His father was gunned down on the streets of Chicago for betraying Al Capone. Two years later, his son strapped into the cockpit of a Grumman Wildcat with 34 seconds of ammunition — and nine Japanese bombers bearing down on his carrier.
February 1942. The Pacific war was barely three months old. America had almost no carriers left. USS Lexington was steaming near Rabaul when a second wave of bombers appeared from the east. Every fighter was already engaged. Except one. His wingman's guns jammed on the way up. Now it was one pilot, one plane, and a carrier full of men who had no idea their lives depended on a 27-year-old lieutenant they'd barely noticed before that afternoon.
Four minutes changed everything. But the real question isn't how this story begins. It's how it ends — and why one of the busiest airports in the world carries his name.
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February 1942. The Pacific war was barely three months old. America had almost no carriers left. USS Lexington was steaming near Rabaul when a second wave of bombers appeared from the east. Every fighter was already engaged. Except one. His wingman's guns jammed on the way up. Now it was one pilot, one plane, and a carrier full of men who had no idea their lives depended on a 27-year-old lieutenant they'd barely noticed before that afternoon.
Four minutes changed everything. But the real question isn't how this story begins. It's how it ends — and why one of the busiest airports in the world carries his name.
Subscribe for forgotten WW2 stories ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@ww2dispatchh
Like if you think this story deserves to be remembered.
Comment below — where are you watching from?
#worldwar2 #ww2 #militaryhistory #ww2stories #ww2dispatch
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LearningTranscript
00:00February 20, 1942. 5.03 in the afternoon. Lieutenant Edward Henry O'Hare was strapped
00:07into the cockpit of his Grumman F-4F Wildcat on the deck of USS Lexington when the radar
00:13officer called out nine Japanese bombers closing at 200 knots from the east. 27 years old,
00:2043 flight hours in combat, zero confirmed kills. The Imperial Japanese Navy had sent a formation of
00:28nine Mitsubishi G-4M Betty bombers to sink the Lexington, 450 miles northeast of Rabaul.
00:35Three months earlier, Japanese aircraft had crippled the American battleship fleet at Pearl Harbor.
00:41Since December 7, the enemy had conquered the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore, and the Dutch
00:46East Indies. American forces were retreating across the Pacific. The Japanese war machine
00:52seemed unstoppable. On January 11, a Japanese submarine had torpedoed USS Saratoga, southwest
01:00of Hawaii, sending her back to the west coast for five months of repairs. That left only three
01:05American carriers operational in the entire Pacific theater. Lexington was one of them. Task Force 11
01:12needed every available fighter to stay alive. Admiral Wilson Brown had ordered Lexington to
01:17penetrate Japanese-held waters and strike the enemy base at Rabaul. But a Japanese Kawanishi flying boat
01:24had spotted the task force that morning. Six Wildcats had scrambled and shot down the reconnaissance
01:30plane 43 miles out. Too late. The flying boat had already radioed Lexington's position to Rabaul.
01:37Brown canceled the raid. But he kept the task force in enemy waters, daring the Japanese to respond.
01:43They did. That afternoon, radar picked up the first wave of Betty bombers approaching from the west.
01:50Lieutenant Commander John Thack led six Wildcats into the attack. They shot down three bombers and
01:57scattered the rest. Lexington's anti-aircraft guns finished two more. But while Thatch's fighters
02:02were engaged on the western side, radar detected a second formation. Nine more Bettys were approaching
02:08from the opposite direction. Only two Wildcats remained available to intercept.
02:12Lieutenant O'Hare and his wingman, Lieutenant Marion DeFiglio. O'Hare's fighter carried four
02:18Browning .50 caliber machine guns. 450 rounds per gun. 1,800 rounds total. At full trigger pull,
02:26those guns fired at 850 rounds per minute combined. Simple mathematics. O'Hare had 34 seconds of ammunition.
02:33The Betty bomber carried a crew of seven men, a 20-millimeter tail cannon, and four defensive machine
02:39gun positions. The bomber's aluminum skin was thin, designed for speed and range rather than protection.
02:45But the Betty could absorb tremendous punishment. American pilots had learned that lesson the hard
02:50way over the Philippines and Wake Island. O'Hare and DeFiglio shoved their throttles forward and climbed
02:56toward the incoming formation. They reached 1,500 feet and spotted the nine Bettys arranged in a tight V
03:02formation, nine miles from Lexington. Then, DeFiglio's guns jammed. All four Brownings. He stayed in
03:09formation, hoping to draw fire, but his fighter was defenseless. O'Hare was alone. One Wildcat,
03:16nine bombers, 34 seconds of ammunition. The Japanese formation was three minutes from bomb release range.
