Army & Navy: Old Man McCampbell

Farm boy Dick Bong’s top score of 33 Jap planes was almost broken in 95 minutes of furious fighting during the second battle of the Philippines, when Commander David McCampbell, piloting a Hellcat, shot down nine Jap fighters (plus two “probables”). McCampbell’s air-combat total after his rampage: 30—which made him the second-ranking U.S. ace.

Athletic Commander McCampbell began winning marksmanship medals when he was in his teens. A Naval Academy graduate, he served as signal officer on the old carrier Wasp when she was ferrying planes to Malta, in the early days of the war, and was aboard her when she was torpedoed off Guadalcanal in 1942. As fighter pilots go, veteran David McCampbell is an elderly man: he was born in Bessemer, Ala. 34 years ago.