When his wingman’s guns jams, Navy Lt. (j.g.) Edward “Butch” O’Hare, flying a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat, finds himself the only thing standing between nine attacking Japanese bombers and his ship, the USS Lexington off New Britain. He shoots down five of the Mitsubishi G4M (Allied code name “˜Betty’) bombers and forces the crews of another four to miss their target. O’Hare, the Navy’s first ace of World War II, is awarded the Medal of Honor.
It is critical that the Air Force move forward on the replacement for its E-4B “Doomsday” aircraft to keep the capability “viable” into the next decade and beyond, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told lawmakers May 8.