Hello
this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today we
continue with part two of our Hero’s Journey to honor some of those
who fought World War Two, and made that hero’s journey.
Another hero’s journey – Jimmy Thach
The early days of World War Two were desperate times for the naval
and marine aviators trying to defend their ships from attack in the
pacific. The only fighter aircraft they had for the first 15 months
or so of the war was the F4F Wildcat which was vastly inferior to its
main opponent the Japanese zero. The Wildcat did not have
automatically retractable landing so the gear had to be manually
retracted by the pilot turning a crank in the cockpit that operated a
set of wheels and pulleys. It was less agile, less maneuverable, and
slower than the Zero which all added up to a lot of dead American
pilots.
The pilots used to joke about the Wildcat that it was so bad that
when they launched from the deck of the Carrier the aircraft should
immediately be reported as missing. One man named Jimmy Thach,
decided that he would do something to change that. Lt. Com. Thach
said that even though the aircraft was inferior to its Japanese
counterpart, the men who flew them were not. He picked two other
flyers from the squadron he commanded, and invited them to a training
session in his quarters.
Thach’s contribution: air fighter tactics
He took a few matchsticks and laid out for the other two pilots
his tactical method. That method of changing tactics to accommodate
the aircraft’s strengths and weaknesses redefined American fighter
tactics and saved countless American lives as well as protected their
ships from destruction. His theory was that since their aircraft were
inferior to the enemy’s aircraft tactics had to change to even the
score. His tactical change became known as the Thach weave whereby
two Wildcats would weave back and forth in a kind of figure eight
fashion thus making it almost impossible for a Zero to get on a
Wildcat’s tail without exposing itself to attack from the other
Wildcat.
The three of them went up and practiced the maneuver over and over
until they had it down, and then they taught it to the rest of the
squadron, and to the other squadrons on their ship, the USS Lexington. Jimmy Thach went on to become the best known
tactician in the navy. He also developed what became known as the big
blue blanket, to help protect ships from kamikaze attack later in the
war.
Where the hero’s journey begins and ends: his
life
Jimmy Thach was born in Pine Bluff Arkansas just across the river
from where I live now. He did about everything a good hero can do
during his journey. Throughout his forty years in the navy he was a
theoretical innovator and a tactical genius. In the last year of the
War he was a task force operations officer, and during the Korean War
he was an aircraft carrier commander. During the cold war he
contributed greatly to the navy’s anti-submarine warfare
efforts.There is still an award for excellence named for him at the
navy’s anti-submarine school.
He was also a great fighter pilot credited with many enemy
aircraft, including six in one day. He served on the staff of Vice
Admiral John McCain, that’s the senator’s father, and was aboard
the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay for the Japanese surrender. He
was eventually promoted to four star rank and commanded the US naval
operations in Europe. He retired from the navy in 1967 with 40 years
of service. He died on April 15, 1981 four days before his 76th birthday thus completing his journey.
Another hero’s journey – the O’Hares of
Chicago
One of those men sitting at Jimmy Thach’s table to learn about
the Thach weave was Edward “ Butch” O’Hare. You might recognize
that name if you’ve ever flown into Chicago because O’Hare
airport is named for Butch O’Hare although he was not from Chicago
and never lived there. His father Edgar or EJ was a lawyer who had
client who was Commissioner of the International Greyhound Racing
Association. He hired EJ to apply for a patent on a mechanical rabbit
device to be used in dog racing. EJ bought the rights from the
client’s widow and took his rabbit to Chicago.
The man who ran Chicago then was Al Capone and he and EJ hit it
off and were soon running all the tracks around Chicago. They also
branched out into Boston and Miami and made huge amounts of money but
the St. Valentine’s Day massacre in 1929 was pretty much the final
straw for EJ. I suppose making money was good but cold blooded mass
murder was bad. EJ apparently grew weary of working with thugs and
gangsters so he turned over all of Capone’s financial records to
the FBI and down went Capone for income tax evasion, and off he went
to Alcatraz.