03:22What O'Hare did next took four minutes. If you want to find out, leave a like. It pushes this
03:28story to more
03:28people who need to hear it. Subscribe if you haven't. Back to O'Hare.
03:32The Betty crews had already spotted Lexington on the horizon. They maintained formation,
03:37their bomb bay doors still closed, waiting for the perfect release point. O'Hare checked his gun
03:42sight. He had trained for deflection shooting under Lieutenant Commander Thatch, who had taught him to
03:47lead moving targets and fire in short controlled bursts. 60 rounds per bomber. That was the calculation.
03:541,800 rounds divided by nine targets. 60 rounds to destroy a twin engine bomber protected by seven
04:01men and five guns. O'Hare pushed his Wildcat into a diving turn, positioning himself above and behind
04:08the Japanese formation. The lead Betty's tail gunner spotted him immediately. 20 millimeter tracers
04:13arced past O'Hare's canopy. He rolled inverted, pulled through, and lined up his first shot.
04:19Two miles to Lexington. 90 seconds to bomb release. O'Hare squeezed the trigger. Four .50 caliber
04:25Brownings opened fire simultaneously. The sound inside O'Hare's cockpit was deafening. Spent brass
04:31casings ejected from the wing guns and streamed past his canopy. He aimed for the outermost bomber on
04:37the right side of the formation. The tracers walked across the Betty's starboard engine. 60 rounds.
04:43Three seconds of sustained fire. The engine cowling disintegrated. Orange flame erupted from the
04:49nacelle. The bomber rolled right and fell away from the formation trailing black smoke. First kill. 17
04:55seconds of ammunition remaining. O'Hare pulled hard left, his Wildcat shuddering under six G's of force.
05:02The Japanese formation held steady, maintaining their approach to Lexington. The tail gunners tracked
05:07O'Hare's fighter, sending streams of 20mm fire across his flight path. He ignored the tracers.
05:14Thatch had taught him that deflection angles matter more than defensive fire. O'Hare rolled into his
05:19second attack run, this time targeting the left side of the formation. He selected the outermost
05:24bomber and opened fire from 400 yards. The Betty's port engine exploded. Fuel sprayed from ruptured tanks.
05:32The bomber nosed over and spiraled toward the ocean. Second kill. 14 seconds remaining.
05:37The Japanese pilots tightened their formation, trying to concentrate their defensive fire.
05:42O'Hare had forced them to react. Every second they spent adjusting formation was another second
05:47closer to Lexington's anti-aircraft range. But they were still outside that range, still closing.
05:53O'Hare yanked his Wildcat into a vertical climb, bleeding off speed, then rolled inverted and dove back
06:00onto the formation from directly above. This was the high side pass Thatch had drilled into every VF-3 pilot.
06:06Attack from above and behind. Minimize exposure to the tail gunner. Aim for the engines and fuel
06:12tanks. O'Hare lined up his third target, the lead bomber in the center of the formation. He opened fire
06:19at 300 yards. Tracers converged on the Betty's right engine. The propeller froze. The engine burst into
06:25flames. But this crew was better trained. The pilot held formation even as fire spread along the wing.
06:31O'Hare adjusted his aim and walked his fire across the fuselage. The Betty's aluminum skin tore apart
06:38under the .50 caliber impacts. The bomber snap-rolled left and collided with its wingman. Both aircraft
06:44tumbled toward the water, locked together. Third and fourth kills. Eight seconds of ammunition
06:50remaining. Six bombers had become three. The remaining Japanese pilots broke formation and scattered. One
06:57turned back toward Rabaul. Two pressed their attack on Lexington. O'Hare selected the nearest bomber and
07:03pushed his throttle to maximum power. The Wildcats' Pratt & Whitney engine roared. He closed to 200 yards,
07:10point-blank range. He squeezed the trigger and held it. All four guns hammering. The Betty's left engine
07:16disintegrated. Fuel tanks ruptured. The entire left wing separated from the fuselage. The bomber cartwheeled
07:24into the ocean. Fifth kill. O'Hare released the trigger. His guns fell silent. Empty. On the Lexington
07:31flight deck, sailors and pilots watched the sky. They had seen five bombers fall in flames. They had watched
07:37one American fighter tear through a Japanese formation designed to sink their ship. Lieutenant Commander
07:43Thatch was still four miles away, racing back with his division. He had seen three of O'Hare's kills.
