James Colt, a American farmer adjusting his biplane as World War II, was gaining on his country. He was a voluntary pilot, not that he was a veteran of the skies but just enough to pilot his little own biplane to help in the war effort. Only a farmer, his earnings were only enough to support his family. He inherited an old biplane which was once own by his late father, usually used for crop – dusting as pests were a major problem for his crops.

He intended to use the plane for a greater cause as even if he kept it for his crops, the war would end his days of harvesting. The biplane which he decided must be properly given a name suitable for combat was decided by using ” Moon Tear “. Reminiscing the first time when his father took it to the skies as he sat on the porch of his house, staring up at the night sky luminated partially by the full moon as the plane flew across the fields spraying what seemed like tears that gently flowed as the gentle breeze blew. He had recently refitted it with one 20mm cannon mounted on the nose and due to the weight of this armament he could only installed one of it. He thought at the very least that this armament could compensate his disadvantages as Moon Tear did not have the necessary equipment needed for combat lacking in speed and offence.

On the 9th of September 1942, James walked slowly towards his biplane, the breeze gently brushed upon his face as he put on his leather jacket and fastened his goggles. Today was the day where he would have the last chance to see the land that his father treasured so much as the outcome of the battle would change the course of his life and his family. As his family waved goodbye with tears rolling down on their cheeks, the engine started up with a roar as he did his last minute preparations before the take off, getting the feeling that everything would be fine he waved back and brought his plane to the maximum speed as the engine propelled the plane in the air soaring above the citizens that he hoped to protect.

In a distance he saw a squadron of P-51 Mustangs flying in a formation at breakneck speed. He joined in the formation tailing behind the last member as the squadron leader radioed in of a possible attack by the Japanese in the far northern area. The pilots of the Mustangs were glad to see him as they said one more soldier is one more victory.

As the time flew by, he was getting rather nervous but excited at the same time being it his first aerial combat. Up ahead in the horizon a squadron of Zero fighters appeared, heading towards their direction. The squadron leader gave the thumbs up signal as they splitted up into three groups, broadening the firing range and to prevent the enemy from passing through without a fight. James was in the middle group and he was ordered to spread out along with them, where the groups on both sides started to spread further from his own as they try to get behind the enemy by flying outward sideways and turning in to sneak behind the enemy at higher altitudes. The group James was in was supposedly to be the bait and to block the Japanese fighters from flying any further inland as ground casualties would be certainly more in populated areas.

As soon as James group was in firing range of the enemy, all hell broke loose as everyone was locked in aerial combat or so called a “Dog fight”. Although James’s Moon Tear was not advanced in any terms of aerial superiority, he was confident that he could take down a few enemy fighters. Being chased by a Zero fighter, James had no time to strategies but to use his instincts and his years of experience of handling Moon Tear to his own advantage. He quickly slowed down to nearly a glide getting to close to the nose of the enemy he swiftly maneuvered Moon Tear below the fuselage of the Zero fighter before coming back up from behind as he knew due to the fast speed of the fighter it cannot slow down as fast as and could not glide as well as a biplane. In a split second, he fired his 20mm cannon as Moon Tear’s frame shook as the recoil of the cannon was rather forceful but it kept its target and the enemy’s engine burst into flames and exploded just as he steered to the right avoiding a collision with the debris as his biplane did not have much protection. Relieved, but yet another came chasing in from behind his tail and was firing rapidly at his plane that he could hear the bullets passed him as he maneuvered Moon Tear skillfully to dodge most of the bullets by spinning its fuselage. James could not outrun this pilot that easily and was forced to do a circular turn in the air as his engine shuddered against the force, thinking the worse thing that could happen would be a stall in the fuel injector but that luckily for him did not occur and being behind the enemy again he fired and brought the second plane down.

Now James flew steeply to his fellow comrade to help take down the Zero fighter tailing him. The back of the enemy plane facing his front, the enemy knew James intention and flew to another side getting out of his firing range. Suddenly, he heard three pops and he quickly turn to his side and saw that he had been shot on the arm which had a burning and piercing sensation. Despite his wound he bravely radioed his fellow comrade in front to make a sharp turn to the left and as James tried to keep the enemy behind from shooting his engine by making spins, he took down the enemy fighter in front trying to turn left to follow in on his comrade that thought he was going to steer away. Immediately after that, James took a nose dive to in hope to shake of the tailing enemy fighter but to no avail. Just then, a fellow comrade of his came down from above unloading his armaments upon the enemy although it was not enough to destroy it he send it smoking towards the ground. Giving thanks through the radio James recovered to a higher altitude try to target the remainder enemy fighters.

Just as he was about to ambush the enemy in front above of him, his engine was shot by another Zero fighter. His engine bursted in flames, as he felt the intense heat against his face and the strong smell of burning fuel filled his lungs. He quickly jumped off the flaming Moon Tear which took allot of effort as the wind resistance was strong and pulled the cord as soon as he cleared the burning plane. What happened next was instantaneous as he was not trained how to use the parachute, the wind carried him near a rocky area where he hit the ground and tumbled and blacked out as he hit against a rock.

When he awoke, a few of his comrades were by his side possibly having been shot down as well. But he was glad that majority of them had survived including himself. His wound was later taken care of by the ground unit hospital.

After the war ended James was awarded the Medal of Honor for fighting off enemy attacks along side pilots of the American Air Force voluntarily and was commended on his bravery as a citizen of America. As for James, besides being a war hero he was just happy to be back with his family on his own land.