William A . Shomo William " Bill " Arthur Shomo ( May 30 , 1918 – June 25 , 1990 ) was a United States Army fighter pilot during World War II . He is credited with eight victories during the conflict . Seven of these occurred during a single mission while flying a reconnaissance version of the P - 51 Mustang , for which he received the Medal of Honor . Military service . Shomo joined the Army Air Corps from Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania in August 1941 . 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 Airacobra s and Curtiss P - 40 s , 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 24 December , 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 reconnaissance 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 . Shomo had been in the undertaker business before the war . He named all his aircraft " Snooks " ( plus the appropriate numeral ) to note this . The F - 6D in which he won his Medal of Honor was " Snooks 5 " ; this aircraft was later lost while being flown by another pilot . The next F - 6D was briefly " Snooks 6 " but was changed to " The Flying Undertaker " . Though Shomo flew more than 200 combat missions in World War II , he saw only a total of 14 enemy aircraft from his cockpit and destroyed eight of them . Medal of Honor action . Two days after his first victory , on January 11 , 1945 , Captain Shomo and his wingman , Lieutenant Paul Lipscomb , were heading north for the Japanese airfields at Tuguegarao , Aparri , and Laoag , when they saw several enemy planes flying south at about . Despite being outnumbered , they immediately pulled Immelman turn s and found themselves behind 11 Kawasaki Ki - 61 " Tonys " and one Nakajima Ki - 44 " Tojo " escorting a Mitsubishi G4M " Betty " bomber . On their first pass through the formation , Shomo closed to less than 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 , 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 Commander David McCampbell , with nine confirmed victories and two probables on 24 October 1944 . ) Meanwhile , his wingman shot down three of the remaining six planes . The three other Japanese planes fled . 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 . Medal of Honor citation . SHOMO , WILLIAM A . Maj . Shomo was lead pilot of a flight of 2 fighter planes charged with an armed photographic and strafing mission against the Aparri and Laoag airdromes . While en route to the objective , he observed an enemy twin engine bomber , protected by 12 fighters , flying about 2 , 500 feet above him and in the opposite direction Although the odds were 13 to 2 , Maj . Shomo immediately ordered an attack . Accompanied by his wingman he closed on the enemy formation in a climbing turn and scored hits on the leading plane of the third element , which exploded in midair . Maj . Shomo then attacked the second element from the left side of the formation and shot another fighter down in flames . When the enemy formed for Counterattack , Maj . Shomo moved to the other side of the formation and hit a third fighter which exploded and fell . Diving below the bomber he put a burst into its underside and it crashed and burned . Pulling up from this pass he encountered a fifth plane firing head on and destroyed it . He next dived upon the first element and shot down the lead plane ; then diving to 300 feet in pursuit of another fighter he caught it with his initial burst and it crashed in flames . During this action his wingman had shot down 3 planes , while the 3 remaining enemy fighters had fled into a cloudbank and escaped . Maj . Shomo ' s extraordinary gallantry and intrepidity in attacking such a far superior force and destroying 7 enemy aircraft in one action is unparalleled in the southwest Pacific area . Postwar life . He would stay with the Air Force after the war and was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 20 February 1951 . He then was assigned 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 ( FIS ) at Rapid City Air Force Base ( AFB ) , South Dakota . He directed combat operations at Headquarters 31st Air Division in St . Paul , Minnesota for about a year , and then became Commander of the 14th FIS at Sioux City , Iowa . He also commanded a similar squadron , the 59th FIS , at Goose Bay , Labrador in January 1955 , and that June , led the squadron to victory in the Northeast Air Command Rocket Meet . Lieutenant Colonel Shomo next became Commander of Headquarters , 473rd Air Defense Group and in July 1957 took over the 54th Fighter Group at the Greater Pittsburgh Airport . In January 1958 , he became Executive Officer for HQ 79th Fighter Group at Youngstown Municipal Airport in Ohio . His last assignment was at Thule AFB , Greenland , with the 4683rd Air Defense Wing . Lieutenant Colonel William A . Shomo died on 25 June 1990 and is buried in St . Clair Cemetery in Greensburg , Pennsylvania .