The Ace Race 1944-45 with John Bruning - Episode 413

I was enthralled by the film "The Spirit of St. Louis", and became a fan of Lindbergh at a very early age. The fact that a most admirable American military man portrayed him in the film probably inspired me to become a pilot. I knew Lindy had some screwy ideas, but I had no idea to what degree. He did two great things in his life; flying to Paris in 1927, and his involvement with the invention of the Heart-Lung machine that allowed surgeons to save many lives. I knew he was a lousy husband, but I had no idea that he was such a hateful human being. Thanks for (once again) setting the record straight.

Taylor Swift is now a fighter pilot. That ought to do it.

54 years old here, avid WW2 history nut....love this channel. I watch every week

This is an excellent book. John is an amazing writer and the way he told the story.

My wife and I held our wedding reception at McGuire AFB on February 25, 1984. They have a replica of Pudgy V on display at one of the base traffic circles. Sadly, there is no record of the fate of the original Pudgy V and it's believed to have been scraped.

Major McGuire's remains were recovered and hidden from the Japanese by Filipinos who helped the Army recover them in 1947. Small pieces of the destroyed P38 along with .50 calibre and 20 mm ammunition were eventually recovered from the crash site and are on display at Clark AFB. A monument marks the location.

Don't worry about the Gen z folks fellas, they have no idea what guys like my father and millions of others laid down so they could speak English.

You guys should do some deep research on this anti semitic jargon of the time. If you notice, no one Ever talks about WHY Hitler and most of Germany wanted those people wiped off the face of the planet. Those people were Not ! Jewish, they were Khazars, Eastern European " Jews " the phony gews. Rothschilds are in that genetic group. And Rothschild actually threatened OUR banking stability if we didn't enter WW1. And since the phony Fed Res. Just got rammed down our throats, Rothschild had the power to do so. So, its a long study but when you know the truth about the phony Jews, it ends up making you mad as hell from an American standpoint. We are still being screwed by those phony Jew families to this day. You have to study the history of the Khazars / Eastern European Jews. There is a good reason why they have been violently booted out of every country they have set foot in. The anti semitic thing was concocted to protect them and their banking monopoly from further attacks.

Tommy McGuire had all the earmarks of having untreated ADHD. Having that condition myself, I can most definitely see that in Tommy.

I'm one of those gray haired listeners, I look forward to new episodes to listen to on my commute in to work every Tuesday. While I appreciate most everything you discuss, I have to admit that the aircraft/pilot episodes are my favorite. I'll definitely pick up the "Ace Race" book. If you ever want to do another fighter pilot episode, there are lots of other stories that weren't quite as flamboyant as Bong and Magurie and Keaerby. One of my favorites is George Welch, whose first kills came at Pearl Harbor; if not sidelined by malaria he may well have been in the hunt for "Ace of Aces", and then there is my hometown hero - Bill Shomo - who spent most of the war flying photo recon until one fateful day when he shot down 7 planes in a single mission (and earned a MH). I'm sure many more stories like these.
Thanks for all your hard work - much appreciated!

As a PADI MSDT, it was my honor to teach Scouts working on their Eagle Scout once SCUBA was available as an option for Scouts. Heartfelt congratulations to your son and all the young men and women who make the effort to make themselves exceptional with benefits to us all.

Thank you, Mr. Bruning. Thanks again to Seth and Bill. You tell me truth about my heroes, even when that truth includes showing their flaws. I may appreciate that the MOST. I'm sad that "The Race" ended up consuming most of these great men.
RIP Major George Preddy,

Another Tuesday class in the books. Excellent as always. TY

The Lindbergh flight was from New York to Paris to win the Orteig prize…. but also the first solo flight across the Atlantic

Thank you. It has been most educational and stirring.

Thanks!

5% er here. For years my husband would fall asleep with WWII podcasts on our bedroom TV. Many discussions initiated by me about the conduciveness of listening to explosions and airplane screeching to sleeping. One night I hear this beautiful introductory music and the lull of a southern cat and a soft speaking Commodore. I was hooked. Been a fan since Bill's kitchen (?) Studio with the white shutters.
You both have made history approachable and palatable which has informed my undergraduate teaching and my world view. Cannot say enough about your contributions to our thinking. Thank you! 5% listener. 100% woman.

