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.

Bombers took on different roles during World War II, depending on size, but many were multi-role aircraft. True “heavies” like the B-17, Lancaster, or the B-29 had strategic roles, bombing ...