07:49The captain of Lexington, Frederick Sherman, stood on the bridge watching the action through binoculars.
07:54The two surviving Japanese bombers were now within range of the ship's anti-aircraft batteries.
08:00Five-inch guns opened fire. The bombers released their ordnance early and turned away. Their bombs fell
08:06harmlessly into the ocean, 200 yards from Lexington's hull. O'Hare turned his Wildcat toward the
08:12carrier. His fuel gauge showed 20 minutes remaining. His ammunition counters read zero across all four
08:18guns. His right hand was cramping from gripping the control stick. Four minutes of combat. Five confirmed
08:24kills. He had saved his ship. But as O'Hare began his approach to Lexington, one of the carrier's
08:30anti-aircraft gunners spotted an incoming fighter and opened fire. Tracers streaked past O'Hare's Wildcat.
08:37A gunner on Lexington's starboard side had mistaken the returning fighter for a Japanese aircraft.
08:43Fifty caliber rounds from the carrier's defensive battery snapped through the air three feet from
08:48O'Hare's cockpit. He immediately dropped his landing gear in flaps, the universal signal for
08:53a friendly aircraft. The gunner ceased fire. O'Hare continued his approach, hands steady on the controls,
09:00despite the adrenaline still flooding his system. He had survived nine Japanese bombers and their gunners.
09:06He had nearly been killed by his own ship. The Wildcat's wheels touched down on Lexington's flight
09:11deck at 1723 hours. Deck crew rushed to his aircraft, choking the wheels and signaling him to cut the
09:18engine. O'Hare remained in the cockpit for ten seconds, completing his post-flight checklist from
09:24muscle memory. His flight suit was soaked with sweat. His right arm ached from the sustained G-forces
09:29during the combat turns. He unstrapped and climbed down from the wing. Lieutenant Commander Thatch was
09:35waiting on the deck. Behind him stood dozens of sailors and pilots who had watched the entire
09:41engagement. The crowd erupted. Men were shouting, clapping O'Hare on the back, trying to shake his hand.
09:47He had just performed what naval aviators would later call one of the most remarkable single-pilot
09:52actions in aviation history. O'Hare pushed through the crowd, looking for the anti-aircraft gunner who
09:58had fired on him. He found the young sailor standing alone near the gun mount, face pale,
10:03clearly expecting disciplinary action, or worse. O'Hare walked directly to him. The sailor started to
10:09apologize. O'Hare told him that if he kept shooting at friendlies with the landing gear down, there would be
10:15a problem. Then O'Hare smiled and walked away. The entire exchange lasted 15 seconds. Maintenance
10:22crews inspected O'Hare's wildcat. They found one bullet hole. A single Japanese round had penetrated
10:28the aircraft's aluminum skin near the tail section. One hit out of hundreds of rounds fired at him by
10:33nine bombers. The crew chiefs counted the spent casings from O'Hare's guns. Exactly 1,800. Every round
10:41expended. They examined the gun barrels. All four weapons had fired flawlessly. No jams, no malfunctions.
10:48O'Hare had made the most of every advantage. Captain Frederick Sherman summoned O'Hare to the bridge
10:54that evening. Sherman had commanded Lexington for eight months. He had witnessed countless acts of
10:59courage since December 7th. This was different. Sherman informed O'Hare that he was recommending him for
11:05the Congressional Medal of Honor. O'Hare refused. He insisted that any pilot in VF-3 would
11:11have done the same thing. Sherman overruled him. The recommendation went forward. Admiral Brown
11:16endorsed it. So did Admiral Chester Nimitz, commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet.
11:21The United States desperately needed good news. Pearl Harbor had been a catastrophe. Manila had
11:26fallen on January 2nd. Singapore would surrender in four days. The Japanese had landed on Java.
11:33German U-boats were sinking American merchant ships within sight of the eastern seaboard.
11:37Newspaper headlines brought nothing but defeats and casualties. The American public was losing
11:43faith. Military morale was collapsing under the weight of constant bad news. The Navy needed a hero.
