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A favorite past time of Marines is being a little bit cocky and really skilled at making the enemy drop. Pappy Boyington was no different when it came to that. After some time with the famed Flying Tigers in China defending against Japanese aggression there, Pappy rejoined the Marine Corps where he'd started and after about a year became the commander of the infamous Black Sheep Squadron.
While piloting the F4U Corsair, Pappy and his squadron wreaked havoc on the pilots of the Empire of Japan. The tactics used by the Pappy Boyington and his "Black Sheep" were somewhat...arrogant, to say the least. For instance, there was a time when the "Black Sheep Squadron" fly around a Japanese airfield, instigating a fight. How mature, in a war, for fighter pilots to circle the enemies airfield and pick a fight. It's like a scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", but this actually happened! Well, the Japanese sent up some planes to combat the 24 fighters that Pappy had brought. It didn't end well for them. The Japanese lost 20 enemy fighters and the Black Sheep Squadron, well they lost none.Pappy Boyington was no slouch himself, as he downed 14 enemy planes in 32 days, but given a few more months, he made that total climb to 25. Did you all know that Marines really like watching baseball? We didn't but apparently, Pappy and his gang of arrogant aerial artists did, so they put out a press statement that they'd shoot down an enemy fighter for every baseball cap sent to them by major league players playing in the World Series...they received 20 caps. Can you guess how many were shot down? No exact number is known, but it is known that it was more than 20!
Pappy Boyington tied the record of aerial kills by Eddie Rickenbacker on January 3rd, 1944 before being shot down himself. Despite becoming a prisoner of war, the famed commander of the Black Sheep Squadron had received both the Navy Cross and the Medal of Honor.Read more stories of American Grit here:
