James H. Howard

United States Navy

Howard began his flight training in January 1938 at Naval Air Station Pensacola, earning his wings a year later.^[6] In 1939, he was assigned as a U.S. Navy pilot aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Flying Tigers

In June 1941, he left the Navy to become a P-40 fighter pilot with the American Volunteer Group (AVG), the Flying Tigers, in Burma.^[6] Howard was assigned to the group's 2nd Squadron ("Panda Bears"). On January 3, 1942, Howard was part of a flight led by squadron leader Jack Newkirk, who led an attack on a Japanese-held Tak airfield near Raheng, Thailand. Upon arriving over the airfield, the flight saw three Nakajima Ki-27s on the ground and three in a landing pattern. Howard led a strafing run on the airfield, destroying the three Ki-27s, while his wingman Tex Hill shot down a Ki-27 that was attacking Howard. As Howard prepared to conduct a second strafing run, his P-40 was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire. Howard managed to fly his aircraft with the rest of the flight to Rangoon, Burma.^[7] This mission was described in a 2006 episode of the History Channel series Dogfights.^[8]

On January 19, Howard and two other pilots were credited with shared destruction of a Mitsubishi Ki-21 bomber performing reconnaissance over Burma. On January 24, he shot down a Ki-27 over Rangoon. On July 4, Howard shot down a Ki-27 over Hengyang, China, while other AVG pilots shot down three more Ki-27s with no losses. The aerial battle over Hengyang was the last combat action of Flying Tigers before it was disbanded.^[9] In total, Howard flew 56 missions and shot down six Japanese warplanes.^{[N 1][1]}

United States Army Air Forces

After the Flying Tigers were disbanded on July 4, 1942, Howard returned to the U.S. and was commissioned a captain in the Army Air Forces. In 1943, he was promoted to the rank of major and given command of the 356th Fighter Squadron in the 354th Fighter Group, based in the United Kingdom, flying North American P-51 Mustangs. On December 20, 1943, during an escort of American bombers over Bremen, Howard shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109, his first aerial victory over Europe.^[10]

On January 11, 1944, Howard led three squadrons of 354th FG P-51s on an escort mission to support bombers on the target leg at Oschersleben, Germany. The bombers had completed their target run and were already in trouble when Howard spotted them. After sending the other two squadrons to protect middle and rearward bomber formations, Howard's squadron flew towards the lead formation and broke up into flights.^[11]

After the initial contact, Howard became separated from his flight^[6] and then from his wingman^[11] and flew unaccompanied into more than 30 Luftwaffe fighters that were attacking a formation of American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers.^[4][12] For more than a half-hour, Howard defended the heavy bombers of the 401st Bomb Group against the swarm of Luftwaffe fighters, repeatedly attacking the enemy and shooting down as many as six.^[12] Even after three of his four guns were out of action, he continued to dive on enemy airplanes.^[12] The leader of the bomber formation later reported, "For sheer determination and guts, it was the greatest exhibition I've ever seen. It was a case of one lone American against what seemed to be the entire Luftwaffe. He was all over the wing, across and around it. They can't give that boy a big enough award."^[6] However, none of this has ever been confirmed against German records and according to Air Force Historical Study 85, Howard was credited in destroying three enemy aircraft during the mission, which includes two twin-engine Messerschmitt Bf 110s and one Focke-Wulf Fw 190.^[13]

The following week, the Army Air Forces held a press conference in London at which Major Howard described the attack to reporters, including the BBC, the Associated Press, CBS reporter Walter Cronkite, and Andy Rooney (for Stars and Stripes). The story was a media sensation, prompting articles such as "Mustang Whip" in the Saturday Evening Post, "Fighting at 425 Miles Per Hour" in Popular Science, and "One Man Air Force" in True magazine. "An attack by a single fighter on four or five times his own number wasn't uncommon", wrote a fellow World War II fighter pilot in his postwar memoirs of Howard's performance, "but a deliberate attack by a single fighter against thirty-plus enemy fighters without tactical advantage of height or surprise is rare almost to the point of extinction."^[14] The following month, Howard was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On January 30, during a mission over Brunswick, he shot down another Bf 110 and on April 8, 1944, he shot down a Fw 190 over Brunswick, his last aerial victory of the war.^[13] In June 1944, he was presented the Medal of Honor by General Carl Spaatz for his January 11 valor. That same month, Howard helped direct fighter cover for the Allies' Normandy landings on D-Day.^[4] During the war, Howard was credited with eight aerial victories (2.33 over Asia and 6 over Europe) and three ground victories (in Asia), thus making him a flying ace.^[13][10] During his time with the 354th FG, he flew a P-51B Mustang, serial number 43-6315 nicknamed "Ding Hao".^{[N 2][16]} In January 1945, Howard was promoted to colonel and assigned as base commander of Pinellas Army Airfield (now St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport) in Florida.^[4]

United States Air Force

With the establishment of the United States Air Force as a separate service in 1947, then-Colonel Howard was transferred to it. In 1948, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve, commanding the Air Force Reserve's 96th Bombardment Group. He retired from the Air Forces Reserves in October 1966.^[6]

Medal of Honor citation

The citation accompanying the Medal of Honor awarded to Lieutenant Colonel James H. Howard on 5 June 1944, by Lieutenant General Carl Spaatz reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy near Oschersleben, Germany, on 11 January 1944. On that day Col. Howard was the leader of a group of P-51 aircraft providing support for a heavy bomber formation on a long-range mission deep in enemy territory. As Col. Howard's group met the bombers in the target area the bomber force was attacked by numerous enemy fighters. Col. Howard, with his group, at once engaged the enemy and himself destroyed a German ME. 110. As a result of this attack Col. Howard lost contact with his group, and at once returned to the level of the bomber formation. He then saw that the bombers were being heavily attacked by enemy airplanes and that no other friendly fighters were at hand. While Col. Howard could have waited to attempt to assemble his group before engaging the enemy, he chose instead to attack single-handed a formation of more than 30 German airplanes. With utter disregard for his own safety he immediately pressed home determined attacks for some 30 minutes, during which time he destroyed 3 enemy airplanes and probably destroyed and damaged others. Toward the end of this engagement 3 of his guns went out of action and his fuel supply was becoming dangerously low. Despite these handicaps and the almost insuperable odds against him, Col. Howard continued his aggressive action in an attempt to protect the bombers from the numerous fighters. His skill, courage, and intrepidity on this occasion set an example of heroism which will be an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.^[23]