11:49A young pilot who had faced impossible odds and won. Someone to prove that Americans could fight back
11:56and prevail. Task Force 11 returned to Pearl Harbor on March 26th. Reporters crowded the dock. They had
12:03been briefed on O'Hare's action three weeks earlier, after the Navy verified the gun camera footage and
12:09combat reports. The story had already made front pages across America. Lieutenant Edward O'Hare, 27 years
12:16old. Five confirmed kills in four minutes. First Navy ace of World War II. The press asked him how
12:23it felt to be a national hero. O'Hare said he had simply done his job. The reporters pressed for
12:29more
12:30dramatic quotes. O'Hare declined. He wanted to return to his squadron and prepare for the next mission.
12:36Instead, the Navy ordered him to Washington, D.C. President Franklin Roosevelt wanted to meet the young
12:42pilot who had saved a carrier. O'Hare would receive his Medal of Honor at the White House. But first,
12:48Naval Intelligence needed to brief him on a sensitive matter. His father's connection to Al Capone.
12:54Naval Intelligence officers met with O'Hare in a secure room at Pearl Harbor. They explained that
12:59reporters would inevitably discover his father's history. Edward Joseph O'Hare, known in Chicago as Easy
13:06Eddy. The senior O'Hare had worked as attorney and business manager for Alphonse Capone from 1928 until
13:131930. The intelligence officers wanted Butch to hear the full story before the press twisted it into
13:19something ugly. They opened a classified file and began reading. Edward Joseph O'Hare had passed the
13:26Missouri bar exam in 1923. He joined a law firm in St. Louis and built a successful practice. In the
13:33mid-1920s,
13:34he started working for Owen Smith, who ran dog racing tracks in Chicago, Boston, and Miami.
13:41O'Hare made a fortune. He even patented improvements to the mechanical rabbit used in
13:46greyhound racing. By 1927, Easy Eddy was wealthy, connected, and living in Chicago. That was when he
13:53met Al Capone. Capone needed someone to manage his legitimate business interests. The dog tracks,
13:59the real estate holdings, the investments that had to appear legal for tax purposes.
14:05O'Hare took the job. The money was extraordinary. Capone paid him a salary that would equal millions
14:10in 1942 dollars. O'Hare bought a mansion that occupied an entire city block. He filled it with
14:17servants, expensive cars, and everything his family could want. His son Butch attended the best private
14:23schools. The O'Hare family lived like royalty. But Edward O'Hare understood exactly who he worked for.
14:29Capone controlled bootlegging, gambling, and prostitution across Chicago. The St. Valentine's
14:35Day massacre in 1929 had proven how Capone dealt with competitors. Seven men executed in a garage,
14:43machine gunned against a brick wall. O'Hare knew that his employer was responsible. He knew that his
14:48comfortable life was built on violence and corruption. And eventually, that knowledge became
14:53unbearable. In 1930, O'Hare approached a reporter from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. He arranged a
15:00meeting with the Internal Revenue Service. An IRS agent later stated that O'Hare became one of their
15:05best undercover sources inside Capone's organization. O'Hare provided financial records, bank statements,
15:12evidence of tax evasion, the kind of documentation that could survive in court.
15:16In 1931, federal prosecutors convicted Capone of tax fraud. The judge sentenced him to 11 years in
15:24prison. Capone went to Alcatraz. O'Hare had betrayed the most dangerous gangster in America. He knew the
15:30consequences. Capone's organization did not forgive, did not forget. O'Hare continued working in Chicago,
15:38managing the dog racing tracks, waiting. His son Butch graduated from Western Military Academy in 1932,
15:45entered the Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1933, graduated in 1937. By November 1939,
15:54Butch was in flight training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, learning to fly. On November 8, 1939,
16:01Edward O'Hare left his office at Sportsman's Park Racetrack in Cicero. He climbed into his black Lincoln
16:07Zephyr. Two men pulled alongside in another vehicle. They carried shotguns loaded with slugs
16:13designed for hunting big game. They fired multiple rounds through the driver's side window. Edward O'Hare
16:19died instantly. Chicago police investigated. They found no witnesses, made no arrests. One week later,
16:27Al Capone was released from prison on medical grounds. He was dying from syphilis. The timing
16:32suggested a final message from Capone's organization. Butch O'Hare learned about his
16:37father's death while at Pensacola. He completed flight training, earned his wings in May 1940,
16:44never spoke publicly about his father's murder, never explained what he felt about his father's
16:49decision to testify against Capone. The intelligence officers closed the file. On April 21, 1942,
16:57Lieutenant O'Hare walked into the Oval Office at the White House. President Roosevelt waited behind his
17:02desk. So did Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox and Admiral Ernest King. O'Hare's wife, Rita,
17:09stood beside him. Roosevelt promoted O'Hare to Lieutenant Commander. Then Rita draped the Medal of Honor
17:14around her husband's neck. The citation called his action one of the most daring single actions in
17:20combat aviation history. Reporters asked O'Hare if he had anything to say. He thanked his squadron
17:27commander and returned to his duty. But the Navy was not finished with him yet. America needed a
17:32living hero more than it needed another fighter pilot in the Pacific. The Navy assigned O'Hare to a
17:37war bond tour. His job was to travel across the United States, appear at rallies, and convince
17:43citizens to invest in the war effort. O'Hare hated every minute of it. He was a fighter pilot, not
17:49a
17:49public speaker. He belonged in a cockpit, not on a stage. But orders were orders. For the next two
17:56months, Lieutenant Commander O'Hare became the face of American resistance in the Pacific. The tour stopped
18:02in St. Louis on April 25. The city organized a parade. 60,000 people lined the streets. O'Hare sat
18:10in
18:10an open car between his wife Rita and his mother Selma. The crowd cheered. Children waved American
18:17flags. The mayor presented O'Hare with a gold four-dial navigator's watch engraved with his name
18:24and the date. Grumman Aircraft Corporation sent a representative with a gift from the factory workers.
