Leonard Bunge: Korean War VP-9 Aviator

By David Adams, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Leonard J. “Len” Bunge was born in 1928 and grew up in Chenoa, IL, the son of a Lutheran pastor.  He had four siblings, two sisters and two brothers.  Both brothers served in the military, his older brother Frederick in the Navy during WWII. According to Len, Fred was a “swabby”.  His younger brother Martin served in the post-Korean War Army. Len has enduring memories of Sunday, December 7, 1941.  The family was preparing for church when a “flash” radio broadcast told the world of the Pearl Harbor attack.  The news was “horrible”, according to him.

The family moved to Chicago in the early 1940s.  Len attended Norwood Park’s Taft High School and graduated in 1946.  He enrolled in St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, where he excelled in athletics as well as academics. Len graduated in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts in economics.  During his four years at St. Olaf, he earned nine letters: four each in basketball and baseball and one in football. To no one’s surprise both of his brothers also graduated from St. Olaf (students and graduates are famously called “Oles”); Fred with Len in the Class of 1950 and Martin in the Class of 1954.  Also, not uncommon for Oles, Fred and Len married Oles both from their class!

Naval flight training

He had his eye on military service while in college.  To bide his time before entry into service, Len flexed his salesman skills as a Fuller Brush salesman in Chicago.  In early 1951, he joined two friends from his Taft high school days and enlisted in the Navy at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Waukegan, IL on March 1, 1951.

Intent on flying, he qualified for the Naval Aviation Cadet flight training program.  Len reported to Pensacola Naval Air Station, FL for flight training.  As did all trainees, he first flew the Beechcraft T-34 Mentor in Basic Training.  He recalls that part of the training syllabus included flying by reference only to flight instruments, or “under the hood”.  Before proceeding to Advanced Training, Len successfully completed “carrier quals”. Students called it “hitting the boat”. He reported next to NAS Corpus Christi, TX for Advanced Training.  There he learned to fly the North American Aviation T-28 Trojan, or SNJ. He remembers formation flight and carrier operations.  He completed his “carrier quals” with six landings flying the SNJ. His intensive, challenging flight training now complete and a newly-minted Ensign, Len was awarded the golden wings of a Naval Aviator on August 22, 1952.  More importantly during flight training Len married Marilyn Krueger, a fellow “Ole”.

Navy Patrol Squadron 9 (VP-9) “Golden Eagles”

Len was slated to fly the land-based Lockheed Neptune Navy maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare (ASW) airplane. He reported to VP-9 at NAS Alameda, CA for flight training.  His training also took him to NAS Whidbey Island, WA. Besides the electronic gear used to monitor adversaries’ radar and radio transmissions, Len emphasizes that the model he flew was equipped with twin .50 caliber machine guns in the nose. VP-9 Neptunes carried a 10-man crew.  As soon as he was fully qualified as a Neptune co-pilot, he joined the squadron at Atsugi NAS, Japan.  Atsugi is about 40 miles from Tokyo.  Marilyn joined him there since his tour was accompanied. They frequently took the train into Tokyo.  Len remembers that he “stood head and shoulders above the Japanese population”.

Golden Eagles sorties were flown over the Sea of Japan just off the coast of China and North Korea.  Their mission was to locate adversary radar facilities associated with air defense networks. Flight altitudes varied between 10,000 and 12,000 feet above the sea. Len’s Neptune was careful to remain at least 15 miles from the coast, thus over international waters.  The squadron had ten aircrews. During his more than two years at Atsugi only once did a MiG intercept a squadron Neptune–but not his.  This intercept happened even though the airplane was operating over international waters.

Len remembers that sorties flown both day and night lasted between 6 and 7 hours, some longer.  Once when returning to base (RTB) Len remembers that the crew was “sorta sleepy” after a very long night mission. By mistake they made an approach to Tachikawa, a neighboring base, and were waved off.  They recovered at Atsugi. From time-to-time at the end of a sortie his airplane flew over Mt. Fuji, dipped its wings and everyone looked down into the bubbling crater.

A war story

On one sortie the Neptune’s wing deicing system failed. Ice then built up, degrading flight performance. The aircraft commander first descended into what should have been warmer air. No dice. The ice stayed on the wings.  He climbed up several thousands of feet where the Neptune eventually found drier air and the wing ice came off.  Len cautioned that the danger with making these altitude changes was that other aircraft were conducting surveillance at their assigned altitudes. Len’s airplane “busted through” their airspace.  But no harm no foul.

At the end of his “tour” with VP-9 at Atsugi, Len returned to the States and NAS Alameda where his Navy service with the Fleet began.  He was discharged honorably as a Lieutenant Junior Grade on March 9, 1955.  Of his four years in the Navy, he is credited with two years and six months of foreign service. Len earned the National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, and United Nations Service Medal.

Civilian life and family

Len worked for State Farm Insurance immediately after his discharge in 1955 and for the next five decades before retiring in 2008 at age 80.  In later years he would split his time between homes in Park Ridge or other nearby suburbs and Bonita Springs, FL. At the end of his career, he managed up to 17 agents. A very successful career indeed!  Len, now widowed twice, has four children and two stepchildren.  He counts 18 grandchildren and 20 great grandchildren.

Len continued playing competitive tennis after college graduation into his eighties in Chicagoland and beyond.  Focusing on doubles, he achieved the United States Law Tennis Association number 1 ranking in the Men’s 80 Individual Doubles in 2009. St. Olaf College inducted him into the St. Olaf Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

Concerning his military service, he remembers that “the Navy was a good life”; it was “well run”. He emphasizes that he “learned to respect authority.”

Thank you, Len, for your dedication and distinguished service. Enjoy your special day of honor in Washington D.C. and have a splendid “welcome home”!