Wisconsin-born Richard Bong was the highest-rated flying ace in World War II, famous for having shot down 40 Japanese planes during a 3 year career as a fighter pilot. The recipient of a Silver Star and a Congressional Medal of Honor, Bong was killed after the war in a flying accident just months after marrying the love of his life, Marge Vattendahl. Badger Biographies is a series intended to integrate reading and Wisconsin history for 4th through 8th grade students or for ELL/ESL high school students.

Who would have imagined a farm boy from Wisconsin would be the greatest air hero of World War II? Richard Bong was an athletic and hard-working boy from northern Wisconsin who dreamed of flying from the first time a plane buzzed low over his family farm. When war broke out, he left behind a life of sports, deer hunting, and farm chores to fly the new P-38 Lightning for the Army Air Force. Stationed in New Guinea, Bong shot down a total of 40 Japanese flyers in under three years - beating the record of 26 set by Eddie Rickenbacker in World War I. His accomplishments won this modest pilot the title "Ace of Aces" and a Congressional Medal of Honor awarded by General MacArthur himself. Follow Bong as he navigates his way through basic training, flight school, and life on an overseas army base. Watch as he takes to the skies in his P-38 fighter jet, outflying Japanese aircraft with barrel rolls, dives, and turns. Celebrate as he meets and marries the love of his life back home in Wisconsin, and mourn as his life comes to a swift and unexpected end during an ill-fated training flight in California. Richard Bong: World War II Flying Ace is part of the Badger Biographies series for young readers. The engaging narrative is complemented by an accessible format that includes historic photographs, a glossary of terms, sidebars on life in the military, and suggestions for activities and discussion.

The heroic true story of Major Richard Bong, America’s greatest fighter pilot of the Pacific War and the nation’s top flying ace of World War II Arriving as a fresh US Army Air Forces pilot in New Guinea in late 1942, Richard Bong wasted no time taking on the Japanese, shooting down two planes in an early skirmish—an action that earned him a Silver Star. Over the next two years, Bong would amass the US armed forces’ most impressive record of aerial victories of the entire war, surpassing even the great Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I tally and notching forty kills. In December 1944, he was personally awarded the Medal of Honor by General Douglas MacArthur. Now acclaimed author Don Keith recounts the remarkable saga of Bong’s war years as well as his tragic death while serving as a test pilot.

The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot. In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" -- the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker -- offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command. What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now. Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced. The pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson -- riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight. But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades. Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart. "Brings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots . . . Fascinating." -- Sara Vladic"Extraordinary . . . a must-read." -- US Navy Captain Dan Pedersen"A heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots." -- James M. Scott"Vivid and gripping . . . Confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air." -- Saul David

Biography of America's all-time fighter ace of aces.

"Nuclear weapons, since their conception, have been the subject of secrecy. In the months after the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the American scientific establishment, the American government, and the American public all wrestled with what was called the "problem of secrecy," wondering not only whether secrecy was appropriate and effective as a means of controlling this new technology but also whether it was compatible with the country's core values. Out of a messy context of propaganda, confusion, spy scares, and the grave counsel of competing groups of scientists, what historian Alex Wellerstein calls a "new regime of secrecy" was put into place. It was unlike any other previous or since. Nuclear secrets were given their own unique legal designation in American law ("restricted data"), one that operates differently than all other forms of national security classification and exists to this day. Drawing on massive amounts of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time at the author's request, Restricted Data is a narrative account of nuclear secrecy and the tensions and uncertainty that built as the Cold War continued. In the US, both science and democracy are pitted against nuclear secrecy, and this makes its history uniquely compelling and timely"--