into its underside and it crashed and
burned. Pulling up from this pass he encountered a fifth plane firing
head on and destroyed it. He next dived upon the first element and shot
down the lead plane; then diving to 300 feet in pursuit of another
fighter he caught it with his initial burst and it crashed in flames.
During this action his wingman had shot down three planes, while the
three remaining enemy fighters had fled into a cloud bank and escaped.
Maj. Shomo's extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity in attacking such a
far superior force and destroying seven enemy aircraft in one action is
unparalleled in the southwest Pacific area.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_A._Shomo
-https://worldwarwings.com/pilot-destroys-40-enemy-planes-wwii/.
Good info source here, but the number of kills in the URL is wrong he didn't destroy 40 aircraft. I don't know why that is in the URL, that was Dick Bongs kill number
-https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/william-a-shomo
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_P-51_Mustang_variants#P-51D_and_P-51K
https://alchetron.com/cdn/william-a-shomo-0721dfb0-d2ec-4bf4-a8a3-a89a433630a-resize-750.jpg
Two vs thirteen.......aha.....talk about guts. Once Iwo Jima was captured P-51s escorted B-29s to Japan, a loooong flight for a single engined fighter juvat. Thanks for these posts sir.
ReplyDeleteWasn't the P-51N designed for the long distances of the Pacific?
ReplyDeleteI believe that is correct.
Deletejuvat
P47n.
DeletePaul J
P51h was the P51 model
DeleteThank you
Deletejuvat
Yes, the P-47N was optimized for long distance and would have been used in Europe but with the advancing airfields, well, it wasn't needed there.
DeleteP-51s in the Pacific? SI!!!!! A lot of them flew off of Iwo Jima, which was one of the reasons for taking that cursed island (the other being as a 'rescue' airfield for bombers flying to and from Japan.)
P-38s were very popular in the Med and Italian theaters and in the vast Pacific Theater, both the Western Pacific and the Central Pacific, because two is one, one is none in regards to engines. Interesting note, that reformed national socialist Charles Lindberg was brought into the Pacific in order to aid P-38s do better at long distance flying. (Not kidding about the NS thingy, he got better but...)
We did see the P-47N deploy to Iwo but late enough that they didn't do much escorting. By then the P-51's were doing ground attack (!) on Japan proper. Talk about clanking when they walked.
DeleteI'd dispute Lindbergh as NS. Isolationist,America First, sure. Convinced of the Luftwaffe's invincibility? Yup. But Nazi's a bit of a stretch.
Rob Gale NMWWIIA
I don't care what the algorithm says, or likes, I enjoy reading the MOH series a great deal. So I'm glad juvat is continuing them. I know I have seen some previously, but it certainly doesn't hurt to read them again.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many things I enjoy with this blog is the wide variety of topics I have learned about. Do I read it every day...um...no...but I do check-in several times a week, and then go back and catch up on what I missed. Cause some days I have Dad stuff to help with, some days I have son/grandson stuff to help with, some days I have medical appointments to deal with, and I also was silly enough to get a new puppy....so, house training is the big thing currently...no, I haven't completely lost my mind...not completely....so, not every day...but most days I do.
So keep on keeping on!!
My $0.02. Worth what ya paid for it. And thank you very much for all the hard work that the authors do share here!!
Suz
Suz, thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated.
Deletejuvat
(Sees a formation of 12 planes. Has two planes. Decides to attack anyway.)
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, Juvat. Where do such men come from?
I thank the Lord regularly that I never had to make that decision. While I was on flying status, I also added, “But if I do, help me not to
Deletescrew it up!”
juvat
Another guy who clanked when he walked.
ReplyDeleteYep, and pretty darn good at what he did. Shooting down 8 aircraft while serving as a reconnaissance pilot is pretty gutsy. As an Air to Air guy, I'm impressed.
Deletejuvat
I like seeing the photos of the live recipients!
ReplyDeleteRob,
DeleteAs do I. WWII gave enough opportunities for that not to be true, Medal of Honor or not!
juvat
I find the back story on the heroes to be especially interesting. Shomo was a mortician/undertaker before he enlisted in 1941.
ReplyDeleteAfter the war, per Wiki, he went to lots of USAF bases now long forgotten, but every one far away from Washington DC:
"He would stay with the Air Force after the war and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 20 February 1951. He then was assigned to Colorado and served in operations and training assignments for a year. In March 1952, he became Executive, Commander and Administrative Officer for the 175th Fighter Interceptor Squadron (FIS) at Rapid City Air Force Base (AFB), South Dakota. He directed combat operations at Headquarters 31st Air Division in St. Paul, Minnesota for about a year, and then became Commander of the 14th FIS at Sioux City, Iowa. He also commanded a similar squadron, the 59th FIS, at Goose Bay, Labrador in January 1955, and that June, led the squadron to victory in the Northeast Air Command Rocket Meet.
Lieutenant Colonel Shomo next became Commander of Headquarters, 473rd Air Defense Group and in July 1957 took over the 54th Fighter Group at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport. In January 1958, he became Executive Officer for HQ 79th Fighter Group at Youngstown Municipal Airport in Ohio. His last assignment was at Thule AFB, Greenland, with the 4683rd Air Defense Wing, before retiring in 1968."
John Blackshoe
JB, Thanks for the follow on story. Interestingly there was something else that happened in June 1955, involving my mother and I. Also, my Dad was assigned to Thule in 1968. So, timelines are interesting. Glad he had a good career.
Deletejuvat
One little nit-pick: David McCampbell shot down nine dive bombers (not fighters) in a single engagement. IIRC, his wingman got five or six. The dive bombers held formation, so the two Hellcat pilots had to face multiple guns as they made their attacks. Bold and determined behavior in both accounts.
ReplyDeleteLoFan John , Were McCambell's kills in the Central Pacific and that's the reason for the statement in Major Shomo's Citation? Or maybe it should have said Army Air Corps somewhere in that sentence. However, it did say "in the Southwest Pacific".
DeleteWe'll probably never know.
juvat.
Didn't mean to dispute over what part of the Pacific Theater. I wanted to establish that it was McCampbell (sp!) and trusted my memory about the fight itself. I don't have the references with me, but I remember reading that he had remarked on the fact that the enemy planes held formation in spite of his attacks. I assumed that meant they were bombers. I could be wrong, but I couldn't check it. By the way, I also recall that McCampbell wrote one of the coolest after-action reports ever. IIRC, he encountered a KI-27 Nate, an older fixed-gear fighter, and tried to follow it into a loop, only to realize that the Nate was about to come out of the loop onto his tail. He said later that if the Nate was only a training plane, he predicted that that trainee would pass his final exam!
DeleteAnother interesting MOH is James Howard USAAF 8 th Air Force
ReplyDeleteI’m sure I’ll get to him soon.
Deletejuvat
I thought I recognized the name. Read about his American Volunteer Group activities a while ago. Didn’t know about the Europe actions. I’ll write an article about him shortly. Thanks.
Deletejuvat