en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_T._Barber
2 corrections found
In 1991, Barber and Captain Thomas George Lanphier Jr. were officially credited with half a kill each in Yamamoto's bomber after the Air Force reviewed the incident.
The split official credit was not first awarded in 1991. Air Force records say the formal shared credit was published in 1978; 1991 was a later review/advisory stage, and the Secretary of the Air Force upheld the split afterward.
Full reasoning
This sentence gets the timing of the official credit wrong.
The key record is the 1996 Ninth Circuit decision in Barber v. Widnall, which recounts the Air Force's credit history for the Yamamoto shootdown. The court states that no official kill credits were given immediately after the mission because of its secrecy, and that when the Air Force Historical Research Center published its World War II aerial victory report in 1978, it credited Lanphier and Barber jointly with shooting down Yamamoto's bomber. In other words, the official half-credit/half-credit result was already in place by 1978, not first created in 1991.
The same court decision explains what happened in 1991: the Air Force History Office issued an advisory opinion in September 1991 saying there was enough uncertainty to accept both claims, and Barber's petition then went through the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records. That process later led to Secretary of the Air Force Donald B. Rice leaving the shared credit in place. So 1991 was part of a later review process, not the date when the official shared credit was first awarded.
An Air Force memorandum from Secretary Rice says the same thing even more explicitly: "Formal credit was not given until 1978" and the AFBCMR held a hearing in 1991 on Barber's request for sole credit. That directly contradicts the article's claim that the official split credit was awarded in 1991.
A more accurate wording would be that official Air Force records had already given Barber and Lanphier shared credit by 1978, and later reviews in 1991 and afterward left that split credit in place.
3 sources
- Barber v. Widnall, 78 F.3d 1419 (9th Cir. 1996)
"When the Air Force Historical Research Center ... published its aerial victory credit report for World War II in 1978, the report credited Lanphier and Barber jointly with shooting down Yamamoto's bomber." The court also says: "In September of 1991, the Air Force History Office separately issued an advisory opinion..."
- Secretary of the Air Force memorandum on Rex T. Barber AFBCMR case
The memo states that no official award was made at the time of the mission and that "Formal credit was not given until 1978, when the official listing of World War II victory credits was published," while the AFBCMR "held a hearing in 1991" on Barber's request for sole credit.
- Magic and Lightning | Air & Space Forces Magazine
The article says "Official Air Force records gave Lanphier and Barber joint credit for shooting down Yamamoto" and separately notes that in September 1991 the Air Force History Office advised that enough uncertainty existed for both claims to be accepted.
However, despite numerous appeals, the US Air Force refused to reverse its 1991 ruling giving each pilot half credit for the kill.
The shared-credit ruling was not a 1991 Air Force ruling. Formal shared credit was published in 1978, while 1991 was an advisory-review stage and Secretary Donald Rice upheld the split later.
Full reasoning
This sentence misdates the Air Force's shared-credit decision.
According to the Ninth Circuit in Barber v. Widnall, the Air Force Historical Research Center's 1978 World War II aerial victory report is what formally credited Lanphier and Barber jointly for shooting down Yamamoto's bomber. The court then explains that September 1991 involved only an advisory opinion from the Air Force History Office during Barber's later effort to change his record.
The Air Force Secretary's own memorandum in Barber's correction case says the same thing: "Formal credit was not given until 1978" and the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records held a hearing in 1991 on Barber's request for sole credit. That review process culminated later, when Secretary Donald B. Rice declined to change the existing shared-credit decision.
So it is inaccurate to describe the split credit as a "1991 ruling". The better timeline is: formal shared credit in 1978; review activity in 1991; later refusal to alter that split credit.
3 sources
- Barber v. Widnall, 78 F.3d 1419 (9th Cir. 1996)
The court says the 1978 Air Force Historical Research Center report "credited Lanphier and Barber jointly" and that in September 1991 the Air Force History Office issued only an "advisory opinion" recommending Barber's petition be denied.
- Secretary of the Air Force memorandum on Rex T. Barber AFBCMR case
The memo states: "Formal credit was not given until 1978, when the official listing of World War II victory credits was published," and separately notes that the AFBCMR "held a hearing in 1991" on Barber's request for sole credit.
- Magic and Lightning | Air & Space Forces Magazine
The article distinguishes between the earlier official shared credit and the later review: "Official Air Force records gave Lanphier and Barber joint credit" and in September 1991 the Air Force History Office advised that enough uncertainty existed for both claims to be accepted.