Profiles in Aviation: James Howard Was the Only American P-51 Fighter Pilot Awarded the Medal Of Honor over Europe

Howard’s Name Might Not Ring a Bell, But James Howard Was Unique Among ETO Aces

You’ve no doubt heard of many heroic American fighter pilots who flew Mustangs over Europe during World War II; men who flew Thunderbolts and Lightnings and even Spitfires too. Gabreski. Blakeslee. Godfrey. Eagleston. Schilling. Johnson. Mahurin. Olds. Anderson. Yeager…and scores of other well-known American fighter jocks who cut the Luftwaffe back to size and eventually marginalized and defeated it.

You may not recognize the name of the one and only American P-51 fighter pilot in the European Theater to be awarded the Medal of Honor. His name was James Howard. And he started out as a Naval Aviator!

Howard Wore Wings of Gold First

James Howell Howard was born on April 13^th 1913, in Canton, China. His father, an American ophthalmologist, was there to teach eye surgery to Chinese doctors. In 1927 Howard’s family returned to St. Louis, Missouri, where James attended and graduated from John Burroughs School. Howard then attended Pomona College in California, graduating with a BS degree in 1937.

Believing at first that he would become a doctor like his father, James became enamored with the idea of becoming a Naval Aviator. He entered the United States Navy as a naval aviation cadet in early 1938 and graduated from flight training at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola in 1939.

Shifting Services and Flying with the Flying Tigers

Young Ensign James Howard’s first squadron assignment was with Fighting Three (VF-3) Flying Chiefs flying Grumman F3F-2 biplane fighters from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CV-6) based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii beginning in late 1939. With perhaps a hint of foresight, Howard resigned his commission in the Navy to join General Claire Chenault’s American Volunteer Group (the Flying Tigers) in June of 1941.

James Howard flew 56 missions over Burma in Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters, scoring a total of six confirmed kills, two of which were achieved during air-to-air combat. When the Flying Tigers were officially disbanded in July of 1942, the tall, quiet, and quietly aggressive Howard made his way back to the States and requested and received a commission as a captain in the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF).

Flying Lightnings and Jugs Before Heading to the ETO

Within just a few weeks James Howard was flying Lockheed P-38 Lightnings at Muroc Army Airfield in California. Far from impressed with the complicated P-38, Howard was later assigned to fly Republic P-47 Thunderbolts in defense of the West Coast with the Fourth Air Force.

His first squadron command was of one of the Fourth Air Force Air Defense Command squadrons. But Europe was beckoning. Howard was next promoted to Major and given command of the 356^th “Red Ass” Fighter Squadron (code AJ) of the 354^th Fighter Group, which was eventually based at Boxted near Colchester in Essex, East Anglia, England.

Luftwaffe Fighters Were Lining Up to Punish the Bombers

On January 11^th 1944, Major James Howard was flying escort for a formation of American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 401^st Bombardment Group (Heavy) flying from Deenethorpe in Northamptonshire on a bombing mission to attack the AGO Flugzeugwerke in Oschersleben, Germany, which at the time was building as many Focke-Wulf Fw 190 Würger (Shrike) fighters as they could for the Luftwaffe.

Separated from the rest of his squadron after shooting down a Messerchmitt Bf 110 Zerstörer (Destroyer), Howard’s head was on a swivel as the B-17s turned back to base, but there were some 500 Luftwaffe fighters in the air that day and they favored attacking the bombers just after delivery of their bomb loads. It was then that he sighted a swarm of some 30 German fighters attacking a formation of B-17s across the bomber stream.

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