18:301,150 cartons of Lucky Strike cigarettes. 230,000 cigarettes total. The workers had passed a hat and bought
18:39them from their own wages. O'Hare thanked them. He was a camel smoker. But he accepted the Lucky Strikes
18:46gratefully and smoked them anyway. Reporters followed O'Hare everywhere. They wanted quotes
18:51about courage and patriotism. They asked about his father and Al Capone. O'Hare gave brief answers and
18:58declined to elaborate. The press wrote their stories regardless. Some portrayed him as the son who had
19:05redeemed his father's crimes. Others focused solely on the combat action. O'Hare ignored all of it. He
19:12completed his bond tour obligations and requested immediate reassignment to combat duty. The Navy refused.
19:19Naval aviation doctrine required the best combat pilots to rotate into training positions. Japan sent
19:26their aces back to the front lines until those pilots were killed. America took the opposite approach.
19:32The most skilled aviators became instructors. They passed their knowledge to the next generation of
19:38fighter pilots. This policy created a steady supply of well-trained aviators while Japan's experienced
19:44pilots died one by one. O'Hare understood the strategic logic. He still wanted to fight. In June 1942,
19:52O'Hare returned to Hawaii and assumed command of VF-3. He replaced Lieutenant Commander Thatch, who had
19:57taught him everything about fighter tactics and deflection gunnery. Now, O'Hare would teach those
20:02same skills to new pilots arriving from training command. He drilled them in the high side pass,
20:08the deflection shooting techniques, the importance of short controlled bursts instead of long,
20:13wasteful sprays. He emphasized that ammunition management meant the difference between kills and
20:19empty guns. Every pilot in VF-3 qualified for the E rating and gunnery excellence under O'Hare's command.
20:25He trained them in formation flying, in coordinated attacks using the Thatch Weave,
20:30a defensive tactic where two fighters protected each other from enemy interceptors. He taught them
20:35to check their surroundings constantly, swivel your neck before a strafing run, make sure enemy fighters
20:41are not on your tail, small lessons that saved lives. His pilots learned quickly. O'Hare ran practice dog
20:47fights against newly arrived aviators. He defeated them consistently until they understood their mistakes.
20:53Then those pilots joined the humiliation team and helped train the next group. For 14 months,
20:59O'Hare remained in training command while the war raged across the Pacific. American forces invaded
21:05Guadalcanal in August 1942. The Navy fought desperate carrier battles at Eastern Solomons and Santa Cruz.
21:12New pilots O'Hare had trained flew those missions. Many died. O'Hare requested combat reassignment
21:18after every major engagement. The Navy finally approved his request in August 1943. Lieutenant
21:24Commander O'Hare reported to USS Independence, a light carrier operating in the Central Pacific.
21:30VF-6 was transitioning from F-4F Wildcats to the newer Grumman F-6F Hellcat. The Hellcat was faster,
21:38more powerful, and better armed than the Wildcat O'Hare had flown in February 1942.
21:44On August 31st, O'Hare led VF-6 in a raid against Marcus Island. They caught Japanese aircraft on the
21:51ground and destroyed them before they could launch. O'Hare received the Distinguished Flying Cross for
21:56that action. Five weeks later, VF-6 raided Wake Island. This time, the Japanese were ready. Zero fighters
22:04scrambled to intercept the American strike. O'Hare spotted three zeroes south of Wake and engaged.
