LT RALPH KID HOFER - EIGHTH AIR FORCE ACE AND COWBOY IN THE AIR Ralph Hofer was born Ralph K. Holbrook on July 22, 1921 but his father died at an early age and he acquired his stepfather’s name. He grew up in Salem Missouri, which was a small town so like many in the country. His small town ways soon yielded to big city lights when the family moved to Chicago. Ralph played semi-pro football there but took an interest in boxing liking the technical aspects and mechanics of the sport. Hofer wasn’t interested in “beating up” an opponent or receiving damage himself. He trophyed at the 1940 Golden Gloves Tournament in the light-heavyweight division. In March 1941 he was in Detroit for a boxing tournament and crossed the border into Canada just to look around. He happened to find himself near the RCAF enlistment office and went in to see what was being offered. He’d had no interest in aviation of any kind but joined almost on a lark. He was soon learning to fly. The first aircraft assigned to him was a P-47C lettered QP-K and named Susan III. He put it to good use on October 8, 1943 on his first escort mission to Bremen. Colonel Don Blakeslee was leading the group that day when they were intercepted between Blankenberghe and Ostend, Holland by Bf 109Gs which promptly shot down Clyde Smith and Robert Patterson both of whom ended up as POWs. But during the action James Clark scored a kill that almost made him an ace at 4.5 and Duane Beeson became an ace on his way to 17.33 victories by downing two 109s. But on this his first combat mission Ralph Hofer instinctively went to the assistance of a P-47 squadron mate. Whether it was Patterson’s or Smith’s plane is unknown but Hofer wheeled and dived from behind to blaze at the 109 that was firing on a Thunderbolt. Hofer lined up the Messerschmitt in the sight and pulled the trigger. The Jug shuddered as the eight fifties cut loose their deadly projectiles at the combined rate of 100 rounds per second but he was too late. The 109 and the P-47 both dropped into the Zuider Zee. The German didn’t get out. But for Kid Hofer it was a first mission-first kill and it couldn’t get any better than that. As we’ll see, it wasn’t long before his antics began to wear thin. His most famous quote was one breaking radio silence to exclaim, “Gee, ain’t the Alps pretty!” On the 20th of December he had to abort an escort mission to Bremen. This wasn’t all that unusual in the times. A minor mechanical fault appeared in the complex aircraft that might prevent full performance in combat so the pilots returned home. A misfiring spark plug, an elevated fluid temperature or slightly low oil pressure was enough to turn back. Often another plane went with the aborter to guard it or report its location if it had to go in with a dead engine. If there were a scant number of fighters in the air this might not happen so as to not dilute squadron strength. For whatever reason Hofer was flying back solo. Rubbernecking was a pilot’s life insurance policy. The reason they wore silk flying scarves was not for fashion flair but to guard the neck from the rough wool fleece of the fight jackets. Without a scarf a pilot’s neck would rub raw. Hofer’s rubbernecking paid off when he spied three 109s that turned onto his six. He opened the throttle of the P-47 and the Pratt & Whitney belched black as the mixture enriched. Whatever fault caused him to abort the original mission was not apparent now as he ran for England. The 109s were not anywhere near enough to shoot but pursued the lone Jug halfway across the Channel finally losing sight of him in the hazy marine inversion layer. This should have taught the Kid a lesson of how dangerous it was to be alone in combat. It didn’t. In January 1944 Hofer was assigned a new P-47C with the number 41-6484 code lettered QP-L. This ship was named Missouri Kid - Sho Me partly for the fact that Missouri is called the “show me” state. The Kid would score only once in this plane on February 6th while the group was engaged with the Luftwaffe over Paris. He got a 109 west of the city while two 190s were claimed over the metropolis by Vermont Garrison and Bob Hobert. Hofer was alone when he took down the 109 but it didn’t bother him. A week later Colonel Blakeslee procured the new P-51Bs for the group. The old Spitfire pilots from the Eagle Squadrons never had taken to the huge