David McCampbell

Captain David McCampbell (January 16, 1910 – June 30, 1996) was a United States Navy captain, naval aviator, and Medal of Honor recipient. He retired from the Navy in 1964 with 31 years of service.

McCampbell is the United States Navy's all-time leading flying ace (called Ace of the Aces in the Navy) and top F6F Hellcat ace with 34 aerial victories. He was the third-highest American scoring ace of World War II and the highest-scoring American ace to survive the war. He also set a United States single mission aerial combat record of shooting down nine enemy planes in one mission, on October 24, 1944, at the beginning of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, in the Philippines.

Early life McCampbell was born in Bessemer, Alabama. When aged around 12, his family moved to West Palm Beach, Florida. He attended the Staunton Military Academy in Virginia, and studied one year at the Georgia School of Technology in Atlanta. There, he joined the US Navy ROTC, played football, was on the swim team, and was a member of the Alpha Sigma chapter of Kappa Alpha Order.

In 1929, McCampbell was appointed to United States Naval Academy, where he again played football and was on the swim team. He received his "wings of gold" as a Naval Aviator on April 21, 1938 and was assigned to Fighter Squadron Four (VF-4) on the aircraft carrier in May 1940.

World War II McCampbell while serving as a landing signal officer on board USS Wasp during Operation Bowery. He is signalling to a pilot about to take off, May 1942

McCampbell served as a landing signal officer (LSO) from May 1940, surviving the sinking of the carrier by a Japanese submarine near Guadalcanal on September 15, 1942. He returned to the United States, was promoted to lieutenant commander, and was stationed at Naval Air Station Melbourne, Florida, as an LSO Instructor until August 1943. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher speaks with Air Group Commander McCampbell, the task force's leading pilot. McCampbell formed Fighter Squadron 15 (VF-15) on September 1, 1943, and led the squadron before being reassigned as Commander of Air Group 15 (CAG-15) from February to September 1944. As Commander, Carrier Air Group (CAG) 15, he was Commander of the Air Group (fighters, bombers, and torpedo bombers) when the group was embarked on the aircraft carrier . In six months of combat from April to November 1944, his group participated in two major air-sea battles, the Battle of the Philippine Sea and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. In more than 20,000 hours of air combat operations before it returned to the United States for a rest period, Air Group 15 destroyed more enemy planes (315 airborne and 348 on the ground) and sank more enemy shipping than any other air group in the Pacific War. Air Group 15's attacks on the Japanese in the Marianas and at Iwo Jima, Taiwan, and Okinawa were key to the success of the "island hopping" campaign.

In addition to his duties as commander of the "Fabled Fifteen", then-Commander McCampbell became the Navy's "ace of aces" in 1944. McCampbell entered combat on May 14 Commander McCampbell received the Medal of Honor for both actions, becoming the only Fast Carrier Task Force aviator to be so honored.

Aerial victories

Post-war

McCampbell returned to the United States in March 1945 and served as Chief of Staff to the Commander Fleet Air at NAS Norfolk, Virginia, until January 1947. He then attended the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, and remained as an instructor after graduating.

He served as the Senior Naval Aviation Advisor to the Argentine Navy, stationed at Buenos Aires, Argentina, from 1948 to January 1951, and then as executive officer aboard the during the Korean War (although the ship did not participate in combat) from February 1951 to March 1952. He was promoted to captain in July 1952. He served as the Planning Officer on the Staff of Commander Aircraft Atlantic from March 1952 to July 1953. He served as the Commanding Officer, Naval Air Technical Training Center Jacksonville, at NAS Jacksonville, Florida, from July 1953 to July 1954. He then commanded the fleet oiler , followed by the aircraft carrier .

The well known film actor Wayne Morris had been a guest of his World War II commander, Captain David McCampbell, and was watching aerial maneuvers aboard the aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard in San Francisco Bay when he died on 24 September 1959 having suffered a massive heart attack and was later pronounced dead after being transported to Oakland Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He was 45.

McCampbell was then assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon from 1960 to September 1962. His final assignment was as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations to the Commander in Chief, Continental Air Defense Command, serving from September 1962 until his retirement from the Navy on July 1, 1964.

Retirement and death McCampbell retired from active duty in 1964. He died in Riviera Beach, Florida, in 1996 and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Medal of Honor citation

Medal of Honor citation Rank and Organization: Commander, United States Navy, Air Group 15 Place and Date: First and second battles of the Philippine Sea, 19 June 1944 Entered Service at: Florida Born: January 16, 1910, Bessemer, Alabama

Awards and decorations McCampbell's decorations and awards include:

Civilian Award

Navy Distinguished Public Service Award

Other honors

In October 1988 the new passenger terminal at the Palm Beach International Airport was named in his honor. In 1996, McCampbell was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in Dayton, Ohio. In 1999 he was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame. An AEGIS guided-missile destroyer was christened in 2000.