John Mitchell (United States Air Force)

John W. Mitchell (14 July 1915 – 15 November 1995) was an officer of the United States Air Force, a flying ace and the leader of Operation Vengeance, the mission to shoot down Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. He served in World War II and the Korean War.

Biography
John Mitchell was born in Enid, Mississippi to Noah Boothe Mitchell (1881 - 1967) and Lillian Dickinson Mitchell (1880 - 1921) on July 14, 1915.He was a valedictorian of his high school class and a graduate of Columbia University.He married Anne Lee,during confusing weeks after the Attack on Pearl Harbor.

Military Service
He enlisted in the U.S. Army on April 9, 1934, and after completing basic training he served with the Coast Artillery Corps at Fort Ruger,Hawaii from July 1934 to September 8, 1938. Mitchell was selected to attend the Aviation Cadet Program, and entered training on November 10, 1939, receiving his commission as a 2Lt in the Air Corps and his pilot wings on July 26, 1940.

World War II
He flew as a P-40 Warhawk pilot with the 55th Fighter Squadron of the 20th Fighter Group from August 1940 to January 1942.He was with the 70th Pursuit Squadron, stranded near Charlotte, North Carolina during the Attack on Pearl Harbor, due to a malfunctioning P-40.On his arrival at the 70th FS base at Hamilton Field, he learned that most of the experienced men of the squadron had been sent to Java, to try to stem the Japanese onslaught.But,most of them were killed or captured by the Japanese.After re-organizing, and training new recruits as well as possible, Mitchell and the members of the 70th FS embarked for Fiji on Jan. 20, 1942.They were given the new aircraft, the P-39 Airacobra.Landing at the harbor of Suva, the men of the 70th began to struggle with their P-39s in the tropical downpours and mud of Fiji. With the aid of the Bell Aircraft rep, they got the Airacobras into the air and began training in them. They trained intensively with the P-39s for six months, their only diversions being volleyball and high-stakes poker. They thought they were hot pilots and were ready to take on all comers. Then some Navy pilots from Saratoga visited and gave them some insight into real combat, showing them the greater maneuverability of the F4F Wildcat and the technique of the Thach Weave. They continued training on Fiji through autumn of 1942, entertaining several dignitaries in these months, notably WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker,Army Air Forces chief General Hap Arnold, and a young Texas Congressman and future US President,Lyndon B. Johnson. On October 5, Mitchell and eight of his pilots were detached from the 70th for duty on Guadalcanal with the 339th Fighter Squadron. They arrived just in time for the darkest days at Guadalcanal. At one point the Japanese were only 600 feet from their airstrip. The crew chiefs removed the .30 caliber machine guns from some planes, to use in a last-ditch stand. When landing at Henderson Field, the fliers dodged bushes in the runway, held there by brave crewman, to mark the location of shell holes. Several pilots were lost in night landings, due to the dim lights, the frequent storms, and the rough conditions of the strip. Despite flying the inadequate P-39, Mitchell had shot down three Jap planes by early November, and later that month was promoted to Major and CO of the 339th Fighter Squadron.The arrival of the first P-38 Lightnings overshadowed his promotion. The twin-engined fighters had a top speed of 395 MPH at 25,000 feet and devastating firepower - four .50 caliber machine guns and a 20mm cannon mounted in the nose. Because they could fire straight ahead, rather than in the common converging patterns of wing-mounted guns, they could fire a constant stream of lead that was effective at all ranges up to.

In December 1942, Thomas George Lanphier, Rex Barber, Doug Canning, and other pilots of the 70th Squadron came to Guadalcanal, alternating duty with the 339th. Once Canning spotted a Jap freighter in The Slot and arranged a betting pool on which pilot could get the best hit on the ship. He put a 500 lb. bomb through her deck, sank her, and won the pool. In the early part of 1943, the pace of war slackened a little, although Barber and some other 70th pilots sank a destroyer in March.1000 yards. The P-38s had some drawbacks: feeble heaters, exhorbitant fuel consumption, and high maintenance.But, the pilots loved the new planes, which inflicted even higher losses on the Japanese.

Operation Vengeance
Back in Hawaii, on April 14, the American code-breakers intercepted the message detailing Yamamoto's itinerary. The decoded and translated message made its way to Washington DC, back to Admiral Nimitz in Hawaii, then to Admiral Halsey on New Caledonia, and to Admiral Mitscher on Guadalcanal. All levels approved the shoot-down mission, and Mitscher assigned it to John Mitchell of the 339th.

Throughout the wee hours of the morning at Henderson Field, welding torches flamed brilliantly under protective tarpaulins, as the ground crews fitted the large new tanks under the wings of the P-38s. By dawn 18 planes were ready. The pilots ate their usual unsatisfactory breakfast of Spam, dried eggs, and coffee. Mitchell, inwardly doubtful of the mission's chances for success, exuded quiet confidence as he chatted with the fliers and ground crew. His last instructions before the 0700 take-off were to maintain radio silence. The Lightnings roared into life and, before getting airborne, trundled to the end of the runway, being so heavily laden. At take-off McLanahan blew a tire and shortly afterwards Moore's new tanks wouldn't feed. These two 'shooters' dropped out of the mission;Raymond Hine and Besby Holmes replaced them.

