The Race to Become America’s Highest-Scoring Fighter Pilot

In 1942, the conditions under which the war was being fought by Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s forces in the South Pacific were abominable—mud, constant rainstorms, oppressive heat, more mud, bugs, snakes, enormous mountains, impenetrable jungles. And still more mud. Many of the surrounding natives were cannibals. And the bureaucrats managing their supplies weren’t much of a help either, hoarding essential supplies and equipment in a warehouse in Melbourne, Australia, instead of sending them to the front. Of the 40 P-39s sitting on the runway at Seven Mile Drome in Port Moresby, New Guinea, only 10 were airworthy. MacArthur’s troops were supposed to be protecting Australia from Japanese invasion, but they were sitting ducks whenever a squadron of Japanese fighters flew in for a bombing raid.