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"Pappy" Boyington Tells The Truth


Subdeacon Joe

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When they first showed up, I thought 2. Short - fit a cockpit better than them two six-footers. 

 

Them they put light on 'em and 3 looked more meaner.

 

3's answer about being afraid they'd execute him if they found out he flew as a Tiger was believable.

 

1 wasn't even in the running.

 

Then 2 said he'd never heard of "all ranks salute the Medal". Wonder if that was misinformation, to make them vote for someone else?

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Alpo, the "real" contestant is (was) supposed to answer all questions honestly.

 

And it's not required that all ranks salute, but may when the medal is worn.  

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  He did shoot down a lot of enemy planes but he was a conceited jerk. He was at Oshkosh for the EAA fly in's 2 or 3 years in a row hawking his book. He had a "I'm better at everything than anyone else here attitude" with a scowl on his mug.

  What was kind of funny and really graveled his cookies was the Japanese pilot that shot HIM down (or so he claimed)was there about 3 tables away selling his book about smoking Pappy's tail feathers.

  To be fair, he DID win the MOH and that is a special feat in itself and he did make a difference in the war effort.

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9 hours ago, Charlie Whiskers said:

  He did shoot down a lot of enemy planes but he was a conceited jerk. He was at Oshkosh for the EAA fly in's 2 or 3 years in a row hawking his book. He had a "I'm better at everything than anyone else here attitude" with a scowl on his mug.

  What was kind of funny and really graveled his cookies was the Japanese pilot that shot HIM down (or so he claimed)was there about 3 tables away selling his book about smoking Pappy's tail feathers.

  To be fair, he DID win the MOH and that is a special feat in itself and he did make a difference in the war effort.

 Read an interview of him done while he was the technical adviser on the TV show "Black Sheep Squadron".  He freely admitted to being "a conceited jerk" along with a number of other flaws, including being a liar at times.  Boyington was, by his own admission, a fairly flawed person, including being a heavy drinker most of his life. 

 

The being better then everyone else attitude was common among fighter pilots, although not all of them were as obnoxious as Boyington in expressing himself.  Boyington's autobiography and comments about the VMF-214 should be taken with a grain of salt.  The book "Black Sheep" by Bruce Gamble is considered a more accurate and honest account of VMF-214's military record during WWII.

 

Despite all of his flaws "Pappy" Boyington did what very few people can lay claim to ,  being a successful fighter and tied for 4th (with Gabby Gabreski) as top scoring American pilots in WWII.

 

On edit:  Boyington flew one of the early Brewster Buffalo's and thought it was a good plane.

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