Navy pilot John Leppla was credited with shooting down five Japanese aircraft in aerial combat before he was shot down and ...

20, 1942, made him both the Navy’s first World War II fighter ace and its first WWII aviator to receive ... as much devoted to fighters as to dive bombers. John Arthur Leppla was born in Lima ...

Pilot John Leppla, right, was a WWII Navy ace, credited with shooting ... seemed just as much devoted to fighters as to dive bombers. John Arthur Leppla was born in Lima, Ohio, on May 7, 1916.

Explore the controversial legacy of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, often regarded as one of the most challenging dive bombers ever produced. Despite its troubled history, this aircraft played a pivotal ...