Butch goes to the Navy
Butch had to live down EJ’s mob connection but EJ did finally
put an end to Capone’s operation. Meanwhile, EJ had always been
interested in flying so he got one of his politician friends to
recommend Butch to the naval academy where he was determined become a
naval aviator. While Butch was at the Academy EJ was driving home
from his dog track in St. Louis in his new Lincoln when he was killed
by a shotgun blast from a passing car.
Butch graduated from the Naval Academy and was accepted into
aviation as a fighter pilot. The airplane he was trained on was the
Wildcat that we just talked about. He had almost a year in the
Wildcat before the war started so he became an aircraft gunnery
expert through months of training. When war broke out he was assigned
to the USS Lexington and to Jimmy Thach’s squadron.
Butch saves the ship
Butch fought hard to defend the Lexington from Japanese
attack but the older carriers were particularly vulnerable to attack
from the air due to their wooden decks and to the sheer number of
attacking aircraft. There is only so much fire that can be put up to
stop a determined attack so the fighters have to do it, but if the
attackers get through the outer fighter screen then for the fighters
to continue their attack would mean exposure to friendly
anti-aircraft fire.
Butch and his wingman were up on patrol over the Lexington one day when they were informed that a flight of 18 Japanese bombers
from the Japanese base at Rabaul were inbound to the Lexington.
The bombers were divided into two attack waves of nine each separated
by a few minutes. They attacked the first wave and the two of them
shot down six bombers and turned the rest around to join the incoming
group. In the second wave Butch’s wingman’s guns would not fire
so Butch fought the bombers alone all the way to anti-air range of
the Lexington. When they reached that area there were six
bombers left and Butch dove after them into his own friendly fire but
not a single bomber reached the ship.
Medal of Honor
The captain of the Lexington recommended Butch for
commendation for singlehandedly saving his aircraft carrier. But
Butch said no I don’t deserve a medal because every pilot on this
ship would have done the same thing. The captain said maybe so but
you actually did it so he recommended him for the Medal of Honor.
President Roosevelt was in dire need of heroes at the time and Butch
made a great one for the recruiting posters.
On March 4, 1942 Butch learned that he was front page news across
the United States. Remember that in those years’ the front pages of
newspapers were the news. The papers reported that President
Roosevelt was going to award this handsome young aviator the Medal of
Honor. On April 21, 1942 Butch and his wife Rita came to the White
House where he was awarded the Medal and promoted to Lt. Commander.
He went back to St. Louis to a full military parade.
A hero’s journey ends
In June 1942 he returned to combat and took command of his old
squadron. In November 1943 his squadron was assigned to the USS Enterprise because the Lexington was lost in the battle
of the Coral Sea. The squadron now had the new F4F Hellcat which was
more than a match for the Zero. He was leading a mission supporting
the Marine landings at Tarawa when he was shot down and killed. His
death was apparently due to a series of mistakes by others but he was
nevertheless dead.
In St. Louis his mother Selma saw a newspaper article that said
that several Japanese planes had been shot down with the loss of only
one American. That’s my Edward she said I know it is.
A third hero’s journey – Paul TIbbets
Paul Tibbets, a good friend of Butch’s since their high school
days at Western Military Academy wrote his condolences to Butch’s
mother. Paul became a pilot as well but in the Air Force or Army Air
Corps as it was called then. One and a half years after his friend
and classmates death he flew a B-29 named for his mother, Enola Gay
over Japan and introduced the world to the atomic age August 6, 1945.
All these men are dead now but I am glad to be able to remember
them in this way, I have enjoyed bringing you their hero’s
journeys. The next time you fly through O’Hare, think about how it
got that name.
Too many heroes to count
I could continue this series for the next year and not begin to
tell all their stories but alas we must return to our modern world of
identity politics. Theirs was a simpler time than ours. The war made
everyone a patriot and at the same time it took away innocence and
youth.
Next week then, God willing, we will return to the modern world of
crises, terror, chaos and confusion.
At least that’s the way I see it.
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle.
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