Unlikely Connections – Major Bong, Flying Ace

Major Bong

This post is not really cannabis-related, per se. I just think the odd stoner connection is pretty cool. It was April of 1944 when air combat ace Eddie Rickenbacker’s record of 26 confirmed enemy planes shot down was surpassed. The young man who beat this record went on to log 40 confirmed Japanese fighters shot down during WWII. The young man’s name, and the reason I wanted to share this bit of badass history with you all, is Major Richard Ira Bong.

Major Bong, as far as I can discern, has no connections whatsoever to marijuana. I just enjoy the fact somehow through the twisting aether of time, space, and colloquial vocabulary, the most decorated fighter pilot in American history is now irrevocably bound to cannabis culture.

Though Major Bong himself may not have smoked grass, some of his stunts as a young pilot seem like they came from the mind of someone who at least dabbled in recreational narcotics. Prior to flying in combat, Major Bong was reprimanded several times. His stunts included flying very low down Market St. in San Fransisco, flying so low that he blew the clothes off a woman’s clothesline and, my personal favorite, he led a group of 4 pilots on a daredevil flight wherein they looped the Golden Gate Bridge.

So the next time your pressing your lips up to the rim of your favorite bong, take a second and ponder that 70 years ago, “your favorite Bong” would likely have been Major Bong. Back then, Major Bong was so well known that news of his death (while a test pilot in California) made front page news on the same day as the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.