22:10He shot down one zero. His wingmen destroyed the other two. It was O'Hare's first aerial kill since
22:16February 20th, 1942. Twenty months between victories. But Wake Island would not be his last mission.
22:23The Navy had a new experimental operation planned. One that required the best pilots available. One that
22:29had never been attempted before. Night fighting from an aircraft carrier. Japanese torpedo bombers
22:35had developed a terrifying tactic. They attacked American carriers at night. The bombers approached
22:41at low altitude, invisible in darkness, guided only by moonlight and the silhouettes of ships against
22:47the horizon. Radar could detect them, but carriers had no way to intercept attackers in complete darkness.
22:54Fighter pilots trained for daylight combat. They relied on visual identification,
22:58deflection shooting, and formation tactics that required seeing the enemy. None of those techniques
23:04worked at night. American carriers were defenseless after sunset. Japanese commanders knew it. They
23:10scheduled their most dangerous attacks for the hours between dusk and dawn. The Navy needed a solution.
23:17Radar technology existed. The TBF Avenger torpedo bomber carried airborne radar that could detect enemy
23:23aircraft. But the Avenger was too slow and poorly armed to function as a night fighter.
23:28The F6F Hellcat was fast and heavily armed with 650 caliber machine guns. But Hellcat pilots could not
23:35find targets in darkness. The answer required combining both aircraft. A radar-equipped Avenger would locate
23:42enemy bombers and guide Hellcat fighters to intercept them. In theory, the concept worked. In practice,
23:49nobody had ever attempted a night fighter operation from an aircraft carrier. The risks were extreme.
23:55Launching aircraft in darkness. Flying formation without visual references. Landing on a carrier deck
24:01at night with battle damage. Any of those could kill a pilot. In September 1943, the Navy promoted O'Hare
24:08to
24:08Commander Air Group 6. He became CAG, commanding all squadrons aboard USS Enterprise. The Enterprise was the most
24:16decorated carrier in the Pacific Fleet. She had survived every major engagement since Pearl Harbor.
24:22Now Enterprise would test the night fighter concept. O'Hare volunteered to develop the tactics.
24:27He studied radar capabilities and worked with TBF crews to understand how airborne radar detected targets.
24:35He practiced formation flying with radar-equipped Avengers in complete darkness. He trained his pilots to
24:41trust instruments instead of visual cues. The work was dangerous. Several pilots crashed during training,
24:47but O'Hare refined the procedures until the three-plane team could operate reliably at night.
24:52The team consisted of one TBF Avenger and two F6F Hellcats. The Avenger's radar operator would detect
24:59incoming enemy bombers and guide the fighters into position. The Hellcat pilots would close to visual range
25:06and engage with their six machine guns. After the attack, the Avenger would guide both fighters back
25:11to the carrier for night landing. Simple concept, extraordinarily difficult execution. Everything
25:18depended on precise coordination between three aircraft flying in total darkness. On November 20, 1943,
25:26Enterprise joined Task Force 50.2, supporting Operation Galvanic. American forces were invading Tarawa
25:33in the Gilbert Islands. Japanese commanders threw everything available at the invasion fleet.
25:39Surface ships, submarines, land-based bombers. The attacks continued day and night. On November 26,
25:46radar detected a large formation of enemy torpedo bombers approaching after sunset. The Japanese were
25:52attempting another night attack. Admiral Radford, commanding the task force, ordered the experimental
25:57night fighter team to launch. O'Hare was eating dinner in the wardroom when the alert sounded.
26:02He grabbed his remaining food and ran for the ready room. He was still wearing loose marine coveralls
26:08instead of his flight suit. No time to change. The flight deck crew already had his Hellcat positioned
26:14on the catapult. F6F3, Hellcat Bureau No. 66168. His personal aircraft marked with double zero on both
26:22sides of the fuselage, the traditional identification of an air group commander's plane. Ensign Warren Scone
26:28would fly the second Hellcat. Lieutenant Commander John Phillips would pilot the radar-equipped Avenger
26:34with his crew. The three aircraft launched between 1758 and 1801 hours. The sun had already set. They
26:41climbed into complete darkness and formed up on the Avenger. Phillips' radar operator detected the
26:47incoming Japanese formation. Multiple contacts, closing rapidly on the task force. O'Hare adjusted course to
26:54intercept. This was it. The first carrier-based night fighter operation in naval history.
