page_title: James H. Howard
section_title: United States Army Air Forces
hierarchical_section_title: James H. Howard / United States Army Air Forces
caption_attribution_description: English: Lieutenant-Colonel James H Howard of the 354th Fighter Group in his P-51 Mustang April 1944.
context_page_description: James Howell Howard was a general in the United States Air Force and the only fighter pilot in the European Theater of Operations in World War II to receive the Medal of Honor — the United States military's highest decoration. Howard had the rare distinction of being an ace in two operational theaters during World War II, with over 6 kills with the Flying Tigers of the American Volunteer Group in the Pacific and 6 kills over Europe with the United States Air Force. CBS commentator Andy Rooney, then a wartime reporter for Stars and Stripes, called Howard's exploits "the greatest fighter pilot story of World War II". In later life, Howard was a successful businessman, author, and airport director.
context_section_description: After the Flying Tigers were disbanded on July 4, 1942, Howard returned to the U.S. and was commissioned a captain in the Army Air Forces. In 1943, he was promoted to the rank of major and given command of the 356th Fighter Squadron in the 354th Fighter Group, based in the United Kingdom.
  On January 11, 1944, Howard flew his P-51 unaccompanied into some 30 Luftwaffe fighters that were attacking a formation of American B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over Oschersleben, Germany. For more than a half-hour, Howard defended the heavy bombers of the 401st Bomb Group against the swarm of Luftwaffe fighters, repeatedly attacking the enemy and shooting down as many as six. Even after Howard's P-51 ran out of ammunition, he continued to dive on enemy airplanes. The leader of the bomber formation later reported, "For sheer determination and guts, it was the greatest exhibition I've ever seen. It was a case of one lone American against what seemed to be the entire Luftwaffe. He was all over the wing, across and around it. They can't give that boy a big enough award."
  The following week, the Army Air Forces held a press conference in London at which Major Howard described the attack to reporters, including the BBC, the Associated Press, CBS reporter Walter Cronkite, and Andy Rooney, then a reporter for Stars and Stripes. The story was a media sensation, prompting articles such as "Mustang Whip" in the Saturday Evening Post, "Fighting at 425 Miles Per Hour" in Popular Science, and "One Man Air Force" in True magazine. "An attack by a single fighter on four or five times his own number wasn't uncommon," wrote a fellow World War II fighter pilot in his postwar memoirs of Howard's performance, "but a deliberate attack by a single fighter against thirty-plus enemy fighters without tactical advantage of height or surprise is rare almost to the point of extinction." The following month, Howard was promoted to lieutenant colonel and in June 1944, he was presented the Medal of Honor by General Carl Spaatz for his January 11 valor.
caption: Howard's P-51 Mustang with 12 kill marks for aerial victories over both German and Japanese pilots
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