William N. Hess (1925–2019)

A rather more workmanlike number in this series that leaves me with some questions. The big question being what was the logic in the 9th Fighter Squadron apparently being the first unit in the Southwest Pacific to receive the Lockheed P-38. While happenstance is often about the only explanation one is going to get for the activities of the 5th Air Force, it's just something that irritates me as to how the author has no thoughts on the subject. One could imagine that either the 9th was seen as rather more elite than the other two squadrons in the group, so they received the new fighters, or, perhaps, that as men who had completed their tour of duty rotated out fresh pilots trained on the P-38 rotated in with the aircraft they were familiar with.… (meer)