The comment about K rations as "the good stuff" reminds me of stealing C rats from the Marines storage on the ship, because it was better than the chow line! 😅

I'm 42 and I've been following this channel basically since the beginning. I've been a military history nerd since at least age 10, when the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor got widespread coverage and I ate it up. I'm pretty sure I read read At Dawn We Slept, Miracle At Midway, Guadacanal: The Carrier Battles, Guadacanal: Decision At Sea, and Thomas Cutler's Leyte Gulf book before I had graduated high school; some I read in middle school. (I also spend 10th grade reading Shelby Foote's Civil War trilogy.)

In another lifetime I might have ended up as Seth's co-worker in the early '00s, but I didn't know the National WWII Museum existed or that people made careers as historians unless they were university professors with PhDs.

Almost 53 year old woman here, I look forward to these videos every week, even though I'm a few days late in getting to watch this week. I grew up watching WW2 movies and shows with my dad (The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora, Midway, 12 O'Clock High, Black Sheep Squadron, Combat!, and--although it's by no means the same kind of show--McHale's Navy 😁 were watched repeatedly in my childhood). Those shows and movies and a love for history in general motivated me to seek out the true stories of those momentous days, so WW2 has always been one of my favorite historical periods. Nowadays, this podcast and the World War II in Real Time channel have become "appointment television" (or what passes for that in the streaming era). Love the deep dives you do--please never change to the TikTok format!

Sounds like an accurate movie about the Ace Race would make the "The Iron Claw" upbeat by comparison.

My respect. Seth captain Bill. And John Bruning. Especially for your research great episode. Destroying myths and speaking history truth.sirs

Aaah, the short range myth..... look up Greg's airplanes and automobiles on the subject and get your self educated.

i guess endurance is more importance than performance in the Pacific that many pilots prefer to leave drop tank instead of jettison it

Also, it seems similar pattern that many aces on this met their demise; they chased title of aces of aces, and as a result broke their own rules of engagement. Mitch Mancock, and 2 on this basically died that way

Congrats to Seth's son! Also, this episode is quite exceptional. Anytime Lindbergh can be disavowed from his lies is a good thing!

I had some limited experience as a pilot. I always wondered about that fuel leaning thing. I was too busy with life to pursue it. No one else knew about it? Thanks for explaining it. The other thing is that Linbergh has been described as a victim of Roosevelt's anger, not as a nazi.

Dealing with the Range Issue for P-47s was critical for getting those birds into action. The ranges to get at the Japanese were Enormous. It truly says something about the energy in Kenny's Fifth Air Force that extra drop tanks were in play in Fall of 1943. This was in the Pacific. In Europe it wasn't until 1944. BTW Bill's speech near the end about the Commander's PoV and ambitious men in action is pure unobtanium and worth listening to again.

Congratulations to your son for achieving a wonderful, significant award Eagle Scout!!😊
I was very proud when my son, Eric, achieved his Eagle Scout.

Seth, HUGE shout out to your son! I'm an Eagle Scout, my oldest son is an Eagle Scout and in the USN right now and my younger son is Life ATM and working towards wrapping up his. I am the COR for their troop and we listen to your episodes as we drive to various troop events.

Have read all 3 of John's main books, including 53 Days on Starvation Island...........EXCELLENT!!

According to General George C Kenney - commander of the 5th AF air war in his Pacific autobiography - Richard Bong was the best pilot he knew of, Bong had of course done a loop under and over the Golden Gate bridge, and flown at 2nd floor level up Market Street in San Francisco despite the hazardous cross winds before then 4th AF commander Kenney had chewed the young Lt Bong .out and made him do chores for a lady whose clothes Bong had blown off her clothesline, in lieu of grounding him.
Bong's later fame as a top scoring ce earned him enmity from other pilots - especially one B-25 "strafer" pilot who faced deadly odds every mission but would never gain the fame of the top ace fighter pilots - but Bong's cool precision under fire saved many of his fellow pilots, especially in the brutal fighting over the vast Phillipines island invasion (U.S. retaking) where every Jap plane that got through meant a potential attack on packed U.S. airstrips, or kamikaze attacks on loaded U.S. ships just offshore
. Bomg was never caught "low and slow" as both Kirby and McGuire were (Thomas Lynch foolishly made a 2nd pass at two Jap destroyer escorts he and Bong had just shot up, a fatal error) but ironically Bong died in a routine takeoff of his early P-80 jet fighter back in the U.S., according to at least one source because he failed to switch to the right fuel line on takeoff.
Either way, ROUTINE, training and non-combat operations were deadly during and after the war, and early jet fighter test pilots died by the score, early jets chewing up even the best of pilots.

First one i watched you mentioned pilot friend Chris Fahey, grew up in my neighborhood, glad to hear the respect guys. He knows aircraft and history. Enjoy your episodes

Some of those female viewers are prob old guys on their wife's account

Congratulations to your son, Seth! Eagle Scout is a remarkable accomplishment. He deserves accolades for it.

Great episode and John Bruning is a fantastic guest. Thanks for cutting Lindbergh down to size. His hateful antisemitism and admiration of the Nazis is unforgivable.

Wow. What a superb episode. Each episode is great but this one really stands. Your guest was great. I think what spoke to me on this episode was it involved a few key individuals. American heroes. Unfortunately the heroes almost all die. That made it sobering. This war killing off a lot of talented young men. Again thank you.

Congrats Seth on your son’s accomplishment.

1. Lindbergh’s combat missions were contrary to the law of war, but were flown with the knowledge and tacit consent of McArthur and Kenney. After the near shoot-down, he continued to fly missions with the Marines
2. He had official orders and permission to go to the so Pacific. He wasn’t a “tourist”
3. If guidance for boosting manifold pressure and lowering revs was in the Alison manual, why wasn’t it done before Lindbergh urged the change?
4. Lindbergh criticized the disfiguring of Japanese war dead and total disrespect for the Japanese as human beings. Was that so wrong?

Lindbergh’s diary: “A Japanese soldier who cuts off an American soldier’s head is an Oriental barbarian, “lower than a rat.” An American soldier who slits a Japanese throat “did it only because he knew the Japs had done it to his buddies.” I do not question that Oriental atrocities are often worse than ours. But, after all, we are constantly telling ourselves, and everyone else who will listen to us, that we are the upholders of all that is “good” and “right” and civilized. …”

This podcast has got to be the absolute best WW 2 presentation on the internet!
There are many other good You Tube presentations, however, they all fall short of this format.
Seth and Bill work perfectly together, as well as having John as a regular guest.
I have shared this You Tube channel with over 200 people and have received many thanks for doing so.
I've described to people that these presentations are so good, that you could close your eye and actually see what these fine men are talking about!
I wish that somehow these podcasts could become mandatory listening as part of ALL High School History Classes!
The stories are not only fascinating because of the details, but also because they are fun to listen to!
It would also be great if this could become a once a week television show!
Thank You Seth, Bill and John for being the best on the internet!

Lindbergh was- in addition to being a blowhard, a monumental self aggrandizer, an isolationist and Nazi apologist- also a raging antisemite.

He deserves no plaudits, and it’s odd that his reputation has somehow rehabilitated itself, because these traits were perfectly well known during the latter part of his life.

Good on Bill for his instinct to urinate on the man’s grave. I’d do exactly the same.

Thanks!

This was an incredible episode. I mean every episode is wonderful, but this was really a shining example of a prime episode. Seth’s storytelling abilities, the special guest’s detailed knowledge, and Bill’s insight into the military culture, combines to make a truly great 2 hours of deep immersion into WWII.

Frank Luke was pretty well known for going off on his own during WW1

Interesting about Lindbergh . There’s something nasty and full of bullshit about German Americans. Trump is your modern bullshit merchant equivalent conman

How the heck did McGuire make such a fundamental flying error 😳

As an Aussie whose father was a Spitfire pilot in the RAAF in WW2 I still have a profound disgust for the Imperial Japanese Forces. Times have changed & the world moves on but what the Japanese did in the Pacific is still remembered down under.

Postwar evaluation of Japanese records showed that only two of the nine victories credited to Neel Ernest Kearby - Medal of Honor mission were valid, although three other Japanese fighters were damaged. However, the two losses were a squadron leader and a wing commander.

Congratulations to your son, the new Eagle Scout!

I especially liked this episode bc of the timeless lessons about balancing personal ambition with responsibilities to the group. Plus it was about cool ww2 planes in combat (my favorite😎)