To date, the United States Medal of Honor has been awarded on 103 occasions for actions involving the use of aircraft. Awards for actions that took place in a single flight are the norm, with 74 individual aircraft accounting for 82 of the 93 medals awarded for actions while in flight (including eight dual awards representing the same aircraft). Of those 75 planes, 41 were destroyed during the MoH action, while others were lost later. In a few cases the MoH recipient survived while the plane did not (Jimmy Doolittle's North American B-25 Mitchell, as an example). The reverse also occurred: Lts. Jack W. Mathis and Robert E. Femoyer received posthumous awards while their respective Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses survived, only to be scrapped later.
Some aircraft were recognized following their crew's award but were not preserved, including Butch O'Hare's Grumman F4F Wildcat, which wasn't stricken until two and one half years after his MoH action, as well as Maj. James H. Howard's "borrowed" North American P-51 Mustang, whose identity remains a mystery. In wartime often the pressing needs for serviceable aircraft overcame their need for preservation in programs or museums that did not yet exist.
By far the most MoH's were issued to crewmen flying on Boeing aircraft. Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress crewmen received 17 awards from 1942 to 1945. Eleven of the Flying Fortress MoH's were posthumous awards, while in 1945 a Boeing B-29 Superfortress crewman was awarded the MoH for saving his plane despite crippling burns. Eleven Consolidated aircraft were involved in MoH missions, including two Consolidated PBY Catalinas. The MoH awarded to Consolidated B-24 Liberator crewmen were largely associated with the series of attacks on the Romanian oil refineries in 1943–44 although one went to a Navy PB4Y Privateer. The Grumman F4F Wildcat represents the most MoH's for a fighter aircraft serving in World War II by a sizable margin, with 8 MoH recipients. Seven F4F MoH's were to Marine Corps pilots, six of whom received their MoH for missions in the Solomon Islands during 1942–43. The lone Navy pilot was Lt. (j.g.) Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, recognized as the Navy's first World War II ace. Cmdr. David McCampbell's two MoH missions in 1944 were in a Grumman F6F Hellcat bring Grumman's tally to nine MoH aircraft.
Korean War MoH aircraft include a wide range of types, from World War II vintage aircraft to jets. They include one each for the North American F-51 Mustang, Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star, North American F-86 Sabre, Douglas A-26 Invader, Vought F4U Corsair, and the first MoH helicopter, a Sikorsky HO3S.
The Vietnam War produced 20 in-flight MoH awards. They include a very diverse group of 7 fixed-wing aircraft and four helicopters, which range from a Cessna O-1 Bird Dog Forward Air Controller to a Fairchild C-123 Provider transport, to a Republic F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber, plus the well-represented Bell Huey. The McDonnell-Douglas F-4 Phantom II is represented only by pilot Lance Sijan, who was awarded a posthumous MoH for his exceptional courage as a POW. Bernard F. Fisher earned an MoH in the A-1 Skyraider when he landed his aircraft under enemy fire to rescue a fellow pilot that had been shot down. Notable for its absence is the Grumman A-6 Intruder.
Very few MoH aircraft survive today, especially since nearly half of all awards have been posthumous. Today four MoH combat aircraft still exist, plus two non-combat aircraft and the parts of one MoH Grumman F4F Wildcat.
One near-survivor was Fairchild C-123 Provider (55-4542), the aircraft MoH recipient Maj. Joe Jackson was piloting when he made his daring rescue of Air Force personnel trapped on an airstrip being overrun by Communist forces in 1968. By the time the Air Force History Office learned the aircraft still existed it had been transferred to the South Vietnamese government, who later transferred it to the Thai government. The aircraft was apparently not scrapped until the early 1990s. Another was Republic F-105 Thunderchief (63-8301), which had been piloted by Leo Thorsness while he provided cover for a rescue mission for a downed pilot. Despite having been slated for display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, it was lost to a crash in 1974 after pilot Paul Metz was forced to eject due to engine failure.[5][6]
| Manufacturer | Model | Medals of Honor awarded | Surviving aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell | UH-1 | 8 (6 Army, 1 USAF, 1 USMC) | 2 |
| Boeing | B-17 | 17 | 0 |
| Boeing | B-29 | 1 | 0 |
| Cessna | O-1 | 1 | 0 |
| Consolidated | B-24/PB4Y | 9 (1 Navy) | 0 |
| Consolidated | PBY | 2 | 0 |
| Curtiss | JN-4 | 1 | 0 |
| DeHavilland | Model 4 | 4 (2 Army, 2 USMC) | 0 |
| Douglas | A-1 | 2 | 1 |
| Douglas | A-4 | 1 | 0 |
| Douglas | A-26 | 1 | 0 |
| Douglas | AC-47 | 1 | 0 |
| Douglas | SBD | 2 | 0 |
| Fokker | Trimotor | 2 | 1 |
| Fairchild | C-123 | 1 | 0 |
| Grumman | F4F | 8 | 1 (parts) |
| Grumman | F6F | 1 | 0 |
| Hughes | OH-6 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaman | UH-2 | 1 | 0 |
| Lockheed | P-38 | 2 | 0 |
| Lockheed | F-80 | 1 | 0 |
| Macchi | M-5 | 1 | 0 |
| Martin | B-26 | 1 | 0 |
| North American | B-25 | 3 | 0 |
| North American | F-86 | 1 | 0 |
| North American | OV-10 | 1 | 0 |
| North American | P-51/F-6 | 3 (2 World War II, 1 Korea) | 0 |
| Republic | P-47 | 2 | 0 |
| Republic | F-105 | 2 | 0 |
| Ryan | NYP | 1 | 1 |
| Sikorsky | HO3S | 1 | 0 |
| Sikorsky | HH-3 | 1 | 0 |
| SPAD | XIII | 2 | 0 |
| Vought | O2U | 1 | 0 |
| Vought | SB2U | 1 | 0 |
| Vought | F4U | 4 (3 World War II, 1 Korea) | 0 |
| Total | 92 | 7 |
| Manufacturer | Model | Medals of Honor awarded | Surviving aircraft |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bell | UH-1 | 3 | 0 |
| Boeing | CH-46 | 1 | 1 |
| Burgess | N-9 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaman | HH-43 | 1 | 0 |
| McDonnell Douglas | A-4 | 1 | 0 |
| McDonnell Douglas | F-4 | 1 | 0 |
| North American | F-100 | 1 | 0 |
| Kite | Balloon | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 10 | 1 |