Edward O'Hare

Lieutenant Commander Edward Henry O'Hare (March 13, 1914 – November 26, 1943) was an American naval aviator of the United States Navy, who on February 20, 1942, became the Navy's first fighter ace of the war when he single-handedly attacked a formation of nine medium bombers approaching his aircraft carrier.

Even though he had a limited amount of ammunition, he was credited with shooting down five enemy bombers and became the first naval aviator recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War II.

When their parents divorced in 1927, Butch and his sisters stayed with their mother Selma in St. Louis while their father Edward moved to Chicago.

Butch's father was a lawyer who worked closely with Al Capone before turning against him and helping convict Capone of tax evasion.

During Capone's tax evasion trial in 1931 and 1932, O'Hare's father had provided incriminating evidence which helped finally put Capone away.

There is speculation that this was done to ensure that Butch got into the Naval Academy, or to set a good example; it certainly at least partly involved an attempt to distance himself from Capone's activities.

Whatever the motivation, the elder O'Hare was shot and killed while driving his car a week before Capone was released from incarceration.

Butch O'Hare graduated from the Western Military Academy in 1932.

The following year, he went on to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

For their honeymoon, they sailed to Hawaii on separate ships, Butch on Saratoga, which had completed modifications at Bremerton, and Rita on the Matson liner SS Lurline (1932).

Butch was called to duty the day after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.

After he graduated and was commissioned as an ensign on June 3, 1937, he served two years on the battleship USS New Mexico (BB-40).

In 1939, he started flight training at NAS Pensacola in Florida, flying the Naval Aircraft Factory N3N-1 "Yellow Peril" and Stearman NS-1 biplane trainers, and later the advanced SNJ trainer.

On the nimble Boeing F4B-4A, he trained in aerobatics as well as aerial gunnery.

He also flew the SBU Corsair and the TBD Devastator.

In November 1939, his father was shot and killed, most likely by Al Capone's gunmen.

When Butch finished his naval aviation training on May 2, 1940, he was assigned to Fighter Squadron Three (VF-3) on board USS Saratoga (CV-3).

O'Hare then trained on the Grumman F3F and then graduated to the Brewster F2A Buffalo.

Lieutenant John Thach, then executive officer of VF-3, discovered O'Hare's exceptional flying abilities and closely mentored the promising young pilot.

Thach, who would later develop the Thach Weave aerial combat tactic, emphasized gunnery in his training.

In 1941, more than half of all VF-3 pilots, including O'Hare, earned the "E" for gunnery excellence.

In early 1941, VF-3 transferred to USS Enterprise (CV-6), while carrier Saratoga underwent maintenance and overhaul work at Bremerton Navy Yard.

On Monday morning, July 21, O'Hare made his first flight in a Grumman F4F Wildcat.

Following stops in Washington and Dayton, he landed in St. Louis on Tuesday.

Visiting the wife of a friend in hospital that afternoon, O'Hare met his future wife, nurse Rita Wooster, proposing to her the first time they met.

After O'Hare took instruction in Roman Catholicism to convert, he and Rita married in St. Mary's Catholic Church in Phoenix on Saturday, September 6, 1941.

On Sunday evening, January 11, 1942, as Butch and other VF-3 officers ate dinner in the wardroom, the carrier Saratoga was damaged by a Japanese torpedo hit while patrolling southwest of Hawaii.

She spent five months in repair on the west coast, so VF-3 squadron transferred to the USS Lexington (CV-2) on January 31.

O'Hare's most famous flight occurred during the Pacific War on February 20, 1942.

O'Hare and his wingman were the only U.S. Navy fighters available when a second wave of Japanese bombers were attacking his aircraft carrier Lexington.

O'Hare was on board the aircraft carrier Lexington, which had been assigned the task of penetrating enemy-held waters north of New Ireland.

O'Hare's final action took place on the night of November 26, 1943, while he was leading the U.S. Navy's first-ever nighttime fighter attack launched from an aircraft carrier.

During this encounter with a group of Japanese torpedo bombers, O'Hare's Grumman F6F Hellcat was shot down; his aircraft was never found.

In 1945, the U.S. Navy destroyer USS O'Hare (DD-889) was named in his honor.

On September 19, 1949, the Chicago-area Orchard Field Airport was renamed O'Hare International Airport, six years after O'Hare perished.

An F4F Wildcat, in a livery identical to the aircraft ("White F-15") flown by O'Hare, is currently on display in Terminal 2.

The display was formally opened on the seventy-fifth anniversary of his Medal of Honor flight.

Edward Henry "Butch" O'Hare was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Selma Anna (Lauth) and Edward Joseph O'Hare.

He was of Irish and German descent.

Butch had two sisters, Patricia and Marilyn.