The 475th Fighter Group was perhaps the best known of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning groups in the theater since it contained among its personnel the top scoring flying aces in the Pacific--Richard I. Bong (40 kills) and Thomas B. McGuire, Jr.
On 6 August 1945, the top USAAF fighter ace Richard Bong died in a flight accident as his Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star fighter suffered a flameout and dove to ground.
At war's end he was evaluating the Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star and was to have flown the very aircraft that fighter ace Richard Bong was eventually killed in.
During this period 1964 to 1968, Matsuki visited Rome and painted commissioned portraits for five Air Force officers and their wives, and was commissioned by the Officers Club of the 49th Tactical Squadron to paint a portrait of the recently deceased USAF fighter ace Richard Bong
Richard Nixon | Richard Wagner | Richard Strauss | Richard Branson | Cliff Richard | Richard Gere | Richard Burton | Richard Hammond | Richard | Richard Dawkins | Little Richard | Richard Feynman | Richard Attenborough | Richard M. Daley | Richard I of England | Richard Thompson | Richard Francis Burton | Richard Thompson (musician) | Richard Pryor | Richard Linklater | Richard III of England | Richard Petty | Richard II | Richard II of England | Richard E. Byrd | Maurice Richard Arena | Muhal Richard Abrams | Richard Herring | Richard Wright | Richard Stallman |
Dick Bong, Thomas McGuire, David McCampbell, Joe Foss, and Pappy Boyington are some of the American aces that appear in the game.
The bridge’s namesake, Richard Ira Bong, was a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and was named the United States' all time "Ace of Aces".