1. Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O'Hare 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.
An F4F Wildcat, in a livery identical to the aircraft flown by Edward O'Hare, is on display in Terminal 2.
Butch Edward O'Hare graduated from the Western Military Academy in 1932.
Edward O'Hare flew the SBU Corsair and the TBD Devastator.
Whatever the motivation, the elder Edward O'Hare was shot and killed while driving his car a week before Capone was released from incarceration.
Edward 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 Edward O'Hare's exceptional flying abilities and closely mentored the promising young pilot.
In 1941, more than half of all VF-3 pilots, including Edward O'Hare, earned the "E" for gunnery excellence.
Edward O'Hare was on board the aircraft carrier Lexington, which had been assigned the task of penetrating enemy-held waters north of New Ireland.
Edward 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 Kokutai's 2nd Chutai.
Edward O'Hare's squadmates shot down eight bombers, but he and his wingman, Marion "Duff" Dufilho, were held back in the event of a second attack.
Dufilho's guns jammed, leaving only Edward O'Hare to protect the carrier.
Edward O'Hare's initial maneuver was a high-side diving attack from the formation's starboard side employing deflection shooting.
Edward O'Hare managed to hit the outside "Betty"s right engine and wing fuel tanks; when the stricken craft of Petty Officer 2nd Class Ryosuke Kogiku abruptly lurched to starboard, he switched to the next plane up the line, that of Petty Officer 1st Class Koji Maeda.
Edward O'Hare's bullets damaged the right engine and left fuel tank, forcing Mori to dump his bombs and abort his mission.
Edward O'Hare then targeted the plane of Petty Officer 1st Class Susumu Uchiyama, which became his first definite kill.
Edward O'Hare's concentrated fire caused the plane's port engine nacelle to break free from its mountings and fall from the plane.
Shortly afterwards, Edward O'Hare made a fourth firing pass, likely against Maeda, but ran out of ammunition.
Edward O'Hare believed he had shot down six bombers and damaged a seventh.
Edward O'Hare destroyed only three "Bettys": Uchiyama's, Mitani's, and Ito's.
Edward O'Hare missed, and flew into the water near the carrier at 17:12.
Edward 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.
The F4F Wildcat Edward O'Hare flew was BuNo 4031 as discovered in his Aviator Logbook.
Edward O'Hare received further decorations later in 1943 for actions in battles near Marcus Island in August and subsequent missions near Wake Island in October.
Edward O'Hare was not employed on combat duty from early 1942 until late 1943.
At the starting point, Edward O'Hare, wearing the blue-ribboned Medal of Honor around his neck, was guided to the back seat of a black open Packard Phaeton, where he sat between his wife Rita and his mother Selma.
On June 19,1942, Edward O'Hare assumed command of VF-3, relieving Lieutenant Commander Thach.
Edward O'Hare was relocated to Maui, Hawaii, to instruct other pilots in combat tactics.
An anecdote about Edward O'Hare, serving as an instructor on Hawaii mid-1942:.
On March 2,1943, Edward O'Hare met Rita and hugged his one-month-old daughter, Kathleen, for the first time.
Edward O'Hare's family resided in Coronado at 549 Orange Avenue, near North Island NAS.
On October 10,1943, Edward O'Hare flew with VF-6 again in the airstrikes against Wake Island.
Now overseeing three squadrons, Edward O'Hare still insisted that everyone call him "Butch".
Later Rear Admiral Arthur W Radford honored a request from O'Hare to take a fighter as command aircraft instead of the Avenger, so O'Hare in a fateful decision happily drew Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat Bureau Number 66168 from the fleet pool to become his principal CAG plane, numbered "00".
Edward O'Hare's plan required the carrier's Fighter Director Officer to spot incoming enemy formations at a distance and send a "Bat Team" section consisting of a Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber and two Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters toward the Japanese intruders.
Edward O'Hare volunteered to lead this mission to conduct the first-ever Navy nighttime fighter attack from an aircraft carrier to intercept a large force of enemy torpedo bombers.
Edward O'Hare grabbed up part of his supper in his fist and started running for the ready room.
Edward O'Hare was last seen at the 5 o'clock position of the TBF.
Seconds later Edward O'Hare's F6F slid out of formation to port, pushing slightly ahead at about 160 knots and then vanished in the dark.
The Avenger pilot, Lieutenant Commander Phillips, called repeatedly to Edward O'Hare, but received no reply.
When warnings were received of the approach of a large force of Japanese torpedo bombers, Lieutenant Commander Edward O'Hare volunteered to lead a fighter section of aircraft from his carrier, the first time such a mission had been attempted at night, in order to intercept the attackers.
Edward O'Hare fearlessly led his three-plane group into combat against a large formation of hostile aircraft and assisted in shooting down two Japanese aeroplanes and dispersed the remainder.
Edward O'Hare was decommissioned on October 31,1973, then transferred on loan and later sold to the Spanish Navy.
In 2001, the Air Classics Museum remodeled the aircraft to replicate the F4F-3 Wildcat that Edward O'Hare flew on his Medal of Honor flight.