Thunderbolts but this Mustang was just right. Ralph was assigned a P-51B-15NA with the number 42-106924 with the same QP-L letters as the P-47. This ship was baptized Salem Representative for his hometown and was festooned with the same mule wearing boxer shorts and boxing gloves as seen on Sho Me’s cowl. The ship was natural metal finish and sported the bulbous Malcolm hood for improved visibility. On March 18th he ended up hunting alone again on a mission deep into Germany near Manheim. His four guns sent a 109 smoking into the ground and smashed up another sending its pilot to his chute. Then the Mustang’s prop then ran away over-speeding as he closed in on a third enemy plane. Hofer broke and began to think what to do as he steered for Switzerland. He later said that he concluded, “It’s better to bail out in a neutral country.” But it set him thinking. The two 109s would give him acedom at five victories but the proof was in the port wing gun camera. “I wanted to save that film,” he later said grinning. “I got over Switzerland just in time to see the Forts blast an airdrome back across the border, knocking out rows of Hun planes on the ground. There I was, then, ready to go over the side with the prop out of control hardly keeping the plane in the air. But what about that film? I figured my gas and decided to try to get back.” It seems like he’d read the manual and pulled up the plane’s nose for altitude to cross the Alps and took the gamble knowing he’d be a “dead duck if a Hun jumped the crippled plane.” Providence flies co-pilot with spirit like that and happily the prop adjusted itself to normal as he nosed up. Five days later on the 23rd near Munster he added an FW 190 to his tally and claimed damage to another. On the 25th he was awarded his Distinguished Flying Cross. On April 1st Hofer took out a 109 near Lake Constance and exactly a week later another fell to his guns over Celle. On the 11th yet another Messerschmitt 109 was claimed in a fight near Stettin. May 1st saw him become a double ace when the 109 pilot whose plane he was thrashing with fifties chose to bail out. On May 6th an Oak Leaf Cluster was added to his DFC and on the 8th he was made a 2nd lieutenant retroactive to April 22nd. He was reprimanded for “too much freelancing” referring to his lone wolf tactics of hunting. On the 12th of May he shared a 109 kill with Leonard Pierce and on the 21st he and Lt. Aubrey Hewatt teamed up to divide a Bu 131 trainer. Almost on cue he was telling the brass “see I’m a team player.” The triple air ace scored dangerous ground kills too. Blakeslee certainly stressed teamwork in his pilots. The rule was one ground target pass. Often targets of opportunity on the ground were prohibited due to the severe amount of defensive fire sent up against attackers. But the Kid cut out on his own at every occasion. He excelled by himself and was undaunted attacking planes on the ground. The 8th AF originally awarded ground kills designated separately but included in a pilot’s tally so dangerous were they considered. Hofer scored fourteen times against aircraft on the ground. In the 4th FG only two men scored more—Claiborne Kinnard at seventeen and James Goodson at fifteen. Both took more time than Hofer to do it too. He was truly a lone wolf warrior in the air, that enigmatic figure personifying the hero of the old western where the lone stranger triumphs over the odds with his fast gun. His character has been embellished in Hollywood epics since WWII as that rebellious fellow who constantly screws up and other guys get killed as he tunnel-visions on a kill. Still, one has to admire a pilot who flew in an orange and blue football jersey and did victory rolls over his base with half of his rudder shot off! The escapades of this legendary ace came to an enigmatic end on July 2, 1944. On a mission to Budapest, Hungary, Hofer, flying a borrowed airplane, was last seen as his squadron was being attacked by a superior force Me 109s over Budapest. His body was found in the wreckage of P-51B, QP-X some 500 kilometres away in Mostar, Yugoslavia. The Kid ended up with six Oaks Leaf Clusters to his Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with three OLCs and the Belgian Croix de Guerre with Palm.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 12:48:31 +0000
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