27:00O'Hare was 29 years old. He had saved a carrier once before in daylight, with perfect visibility.
27:06Now he would try to do it again in total darkness, against an enemy he could not see.
27:11Phillips kept his Avenger at 1200 feet altitude, flying below the cloud base where visibility was
27:17slightly better. His radar operator called out contacts. Multiple bogeys approaching from the
27:22north. Distance closing. O'Hare and Scone maintained formation on the Avenger's wings,
27:27flying purely on instruments. No moon. No stars. Just the faint glow of the Avenger's formation lights
27:34and the distant flashes of anti-aircraft fire from the task force below. The radar operator counted at
27:40least nine enemy aircraft inbound. Mitsubishi G4M Betty bombers. The same aircraft O'Hare had fought
27:48twenty months earlier in daylight. Now, he would face them in complete darkness. Phillips vectored
27:53the team toward the Japanese formation. O'Hare strained his eyes, searching for any visual contact.
27:59Nothing. Then, his gunner and the Avenger spotted silhouettes against the slightly lighter sky. Dark shapes
28:05moving against darkness. The Betty bombers were maintaining formation, approaching the task force
28:10in a coordinated attack pattern. Phillips opened fire with his Avenger's two forward-firing .50-caliber
28:16machine guns. Tracers arced into the night. One Betty exploded. Burning fuel illuminated the sky
28:22for three seconds before the wreckage tumbled toward the ocean. Phillips adjusted his aim and fired again.
28:28A second Betty caught fire and fell away from the formation. O'Hare spotted movement to his right.
28:34Another bomber crossing his flight path. He pulled the Hellcat into a hard turn and opened fire with
28:39all six machine guns. The Betty's engines erupted in flames. The bomber rolled inverted and dove.
28:46Scone engaged a separate target. His tracers walked across a Betty's fuselage. The bomber's fuel tanks
28:52detonated. Four enemy aircraft destroyed in less than two minutes, but the remaining Japanese bombers
28:58scattered in all directions. Formation discipline broke down. Bombers dove for the deck, trying to
29:04evade the night fighters. Others climbed into the clouds. The coordinated attack dissolved into chaos.
29:10O'Hare and Scone attempted to rejoin the Avenger. Phillips was circling, trying to regain radar contact
29:17with the dispersed enemy formation. The two Hellcats approached from different directions in the darkness.
29:22The Avenger's tail gunner, Alvin Kernan, watched both fighters closing on his aircraft. He could
29:28barely see their silhouettes. Scone's Hellcat came in first, settling into position on the Avenger's
29:33right wing. O'Hare's Hellcat approached from behind and below. Kernan tracked the CAGS fighter as it
29:39climbed toward formation position. The Hellcat was approximately 400 feet away when Kernan spotted a
29:45third aircraft. A Japanese Betty bomber had followed O'Hare's Hellcat. The bomber emerged from the darkness
29:51above and behind O'Hare's fighter. The Betty's nose gunner opened fire with his 7.7 millimeter
29:57machine gun. Tracers converged on the Hellcat. Kernan watched the rounds impact O'Hare's aircraft.
30:04The Hellcat lurched. O'Hare's fighter turned sharply left, passing directly beneath Scone's Hellcat.
30:10The wounded aircraft entered a steep dive. Scone immediately called O'Hare on the radio. No response.
30:16He called again. Nothing. Scone broke formation and dove after his commander. He pushed his Hellcat
30:23to maximum speed, trying to follow O'Hare's descending fighter. But he was diving blind,
30:28into total darkness, with no visual reference to the ocean surface. At 300 feet altitude by his
30:35instruments, Scone pulled out of the dive. He could not risk crashing into the ocean. He circled the area,
30:41calling O'Hare repeatedly on the radio. The only sound was static. Phillips brought the Avenger down
30:47to search altitude. They crisscrossed the area for 30 minutes. No wreckage. No life raft. No emergency
30:54beacon. Nothing. At 20 hundred hours, Phillips ordered the team to return to Enterprise. Fuel was
31:01running low. They had been airborne for two hours. The night landing would be dangerous enough without
31:06adding fuel starvation to the risk. Scone protested. Phillips overruled him. They turned back toward the
31:13carrier. Behind them, the ocean was dark and empty. Lieutenant Commander Edward O'Hare had vanished.
