Who was Richard I. Bong?
One of America’ s premier war heroes, Richard Ira Bong was born to Swedish immigrants in Poplar, Wisconsin, in 1920. His birthplace is not far from Superior and Duluth. While attending Superior State Teachers College, he enrolled in the Civilian Pilot Training Program and took private flying lessons. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program.
He went on to become one of the most effective fighter pilots in World War II, shooting down at least 40 Japanese aircraft. Among his many military awards was the Medal of Honor, presented in December 1944 to recognize his service to his country.
He returned to the United States in January 1945 and became a test pilot assigned to Lockheed’ s Burbank, California, plant. On Aug. 6, 1945, a mechanical malfunction caused his plane to lose power. Bong was too low to the ground to parachute from the plane. It crashed, and he was killed. He was a national hero at the time, and news of his death shared front-page headlines with coverage of the American bombing of Hiroshima.
In addition to the bridge in his name, he is memorialized through parks in Wisconsin and, most recently, the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center in Superior. The museum and tribute to the military is housed in a structure built to resemble an aircraft hangar and contains a P-38 Lightning aircraft restored to resemble Bong’ s plane.
Bong was inducted in the Wisconsin Aviation Hall of Fame in October 1987.
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