Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O'Hare (March 13, 1914 – November 26, 1943) was an American naval aviator of the United States Navy, who on February 20, 1942, became the Navy's first fighter ace of the war when he single-handedly attacked a formation of nine medium bombers approaching his aircraft carrier. Although he had a limited amount of ammunition, O'Hare was credited with shooting down five enemy bombers and became the first naval aviator recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II."Navy.togetherweserved: O'Hare, Edward Henry, LCDR"
O'Hare's final action took place on the night of November 26, 1943, while he was leading the U.S. Navy's first-ever nighttime fighter attack launched from an aircraft carrier. During this encounter with a group of Japanese torpedo bombers, O'Hare's Grumman F6F Hellcat was shot down; his aircraft was never found. A radio message was sent out, but there was no response. In 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer was named in his honor.
On September 19, 1949, the Chicago-area Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare International Airport, six years after O'Hare perished. An F4F Wildcat, in a livery identical to the aircraft ("White F-15") flown by O'Hare, is on display in Terminal 2. The display was formally opened on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his Medal of Honor flight.O’Hare Airport Celebrates 75th Anniversary Of Namesake’s Heroic Flight
Early life
Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Selma Anna (Lauth) and Edward Joseph O'Hare. He was of Irish and German descent. Butch had two sisters, Patricia and Marilyn. When their parents divorced in 1927, Butch and his sisters stayed with Selma in St. Louis while Edward moved to Chicago. Butch's father was a lawyer who worked closely with Al Capone before turning against him and helping convict Capone of tax evasion."Acepilots: Lt. Cdr. Edward "Butch" O'Hare"
Butch O'Hare graduated from the Western Military Academy in 1932. The following year, he went on to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. After O'Hare graduated and was commissioned as an ensign on June 3, 1937, he served two years on the battleship . In 1939, O'Hare started flight training at NAS Pensacola in Florida, flying the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-1 "Yellow Peril" and Stearman NS-1 biplane trainers, and later the advanced SNJ trainer. On the nimble Boeing F4B-4A, he trained in aerobatics as well as aerial gunnery. O'Hare also flew the SBU Corsair and the TBD Devastator.Ewing and Lundstrom 1987, p. 87, 88.
In November 1939, O'Hare's father was shot and killed, most likely by Al Capone's gunmen. During Capone's tax evasion trial in 1931 and 1932, Edward O'Hare had provided incriminating evidence which helped finally put Capone away. There is speculation that this was done to ensure that Butch got into the Naval Academy, or to set a good example; it certainly at least partly involved an attempt to distance himself from Capone's activities. Whatever the motivation, the elder O'Hare was shot and killed while driving his car a week before Capone was released from incarceration.
When Butch finished his naval aviation training on May 2, 1940, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron Three (VF-3) on board . O'Hare then trained on the Grumman F3F and then graduated to the Brewster F2A Buffalo. Lieutenant John Thach, then executive officer of VF-3, discovered O'Hare's exceptional flying abilities and closely mentored the promising young pilot.Ewing and Lundstrom 1987, p. 93-94. Thach, who would later develop the Thach Weave aerial combat tactic, emphasized gunnery in his training. In 1941, more than half of all VF-3 pilots, including O'Hare, earned the "E" for gunnery excellence.
In early 1941, VF-3 transferred to , while carrierEwing and Lundstrom 1987, p. 97. Saratoga underwent maintenance and overhaul work at Bremerton Navy Yard.
On Monday morning, July 21, O'Hare made his first flight in a Grumman F4F Wildcat. Following stops in Washington and Dayton, he landed in St. Louis the next day. Visiting the wife of a friend in hospital that afternoon, O'Hare met his future wife, nurse Rita Wooster, proposing to her the first time they met. After O'Hare took instruction in Roman Catholicism to convert, he and Rita married in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Phoenix on Saturday, September 6, 1941. For their honeymoon, they sailed to Hawaii on separate ships, Butch on Saratoga, which had completed modifications at Bremerton, and Rita on the Matson liner . Butch was called to duty the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
On Sunday evening, January 11, 1942, as Butch and other VF-3 officers ate dinner in the wardroom, the carrier Saratoga was damaged by a Japanese torpedo hit while patrolling southwest of Hawaii. She spent five months in repair on the west coast, so VF-3 squadron transferred to the on January 31.
World War II service
Medal of Honor flight
O'Hare's most famous flight occurred during the Pacific War on February 20, 1942. He and his wingman were the only U.S. Navy fighters available when a second wave of Japanese bombers were attacking his aircraft carrier Lexington.
O'Hare was on board the aircraft carrier Lexington, which had been assigned the task of penetrating enemy-held waters north of New Ireland. While still from the harbor at Rabaul, at 10:15, the Lexington picked up an unknown aircraft on radar from the ship. A six-plane combat patrol was launched, two fighters being directed to investigate the contact. These two planes, under command of LCDR. John Thach, shot down a four-engined Kawanishi H6K4 Type 97 ("Mavis") flying boat about out at 11:12. Later two other planes of the combat patrol were sent to another radar contact ahead, shooting down a second "Mavis" at 12:02. A third contact was made out, but reversed course and disappeared. At 15:42, a jagged vee signal drew the attention of the Lexingtons radar operator. The contact then was lost but reappeared at 16:25 west. O'Hare, flying F4F Wildcat BuNo 4031 "White F-15", was one of several pilots launched to intercept nine Japanese Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers from the 4th Kōkūtai's 2nd Chutai.Shores, Cull, Izawa, p. 186-188 O'Hare's squadmates shot down eight bombers (with the ninth falling to an SBD later), but he and his wingman, Marion "Duff" Dufilho, were held back in the event of a second attack.