Mitchell's remaining 16 planes thundered along at wavetop level to avoid Japanese spotters. They sped northwest, sweeping widely away from Jap-occupied New Georgia. Mitchell tried to hold the planes at the dangerously low level of thirty feet; with only the smooth ocean below, depth perception was almost non-existent. Horrified, Mitchell watched helplessly as one plane dipped low enough to kick up spray onto his windows. But the pilot kept control and eased the big fighter back up out of the waves. By 0800, the American raiders were 285 miles from the planned interception; at that minute, Admiral Yamamoto's Betty bomber took off from Rabaul, precisely on time for his scheduled 1000 arrival on Bougainville. His entourage included one other Betty bomber and six Zeros. Yamamoto's chief of staff, Admiral Ugaki, flew in the second bomber

The sun beat down on the large windows of the Lightnings. Designed for high altitude work, Lockheed had elected not to provide the cockpits with coolers. The pilots sweated profusely in their flying greenhouses and at 0820 changed their heading for the first time, swinging slightly to the north. Half an hour later, when abreast of Vella Lavella, they made their second planned course change, again shifting a little more to the north.

At 0900, Mitchell made their last change, heading northeast, directly toward the coast of Bougainville, only 40 miles away. He also began the slow climb for altitude at this point. The pilots test fired their guns. The minutes ticked away and the Lightnings droned on, climbing as the mountains of Bougainville came into view. 0934 when sharp-eyed Doug Canning called out "Bogeys, eleven o'clock. High." Mitchell couldn't believe it; there they were, right on schedule, exactly as planned. The Japanese planes appeared bright and new-looking to the pilots of the 339th. They jettisoned their drop tanks and bored in for the attack. Holmes and Hine had trouble with their tanks, only Barber and Lanphier of the killer group went after the Japanese bombers. All the other P-38s followed their instructions to fly cover.

The attack itself has been shrouded in uncertainty and, unfortunately, in controversy. Both Lanphier and Barber claimed one bomber shot down over the jungles of Bougainville. Frank Holmes claimed another shot down over the water a few minutes later. From Japanese records and survivors, among them Admiral Ugaki, the following facts are certain. Only two G4M Betty bombers were involved; Yamamoto's was shot down over Bougainville with no survivors; the second went into the ocean and Ugaki lived to tell about it. Shortly after the attack, a Japanese search party located the wreckage, including the Admiral's body, which they ceremonially cremated.

The Lightnings had waded into the Japanese flight, pouring forth their deadly streams of lead. In the manner of all aerial combat, the fight was brief, high-speed, and confused. The individual pilots recorded their impressions for the Air Combat Intelligence officers; it wasn't until long after the war that anyone realized their claims for three bombers had been overstated.

The pilots uneventfully flew back to Guadalcanal, where upon landing, the ground personnel greeted them gleefully, like a winning football team. While Lanphier and Barber briefly disagreed about the air battle, all was subsumed in the generally celebratory atmosphere. Lanphier later recalled enjoying his best meal of the war that night.

Who shot down Yamamoto?
Although Operation Vengeance was one of the most expertly-executed missions in American air force history, the whole episode has subsequently been overshadowed by controversy over who actually shot down the admiral's aircraft. The issue began immediately after the mission when the US military quickly credited Thomas Lanphier with the kill. The captain claimed in his report back at Guadalcanal that after turning to engage the escort Zeroes and shooting the wings off one, he had flipped upside down as he circled back towards the two bombers. On seeing the lead bomber turning in a circle below him, he came out of his turn at a right angle to the circling bomber and fired blowing off its right wing. The plane then crashed into the jungle. Lanphier also reported that he witnessed Lt. Rex Barber shoot down another bomber which also crashed into the jungle.

From the report, US intelligence assumed that three bombers had been downed because Lt. Besby F. Holmes claimed the "Betty" that crashed into the sea. None of the remaining pilots were debriefed after the mission because no formal interrogation procedures existed on Guadalcanal at that time. Likewise Lanphier's claim of the kill was never officially witnessed. Many of the other mission's pilots soon became skeptical with the official US Army version.

Six months later unauthorized details about the operation leaked into the press. In October 1943 an issue of Time Magazine featured an article about Vengeance and mentioned Lanphier by name. An outraged US Navy considered it a serious breach of security. As a result, Maj.Mitchell, who had been nominated for the Medal of Honor, was downgraded to the Navy Cross; this was the same award subsequently presented to all the pilots of the killer flight.

