21 vs 1: The "Butcher Bob" Story - The Corsair Pilot Who Terrorized Rabaul | Decoding History

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21 vs 1: The "Butcher Bob" Story - The Corsair Pilot Who Terrorized Rabaul | Decoding History

He was 7 days from going home, but 21 Japanese fighters stood between him and survival.

At 06:15 on January 30, 1944, First Lieutenant Robert Hansen prepared for the most dangerous mission in the Pacific at Piva North airfield. At only 23 years old, "Butcher Bob" had already secured 21 kills in 17 days, and he was scheduled to rotate home in one week. The mission was daunting: eight Marine Corsairs escorting 18 torpedo bombers into a hornets' nest at Rabaul defended by 70 enemy fighters. Hansen, a former wrestling champion from Lucknow, India, and son of missionaries, flew with a cold mathematical precision that bordered on recklessness. While other pilots maintained formation, Hansen famously broke away to hunt enemy formations. On this day, 21 Japanese fighters, including Mitsubishi Zeros and Nakajima "Tojos," rose to intercept the strike.
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Standard doctrine dictated staying with the bombers, but Hansen rolled inverted and dove alone into a formation 21 times his number. Accelerating through 400 mph, he shredded the lead Zero and scattered the enemy. Despite having 15 fighters on his tail and taking hits to his stabilizer and wing, he used vertical climbs and snap rolls to outmaneuver the lighter Zeros. Hansen even infiltrated a Japanese defensive "Lufbery Circle," using their own geometry against them to down more aircraft. By the time he headed for Bougainville, his engine was failing, his right aileron was jammed, and his Corsair was leaking red hydraulic fluid. He managed to glide his dead-stick aircraft onto the runway, landing with 47 bullet holes.
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This engagement earned him four more confirmed kills, bringing his total to 25 and tying him for the highest score among active Marine pilots. Tragically, just four days later on February 3, 1944—one day before his 24th birthday—Hansen volunteered for a mission he wasn't scheduled to fly. While strafing a lighthouse at Cape St. George, his wing clipped the water, and his Corsair disintegrated in a catastrophic crash. Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, Robert Hansen remains the top-scoring F4U Corsair pilot in history. We rescue these forgotten stories from the archives every day so that heroes like Hansen are never forgotten.
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