FAIRFIELD PILOT DOWNS TWO ZEROS
CAPT. JAMES M. CUPP HAS FIELD DAY
(The following story was written by Capt. Charles Mathieu, Jr. of New York City, a marine corps public relations officer, and distributed by The Association Press.)
NEW GEORGIA ISLAND (Delayed) (AP) – Capt. James M. Cupp of Fairfield, Ia., today shot down two enemy planes in a dog fight over Kahill. He had a total of eight enemy planes down to his credit.
Capt. Cupp was leading a flight of marine corsair (Vought F4U) fighters, escorting American heavy bombers striking at the Jap airdrome at Kahill, when the enemy fighters attacked.
During the dog fight that ensued, Capt. Cupp sighted an enemy fighter below him doing acrobatics. He dove on him, but the enemy must have seen the marine flier coming because he went into a dive and tried to escape.
“I pulled up after I shot at him because I wanted to rejoin the bombers,” Capt. Cupp said.
He added that he saw the Jap plane smoking and, upon returning to his home base one of his companions revealed he had seen the enemy crash.
After he had gained altitude Capt. Cupp circled the area, saw a flight of Zeros below trying to get him to come down after them. However he kept his advantage and finally one Zero came up from below and passed in front of his left wing. The enemy exploded in mid-air after a burst from the guns of Capt. Cupp’s plane.
Source: The Council Bluffs Nonpareil, Council Bluffs, Iowa, Friday, November 05, 1943