The controversy did little to subside after the war because of the testimony of the surviving Japanese escort pilot who witnessed the mission. Zero pilot Kenji Yanagiya, who had been in Yamamoto's fighter escort, told John Mitchell he might have been responsible for the loss of Lt. Raymond Hine because he had heavily damaged a P-38 (escorting another Lightning that had not dropped its fuel tanks), although neither he nor any of the other Zero pilots had claimed a P-38 that day. The cause of Hine's disappearance is still officially undetermined. Yanagiya also claimed none of the escorting Japanese fighters were shot down, only one was damaged enough that it required a day of repair at Buin. These details contradicted Lanphier's claim for a Zero. Likewise Japanese military records confirmed that only two Mitsubishi G4M bombers had been shot down on the day. Eventually Lanphier and Barber were officially awarded half credits for the destruction of the bomber that crashed into the jungle, and half credits to Barber and Holmes for the bomber that crashed at sea. Several ground inspections of Yamamoto's crash site have determined that the path of the bullet impacts validated Barber's account because "all visible gunfire and shrapnel damage was caused by bullets entering from immediately behind the bomber" not from the right.[6]

Subsequently Barber petitioned the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records to have his half credit on the bomber shared with Lanphier changed to a whole credit. In September 1991 The Air Force History Office advised the board that "enough uncertainty" existed in both Lanphier’s and Barber’s claims for them both to be accepted; the board's decision was split on Barber’s petition. Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice ruled to retain the shared credit. Barber then applied to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to have the ruling of the Secretary of the Air Force overturned and the opposing claims re-investigated, but the court refused to intervene.

In May 2006, Air Force Magazine published a letter by Doug Canning, a former pilot of the 347th Fighter Group who flew on Operation Vengeance (he escorted Lieutenant Holmes back to the Russell Islands). Canning, who was friends with both Lanphier and Barber, stated that Lanphier had written the official report, medal citations, and several magazine articles about the mission. He also claimed Barber had been willing to share the half credit for shooting down Yamamoto until Lanphier had given him an unpublished manuscript he had written claiming he alone had shot down the admiral. Canning agreed that Barber had a strong case for his claim citing the testimony of another pilot from Yamamoto's Zero escort, Kenji Yanagiya, who saw Yamamoto's "Betty" crash 20 to 30 seconds after being hit from behind by fire from a P-38. Likewise the second Betty carrying Admiral Ugaki crashed 20 seconds after being struck by aircraft fire. Canning stated categorically that the P-38Gs flown that day did not have aileron boost to assist in turning (as did later models) making it physically impossible for Lanphier's aircraft to have made the 180 degree turn he claimed in order to shoot down Yamamoto's plane. The Air Force later disqualified Lanphier's claim for shooting down a Zero in the battle, meaning that Lanphier lost his "ace" status as his total number of air-to-air kills dropped from five to four.

In spite of criticism from Barber and other surviving pilots from the mission, Lanphier continued to claim credit for downing Yamamoto until his death in 1987. Most newspaper obituaries reporting Lanphier's death credited him with killing Yamamoto. Rex Barber continued to contest Lanphier's claim, mainly in military circles and publications, until his death in 2001.

Post-Mission
After the mission,Mitchell served a tour with Headquarters Army Air Forces from June to December 1943.His total score in Guadalcanal was 8 enemy planes making him a flying ace.Then, he was assigned to the 412th Fighter Group, where he served from December 1943 to April 1945. Mitchell flew Spitfires and Hurricanes as an observer in England in April and May 1945.Then,he served the 15th Fighter Group based in Iwo Jima from May to June 1945.He flew P-51 Mustang ,escorting B-29 bombers over Japan and shooting down 3 more He next served as Deputy Commander and then Commander of the 21st Fighter Group, where he served from July to October 1945.He was credited with destroying total 11 enemy aircraft in aerial combat during World War II.

Post-War
After United States Army Air Forces became United States Air Force,Mitchell was assigned as Director of Training and Operations at Keesler Field,Mississippi from February 1946 to August 1947. He attended Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, from August 1947 to June 1948, and then served as base commander at Godman AFB,Kentucky, from June 1948 to July 1949. Mitchell served with the 63rd Fighter Wing at Brooks AFB, Texas from July 1949 to November 1950, and then served as Commander of the 57th Fighter Interceptor Group at Eielson AFB, Alaska from November 1950 to June 1952.

Korean War
Mitchell flew again in the Korean War, taking over the 51st Fighter Wing for Gabby Gabreski in June, 1952. He shot down 4 MiG-15s in Korea. Among his other challenges as CO was controlling the "flight suit" mentality of his fliers, who bent all the rules in their desire to "kill MiGs." Things came to a head when Lt. Col. Edwn Heller of the 16th FIS was shot down on the wrong side of the Yalu. As Robert Dorr describes  it in his book 'Korean War Aces':

"Mitchell was madder than any colonel the pilot had ever seen."

Mitchell and Lt.General Glenn Barcus made a lot of personnel changes and even attempted to strip one pilot, Capt. Dolphin Overton, of his ace status.

Post-Korean War Career
After serving in Korea,Mitchell served with the 28th Air Division at Hickam AFB,Hawaii from June 1953 to July 1956. Col Mitchell's final assignment was as Commander of the Detroit Air Defense Sector at Custer Air Force Station, Michigan, from July 1957 until his retirement from the Air Force on July 31, 1958. He flew 240 combat missions in World War II and Korean War and was credited with 15 air victories together in World War II and Korea.

Post-War
Mitchell died on November 15, 1995 and his wife Anne died March 14, 2008.Both of them are buried and share a same headstone at Golden Gate National Cemetery.