William "Bill" A. Shomo was a United States Army fighter pilot during World War II. He is credited with scoring 8 victories during the conflict. Seven of these occurred during a single mission while flying a reconnaissance version of the P-51 Mustang. For this action he was awarded the Medal of Honor. For over a year, Shomo was assigned to the 82nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.
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- William "Bill" A. Shomo was a United States Army fighter pilot during World War II. He is credited with scoring 8 victories during the conflict. Seven of these occurred during a single mission while flying a reconnaissance version of the P-51 Mustang. For this action he was awarded the Medal of Honor. For over a year, Shomo was assigned to the 82nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron. His unit had moved from airstrip to airstrip along the northern coast of New Guinea and then to Morotai supporting General MacArthur's drive to the Philippines performing dangerous photo recon and ground attack missions. His squadron was equipped with older P-39 Airacobras and Curtiss P-40s, which were adequate for the photo recon/ground attack role, but too short-ranged to reach areas where they might encounter Japanese aircraft. In December 1944 the squadron was given F-6Ds; Mustangs designed for armed photo reconnaissance. On the 24th of that month Shomo was put in command of the squadron and ordered to move it to Mindoro, an island off the southwest coast of Luzon, to support MacArthur's landing at Lingayen Gulf. During that landing on January 9, Shomo led his first combat mission in the squadron's new planes. The low-level recce was to gather intelligence on the air strength of Japanese in northern Luzon. They approached the Japanese airfield at Tuguegarao where he scored his first air victory, an Aichi D3A "Val" dive bomber, coming in on its final approach. Two days later on January 11, 1945 Captain Shomo performed the feat that earned him the Medal of Honor. While he and his wingman, Lt. Paul Lipscomb, were heading north for the Japanese airfields at Tuguegarao, Aparri, and Laoag, they saw several enemy planes flying south at about 2,500 feet. Despite being obviously outnumbered, they immediately pulled Immelman turns and found themselves behind 11 Ki-61 "Tonys" and 1 Ki-44 "Tojo" escorting a G4M "Betty" bomber. On their first pass through the formation Shomo closed to less than 40 yards before opening fire. He shot down four Tonys, then came up under the bomber, firing into its belly. The bomber caught fire and began to lose altitude as its pilot attempted to crash-land the plane. Two of the Tonys escorting the bomber stayed with it as it went down. Shomo pulled up in a tight vertical spiral to gain altitude while the Tojo turned to engage him. The Japanese fighter fired until it stalled and slipped into the clouds. The Betty exploded as it bellied in, and the two escorting Tonys broke away, staying low. Shomo made a second diving pass at the two Tonys and downed them both. In under six minutes, Bill Shomo had shot down seven enemy planes, becoming an "ace in one day. " Only one other American fighter pilot scored more confirmed victories in a single mission - Navy Cmdr David McCampbell, CAG-15 aboard USS Essex (24 October 1944 9-confirmed victories + 2 probables). Meanwhile, his wingman shot down three of the remaining six planes. The surviving three Japanese planes fled the encounter. By April 1, 1945, Shomo had been promoted to major and was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading an attack against heavy odds and destroying seven enemy aircraft. Though Shomo flew more than 200 combat missions, he saw only a total of 14 enemy aircraft from his cockpit. He destroyed more than half of them. He would stay with the Air Force after the war. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on February 20, 1951. He then went to Colorado and served in operations and training assignments for a year. In March 1952, he became Executive, Commander and Administrative Officer for the 175th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Rapid City AFB, S.D. He directed Combat Operations. at HQ. 31st Air Division, St. Paul, Minn. , for about a year, then became commander of the 14th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Sioux City, Iowa He commanded a similar squadron, the 59th, at Goose Bay, Labrador, in January 1955, and that June led the squadron to victory in the Northeast Air Command Rocket Meet. Colonel Shomo next became Commander of Headquarters 473rd Air Defense Group and in July 1957, took over the 54th Fighter Group at Greater Pittsburgh Airport. In January 1958, he became Executive Officer for HQ 79th Fighter Group, Youngstown Municipal Airport, Ohio. His last assignment was Thule, Greenland, with the 4683rd Air Defense Wing. Shomo had been in the undertaker business before the war. He named all his aircraft "The Flying Undertaker" (plus the appropriate numeral) to note this. The F-6D in which he won his Medal of Honor was number "6". William Shomo is buried in St. Clair Cemetery in Greensburg, PA.
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- William A. Shomo
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- William "Bill" A. Shomo was a United States Army fighter pilot during World War II. He is credited with scoring 8 victories during the conflict. Seven of these occurred during a single mission while flying a reconnaissance version of the P-51 Mustang. For this action he was awarded the Medal of Honor. For over a year, Shomo was assigned to the 82nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.
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- William A. Shomo
- William A. Shomo
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