WW2 USAF aces Cdr William E Bill Henry and Col R Bruce Porter +1 signed RAF B32 50th ann of the Start of the Design of the Boeing B-17 Fortress WW2 FDC. Both US aces. Cmdr. William E. Henry one of the few night fighter aces had 6½ night kills and 3½ day. On October 1944 Cmdr. Henry was catapulted from U.S.S. Independence CVL at 0245 in the morning off the coast of Formosa his call sign was “Cupid 13”. He spotted Japanese “Emily” at about 700 ft. altitude, he came in from behind and shot the left inboard engine and set it on fire, he pulled away to the left and the “Emily” turned left in front of Cmdr. Henry, he fired again and the turret gunner from the “Emily” fired back. The “Emily” rolled right and splashed into the ocean. The crew of the Independence witnessed the victory. This was one of three “Emily’s” that Cmdr. Henry shot down at night. He was awarded the Navy Cross for his victories in WWII. Major Bruce Porter flew more than 30 combat missions with Marine Fighting Squadron 121 from Guadalcanal and the Russell Islands and notched up three confirmed aerial victories and four more “probables”. However, after 19 months in the Pacific he “…thought I’d like to fight the Germans too…”. So, based on a rumor that Marine night fighter squadrons were to be sent to Europe, he asked for this new assignment. Porter completed his training in radar guided night interception techniques in early 1945. While he didn't deploy to Europe, he was ultimately assigned as the new commanding officer (at the age of 25) of VMF(N)-542, which was operating from the recently captured Yontan Airfield on Okinawa. On the night of 24-25 May 1945, less than 48 hours of taking command of VMF(N)-542, Porter led the squadron’s personnel in the frenetic defense of the airfield from a daring Japanese suicide air assault. A dozen enemy commandos managed to crash land on the Yontan flight line with the goal of targeting American planes, a fuel dump, and, very specifically, the members of VMF(N)-542 itself! When the fighting was over, the Japanese had successfully damaged or destroyed 35 aircraft and ignited 70,000 gallons of fuel, but VMF(N)-542 suffered only three wounded.

On the night 15 June 1945, Porter shot down a pair of Japanese aircraft (a Kawasaki Ki-45 “Nick” fighter and Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bomber) while flying “Black Death” - his personally assigned Grumman F6F-5N (BuNo 78669) complete with a painted bottle of bourbon on the nose cowling. These two aerial victories made Porter an ace and just the third Marine pilot to reach that milestone with kills made both during the day and night.