Fighter ace helped win crucial battle
FRITZ PAYNE
LOS ANGELES— Frederick R. (Fritz) Payne, a Second World War fighter ace who left his mark on aviation and wartime history by shooting down six Japanese warplanes during the Battle of Guadalcanal, a bloody, months-long confrontation that helped change the course of the war, has died at the age of 104.
The retired Marine Corps brigadiergeneral, who was believed to be the oldest surviving U.S. fighter ace, died on Aug. 6 at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
Hundreds had turned out to honour him last Memorial Day at the Palm Springs Air Museum, which on Tuesday confirmed his death.
“He was an extraordinary guy, and we can only hope that we can live up to his and others’ example and carry on in their footsteps and remember what they did,” said the museum’s director, Fred Bell.
What Payne did between September and October 1942 was take to the skies in an F4F Wildcat and shoot down four Japanese bombers and two fighter planes during a crucial, months-long battle for control of the Pacific that Allied forces had launched with no indication they could win. “Fritz came along at a time when we were essentially losing the war,” said Bell, adding Payne and others who “stood their ground at Guadalcanal” kept the Japanese from gaining control of the Pacific Ocean from the east coast of Australia to the western United States. The battle marked a turning point in the war’s Pacific theatre.
Payne, meanwhile, would be honoured with the Navy Cross, silver star, Distinguished Flying Cross and other medals during a long military career.
When Congress decided this year to honour the nation’s fighter aces with a Gold Medal, its highest civilian honour, Payne was too frail to attend the ceremony in Washington, D.C. Instead, Congressman Raul Ruiz brought it to him at the Air Museum. “Terrific,” he said when it was presented. “He was a very humble guy,” noted Bell. The title fighter ace is reserved for those who have shot down at least five enemy aircraft in battle. Technically, Payne was awarded five and a half kills because he had help from another pilot in downing one plane.