31:19The Navy would later calculate that O'Hare's Hellcat struck the water at 1934 hours.
31:2526 miles north-northwest of Enterprise, the first carrier-based night fighter mission had succeeded in
31:31stopping the Japanese attack, but it had cost the life of the Navy's first ace. O'Hare was 29 years
31:37old.
31:38He had survived nine Japanese bombers in daylight. He did not survive the darkness. Enterprise launched
31:44search aircraft at dawn on November 27. They covered 200 square miles of ocean. No wreckage, no debris,
31:52no oil slick. The search continued for three days. Admiral Radford authorized every available aircraft to
31:58join the effort. Destroyers crisscrossed the area where O'Hare had gone down. They found nothing.
32:03The Pacific Ocean had swallowed one of America's greatest fighter pilots without leaving a trace.
32:09On December 9, the Navy officially declared Lieutenant Commander Edward O'Hare missing in action.
32:15The news spread through the Pacific Fleet. Aviators throughout the carrier groups reacted with
32:20disbelief. O'Hare had been untouchable. He had survived impossible odds in February 1942. He had
32:27trained hundreds of pilots. He had pioneered night fighting tactics. Many assumed he would survive
32:32the entire war. His former wingman, Alex Frashu, later said the hardest thing he ever did was talk
32:39to O'Hare's wife Rita after returning stateside. Admiral Radford wrote a letter to Rita describing the
32:45extensive search efforts. He included a sentence that summarized how the fleet felt about O'Hare.
32:50He had never seen one individual so universally liked. One year later, on November 26, 1944,
32:58the Navy changed O'Hare's status from missing in action to killed in action. Rita O'Hare received
33:04her husband's posthumous decorations. The Navy Cross for his actions during Operation Galvanic,
33:10the Purple Heart for his death in combat. She attended the ceremony with their daughter Kathleen,
33:14who had been born in January 1943. Kathleen never knew her father. She was ten months old when he
33:21disappeared over the Pacific. On January 27, 1945, the Navy commissioned USS O'Hare, a Gearing-class
33:30destroyer. The ship served through the end of World War II and into the Cold War. But O'Hare's most
33:35visible memorial would come four years later. Colonel Robert McCormick, publisher of the Chicago Tribune,
33:41began a campaign to rename Chicago's Orchard Field Airport. On September 19, 1949, the airport officially
33:50became O'Hare International Airport. Today, more than 80 million passengers pass through O'Hare annually.
33:56Most never learn why the airport bears that name. A Grumman F-4F Wildcat sits on display in Terminal 2.
34:03The aircraft is marked identically to the fighter O'Hare flew on February 20, 1942. Five Japanese flags
34:10painted on the fuselage, white F-15 on the side. The display was formally opened on the 75th anniversary
34:17of his Medal of Honor flight. The night fighter tactics O'Hare helped develop became standard
34:22procedure throughout the Pacific Fleet. The three-plane team concept worked. Radar-equipped
34:28Avengers guiding Hellcat fighters stopped Japanese night attacks. American carriers gained control of the
34:34darkness. The tactics saved ships and lives through the final two years of the war. O'Hare had proven the
34:41concept was viable, even though it cost him his life. His sacrifice was not wasted. O'Hare's story
34:47proved something fundamental about courage. He faced nine bombers alone in daylight, with 34 seconds of
34:53ammunition, and survived. He could have stayed in training command for the remainder of the war.
34:58The Navy would have kept him safe. America needed living heroes. But O'Hare requested combat duty.
35:04He volunteered for the most dangerous mission available. He led the first night fighter operation,
35:09knowing the risks. He died doing what he believed was necessary. Not for glory. Not for recognition.
35:16But because carriers needed protection, and somebody had to go first. 80 million people walk through O'Hare
35:22airport every year. Most have no idea who he was, or why it carries his name. Now you do. Hit
35:28that like button.
35:30One click tells YouTube to push this story to someone who has never heard of the pilot, who saved a
35:35carrier alone.
35:36Subscribe and turn on notifications. We dig through declassified records and forgotten archives,
35:42to bring you stories like this every week. Drop a comment and tell us where you are watching from.
35:47United States? United Kingdom? Canada? Australia? We want to hear from you. Tell us if someone in your
35:54family served in the Pacific. Tell us if you have walked through Terminal 2, and stopped at that
35:59Wildcat on display. Thank you for watching. Butch O'Hare gave everything at 29, so his carrier and crew
36:05would survive. You just made sure his name is not forgotten.
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