| Thomas George Lanphier, Jr. |
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EARLY YEARS He was born on and graduated in January of 1941. WORLD WAR II He received his pilot training at Stockton Army Air Field, California on October 30 , 1941 , and was assigned to the 70th Pursuit Squadron, 35th Pursuit Group at Hamilton Field , Novato , California . Until December of 1942 he served in Fiji when the squadron moved to Guadalcanal and joined the 347th Fighter Group . flew 97 combat missions out of Guadalcanal in P-39s and P-38s. He scored his first aerial victory on Christmas Eve 1942 when he shot down a A6M Zero over the island. He was promoted to captain in March of 1943, he destroyed three A6M Zero s over Cape Esperance on April 7 , 1942 . He flew 97 combat missions out of Guadalcanal in P-39 s and P-38 s. He was selected for the Top-secret long range low altitude mission to intercept Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto while on an inspection tour. Allied codebreakers determined the route and time schedule of the Betty bomber carrying Yamamoto and the P-38 was selected for the interception mission to due to the extreme range from Guadalcanal. On April 18 , 1942 , he led the four P-38s that made up the attack wing of the 16 plane formation. Intercepting the Betty bomber carrying the Japanese admiral over the southwest coast of Bougainville, Lanphier broke into three attacking A6M Zero as Lt. Rex Barber pressed the attack on the bomber. In the combat, Lanphier claimed both a A6M Zero and the Yamamoto Betty. Barber also claimed the Betty, and each was subsequently given a half-credit for the bomber. However, a few historians believe that Barber was also responsible for the kill after analyzing the crash site and determining the direction of impact of the cannon and machine gun fire. 1 After the war he worked as an editor of the Idaho Daily Statesman and the Boise Capital News . He was then appointed special assistant to the Secretary Of The Air Force , and then Special Assistant to the Chairman of the National Security Resource Board. From 1951 to 1960, he was vice president of the Convair Division of General Dynamics in San Diego. DEATH He died Thursday, November 26, 1987, in San Diego, California , of cancer. He was 71. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . 2 LEGACY During World War II , Colonel Lanphier was credited with downing nine Japanese planes, damaging eight on the ground, and sinking a destroyer. He received the Navy Cross , Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross . REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINK |
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