At 16:49, the Lexingtons radar picked up a second formation of "Bettys" from the 4th Kōkūtai's 1st Chutai,Shores, Cull, Izawa, pp. 186-189 only out, on the disengaged side of the task force.Ewing and Lundstrom 1987, p. 129. With the majority of VF-3 still chasing the 2nd Chutai, only O'Hare and Dufilho were available to intercept. Flying eastward they arrived above the "Bettys" out at 17:00. Dufilho's guns jammed, leaving only O'Hare to protect the carrier. The enemy was in a V-of-Vs formation, flying very close together and using their rear-facing 20mm cannon for mutual protection. O'Hare's Wildcat was armed with four 50-caliber guns, with 450 rounds per gun, giving him about 10 three-second bursts.
O'Hare's initial maneuver was a high-side diving attack from the formation's starboard side employing deflection shooting. He managed to hit the outside "Betty"s right engineShores, Cull, Izawa, p. 189 and wing fuel tanks; when the stricken craft of Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryosuke Kogiku (3rd Shotai)Ewing and Lundstrom 1997, p. 130 abruptly lurched to starboard, he switched to the next plane up the line, that of Petty Officer 1st Class Koji Maeda (3rd Shotai leader). Maeda's plane caught fire, but his crew managed to put out the flames with "one single spurt of liquid ... from the fire-extinguisher" Both Maeda and Kogiku would catch up with the group before bomb release.
With two "Bettys" out of formation (albeit temporarily), O'Hare began his second firing pass, this time from the port side. His first target was the outside plane, flown by Petty Officer 1st Class Bin Mori (2nd Shotai). O'Hare's bullets damaged the right engine and left fuel tank, forcing Mori to dump his bombs and abort his mission.Ewing and Lundstrom 1997, p.131 O'Hare then targeted the plane of Petty Officer 1st Class Susumu Uchiyama (1st Shotai), which became his first definite kill.
As O'Hare began his third firing pass, again from the port side, the remaining "Bettys" were nearing their bomb release point. First, O'Hare shot down Lieutenant (junior grade) Akira Mitani (2nd Shotai leader).Ewing and Lundstrom, 134. This left the lead plane, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Takuzo Ito,Ewing and Lundstrom 1997, p.124 exposed. O'Hare's concentrated fire caused the plane's port engine nacelle to break free from its mountings and fall from the plane. The resulting explosion was so violent that the 1st Chutai pilots were convinced that an anti-aircraft burst had struck their commander's plane.Lundstrom, p.103 With a gaping hole in its left wing, Ito's plane fell out of formation.
Shortly afterwards, O'Hare made a fourth firing pass, likely against Maeda (who had now caught up), but ran out of ammunition. Frustrated, he pulled away to allow the ships to fire their anti-aircraft guns. The four surviving bombers dropped their ordnance, but all their 250 kg bombs missed.Shores, Cull, Izawa, p. 191 O'Hare believed he had shot down six bombers and damaged a seventh. Captain Sherman would later reduce this to five, as four of the reported nine bombers were still overhead when he pulled off.Ewing and Lundstrom 1997, p.140 Thach, hurrying towards the scene with reinforcements after mopping up the 2nd Chûtai, saw three enemy bombers falling in flames at the same time."Acepilots: Saving the Lexington"
In fact, O'Hare destroyed only three "Bettys": Uchiyama's, Mitani's, and Ito's. The last plane, however, was not yet finished. Ito's command pilot, Warrant Officer Chuzo Watanabe,Group leader Takuzo Ito was not piloting his own "Betty". As per standard practice in the IJNAF, the pilot was an enlisted man, and the commander of the plane was an observer and/or navigator. regained enough control to level his damaged plane and attempted to crash it into Lexington. He missed, and flew into the water near the carrier at 17:12. Another three "Bettys" were damaged by O'Hare's attacks. Of these, Maeda and Kogiku safely landed at Vunakanau airdrome at 19:50, while Mori became lost in a storm and eventually ditched at Simpson Harbor at 20:10.Ewing and Lundstrom 1997, 136-137
With his ammunition expended, O'Hare returned to his carrier, and was fired on accidentally but with no effect by a .50-caliber machine gun from the Lexington. O'Hare's fighter had, in fact, been hit by only one bullet during his flight, the single bullet hole in F-15's port wing disabling the airspeed indicator. According to Thach, O'Hare then approached the gun platform to calmly say to the embarrassed anti-aircraft gunner who had fired at him, "Son, if you don't stop shooting at me when I've got my wheels down, I'm going to have to report you to the gunnery officer."Ewing and Lundstrom 1987, p. 138.
In the opinion of Admiral Brown and of Captain Frederick C. Sherman, commanding the Lexington, Lieutenant O'Hare's actions may have saved the carrier from serious damage or even loss. By 19:00 all Lexington planes had been recovered except for two F4F-3 Wildcats shot down while attacking enemy bombers; both were lost while making steady, no-deflection runs from astern of their targets. The pilot of one fighter was rescued, the other went down with his aircraft.