James B. Morehead, 1916–2012
The WWII fighter ace who hunted big game
Col. James B. Morehead was flying a P-40 Warhawk above Darwin, Australia, on April 25, 1942, when he spotted 28 Japanese bombers protected by a fleet of fighter planes. He ordered his vastly outnumbered eight-aircraft unit to launch a surprise attack. Morehead’s guns alone took down three planes; all told, his squadron shot down 11 enemy planes before returning to base unscathed. “Take that for Pearl Harbor,” Morehead later said. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for “unquestionable valor in aerial combat” for his actions that day.
Born in 1916, Morehead was raised in Washington, Okla., where his father ran the general store and his mother was a schoolteacher, said The New York Times. Growing up during the Depression, Morehead became a “crack shot with a rifle, which helped put food on the table.” He studied at the University of Oklahoma before moving to California to join the Army Air Corps in 1940. His brazen exploits in the air, including flying 80 miles upside down “simply because he could,” earned him the nickname Wildman.
During World War II, Morehead put his boyhood hunting skills to work and “became one of the country’s most highly decorated fighter aces,” said the Santa Rosa, Calif., Press Democrat. He shot down eight enemy planes in all, including a German Messerschmitt fighter over Romania on D-Day, and was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross, as well as a Silver Star and more than a dozen other air medals. He went on to train Chinese Nationalist pilots for two years during the Korean War before taking a Pentagon desk job, from which he retired in 1967.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He never lost his love of hunting, said The Washington Post, and spent his retirement traveling the world “in pursuit of big game.” His ranch house brimmed with exotic trophies, including a Cape buffalo from Botswana, an African lion rug, a stuffed baboon from Ethiopia, and a hippopotamus skull in his front yard. In his 90s, the Wildman was “not so wild anymore,” he said, but still managed to bag a buck on a hunting trip last year without using a scope.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The NCAA is a 'billion-dollar sports behemoth' that 'should not be a nonprofit'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLS
speed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
What's a pocket rescission and can Trump use one?
The Explainer The White House may try to use an obscure and prohibited trick to halt more spending
-
Ozzy Osbourne obituary: heavy metal wildman and lovable reality TV dad
In the Spotlight For Osbourne, metal was 'not the music of hell but rather the music of Earth, not a fantasy but a survival guide'
-
Brian Wilson: the troubled genius who powered the Beach Boys
Feature The musical giant passed away at 82
-
Sly Stone: The funk-rock visionary who became an addict and recluse
Feature Stone, an eccentric whose songs of uplift were tempered by darker themes of struggle and disillusionment, had a fall as steep as his rise
-
Mario Vargas Llosa: The novelist who lectured Latin America
Feature The Peruvian novelist wove tales of political corruption and moral compromise
-
Dame Maggie Smith: an intensely private national treasure
In the Spotlight Her mother told her she didn't have the looks to be an actor, but Smith went on to win awards and capture hearts
-
James Earl Jones: classically trained actor who gave a voice to Darth Vader
In the Spotlight One of the most respected actors of his generation, Jones overcame a childhood stutter to become a 'towering' presence on stage and screen
-
Michael Mosley obituary: television doctor whose work changed thousands of lives
In the Spotlight TV doctor was known for his popularisation of the 5:2 diet and his cheerful willingness to use himself as a guinea pig
-
Morgan Spurlock: the filmmaker who shone a spotlight on McDonald's
In the Spotlight Spurlock rose to fame for his controversial documentary Super Size Me