America's Ace Of Aces - Richard Bong

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The ace of aces in the European theater had almost 10 times as many kills. The Germans and the Soviets were really tearing each other apart.

Is this a movie? Can this be a movie?

I was raised in Superior Wisconsin and I grew up knowing hus story 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

There is no way I was born on his birthday but in 2003

Dick bong is an amazing name

Some background…farming in that region is very difficult!!! However, one of my favorite places in the world! Duluth/Sup town respect

woodow

What an absolute Fing legend!

Imagine if a plane flys by and brass stars raining

Book name

I go over the bridge named after him weekly and live in the town with a museum about him and I believe the plane is in there

BROO why did have to die😭

It’s cool Richard bong grew up 2 hours from me

I love this guy, and the ending makes me very sad.

the p-38 is and always will be my most loved plane its just a beat and of cores the ace of aces was in this bird

Find it wierd their like we don’t won’t you getting hurt or die against the Japanese in a plane you know every detail on but well put you in a experimental plane that you don’t know and that test for older planes have some insane fatality rates. Bro fought for his country but his country and their plane was what eventually killed him.

Swedes are proud 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪

Someone needs to take this video, and Bong's entire story, and turn it into a full-length movie.

Dick Bong 😂

Woke up to the best story teller on YouTube. Sweet. Flash bang quack out.👍

altitude is everything in a dog fight.

The most badass main character of all main characters

THIS WAS DAMN GOOD

With a name like that, you got to be a tough son of a b

Are you in front of a green screen because parts of your head is pixelated

ahhh 100 zeros vs 35 plightnings... the zeros are out numbered

This isn't my first time watching this video😅

Thats a great last name. 🔥

Now I know the rest of the story. Thanks

6:00 that’s where my old roommate went to high school lmao, as well as some other people I know went to superior 😂😂

who is biden?

It is crazy to see 1% it was great

29:30 or he didn't want to be sent back stateside to sell war bonds like Lynch

just for the record. he flew in superior wisconsin. at the airport named after him. Richard i bong airport

Completely expected you to say "home for Christmas"... Almost died laughing when you said "deer season"

Nickolas, You did a magnificent job on this story of Dick Bong. I want to commend you on your in depth research and ability to bring the characters to life for the audience. Please keep up the excellent work!

I feel you about not liking General Macarthur he left my grandfather in the Phillipines when he ran. My grandfather had to hook up with the locals and run gorilla warfare surviving off monkeys and whatever else they could use for food. He would tell me much about his time there because what he went through. When I deployed we had a very deep conversation about what he went through and at the end he said you do what you need to do to get back home.

"And that doesn't include the giant crocodile:" Me: Excusez-moi, s'il vous plait. WHAT DID YOU SAY?!!!!!!

2:13 skips sponsor

Richard Bong looks like a young Moe Szyslack.

That ending pissed me off

I totally thought about about lake placid crocodile blow up😅

That was an unreal video. Great job at telling the story.

Im sure its not a great story may be wrong but id love to see a kelly johnson video

38:41 Invincible?

acting like boom and zoom wouldnt be fitting name for the p38's go to tactic with the videos sponsor

Dick Bong sounds like something that you could buy from a porn/Head shop. 😂😂😂

I think the P38 is the only item, of the many ridiculous items that military commanders requested and got exactly what they dreamed of.

Definitely was one hell of a video man moved from eight years old to infamy a very marvelous, not caring for anything except his wife and his job not wanting to be number one a true patriot

So the original Lightning was made to fit all the capabilities into one plane. The F-35 “Lightning 2” makes sense now.

I bet he gave away a lot of kills to put off becoming the “top ace” for a while, because he knew they would try to take him out of the fight

I drive over the bridge that is named after him once a week. It is on my bucket list to go to the museum about him.

I do believe this is my 5th watch of this video. Not including the reacts.... Never tire of these. All of them

53:20 that was THE perfect clip lol

Your story telling is amazing and well worth listening too no matter the length. Thank you

Over confidence got the best of him... wat a failed ending

"If you kill 3 nips, you can go home and get laid son"

Why do you always start every video by turning the lights on😆🤷‍♂️

The story may be facts but this one is a fact too, A6M was a outdated and obsolete plane when P-38 came out as a best fighter of WWII, he had a super huge advantage

The P38 is my favorite plane

Genral Macabre was a dud full stop

Grew up by Bong recreation area by Kenosha WI. It was supposed to an air base north of Chicago but wasn't finished. Thanks for the video really great.

The British mosquito was made before the war as well, the fastest none-jet propelled versatile aircraft of the war

You know a story is good when the vast majority of an hour long story is just a guy looking at you telling the story. And you like it

Man i was not ready for that last part. The man was like tge demon of Razgriz to the Japanese.

Thoroughly enjoyed your commentary and jokes. 10/10 thanks

Sounds like God needed to teach angles to fly. So he took Major Bong early.

You can't tell me it didn't gut Kenny to know that he did so much to try and get him out of a place where he could possibly die just to essentially ship him to his death

Memorial weekend 2025, Rewatching theses incredible stories of amazing individuals from every facet of military service told with Honor, Respect and humility. For those who have or are still serving, THANK YOU! And those this weekend reminds us of, Rest In Peace with admiration from a grateful Nation.

1:03:54 it’s not fate, it’s just that you don’t take the plane with someone else’s wife on the side of it.

Excellent.

With the first name of Richard, this ace went by Dick. This was commonly listed in history books well into the 90s. Dick Bong. This guy couldn’t be anything other than the ace of aces.

43:38 New most dangerous place to be: a Japanese Zero in the Pacific when Richard Bong needs some leave.

Ive lost track of the times ive watched Empire in my life

There is also a Richard bong nature reserve here in Wisconsin in his honor. Drove past it daily on my way to work for 5 years.

The p38 was also a night fighter as well but had a different name and had night radar which they dubbed the black widow

Imagine being that crocodile. Just swimming up for a nice snack when instant death from above just swoops down out of nowhere fucking his whole life up

Thanks for this Story…What a AMAZING Young Man and my Heart Broke that he Died at 24yrs Old and had only gotten Married….He did MORE in his short life than most people ever Do…

I was born in Duluth, Minnesota, and now I know what the Richard Bong Memorial Bridge (which connects Duluth to Superior, WI) was named after. Nice.

Surprised that the Navy fighter pilot David mccandles who at this point has scored 34 kills wasn't one of the reasons that they let him back in a combat to the Air Force comes out on top

Why yall gotta mess with my deer season? 😂❤

Dick bong...*immature laugh*

14:21 I’m not surprised that they took that job lockheed skunk works motto isn’t if you can dream it we CAN make it there motto is if you can dream it we’ve probably already made it when a defence company has that much balls you can probably trust there statement

I remember flying that thing on the NES, 1941 (video game) always thought that it looked amazing but never saw it on any ww2 footage. Now i know why.

I must be deaf , 24!! Can’t quite believe that wow

Skunkworks also did the F-117, an aircraft that went under the radar for years because the rest of the world was convinced it wasn't possible to build a plane with that low profile on radar. Heck, if you believe some of the water cooler talk from their testing one of the mockups, they were originally convinced the radar was busted, until a bird landed on the aircraft returned a signal.

They made Dunkirk, and Midway, when are we going to get a movie about Richard Bong?

wow

I think you got 65,000 words in for that 4 1/2 minute video.

I'm not crying you are

Fuck coffee, listen to this first thing in the morning gets you hyped

Funny story... If you Google image search "dick bong"... It doesn't show this guy 😂

Bong was not alone in the department of showing off. I am a volunteer docent and mechanic at The American Heritage Museum in Hudson Massachusetts. We have the last remaining P-40B, which also happened to survive the attack on Pearl Harbor and has one the American Volunteer Group's original Allison V-1710 engines. This beauty is painted as it was at Pearl Harbor, with "284" in very large characters on the side. I often get questions about the big numbers from guests... they became known as "Buzz Numbers", and were used to help identify young pilots who couldn't resist the urge to fly low over the beaches to show off for the ladies. Also, a practice occasionally employed by student pilots stationed in places like Texas, was to mess with trains at night. They would see a train at night, going about its business. They would descend and fly a few miles ahead of the train, line up just above the tracks going back toward the train and turn on their landing light. The train crew, thinking there was an imminent head-on collision with another train, would jump for it, to the amusement of the pilot. I read this years ago, and my first thought was if our pilots did this to "friends", the enemy was in deep trouble.

Great video! I do wish to provide some clarification on the discussion of the development of the P-38. At the time of its development, the U.S. Army Air Corps and later the U.S. Army Air Force designated fighter aircraft as "Pursuit", hence the "P". The U.S. Navy used "F" and called them fighters. After World War Two, fighters received the "F" by the newly renamed U.S. Air Force. Regarding the "Interceptor" classification of the P-38, that was basically a workaround used by Benjamin Kelsey, who was in charge of new fighter projects. The establishment in the Army Air Corps had effectively forbidden twin-engine fighters, so Kelsey pulled a fast one on them. Kelsey also had Lockheed include provisions for external fuel tanks, which was also against Air Corps policies. Come to think of it, our friend, Colonel Kelsey might be a good topic for a video.

Germans were better

You realy can fly his P38 in WarThunder if you have spare 2500$😂😂

Got watch out for those onion cutting 🥷

I use to have a Richard Bong autograph. I sold it for $200 dollars about 10 years ago.

What’s a Woodow?