# Would the biplane pilots who slew King Kong have been awarded any medals? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2003, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681 "2003-11-06T09:04:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/21 "2003-11-08T03:18:46Z")
They did a terrible job of killing Kong, what with him showing up on a Pacific Island in '63 and 8 times taller. After bouts with a giant octopus, a big green firebreathing lizard, and a Robot Kong, he retired to the south pacific. ---
**Author:** ![Vlad\_Dracul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/50afbb/32.png) [@Vlad\_Dracul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vlad_Dracul)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/22 "2003-11-08T04:59:17Z")
Be glad it didn’t happen four hundred years later… Starfleet would step in and declare the giant ape to be a confused alien tourist, grant him diplomatic immunity, then call in Jean-Luc Picard. As Kong tears New York apart, security forces stand idle while Picard attempts to reason with the giant beast. “It has a right to act in accordance with its own nature, even as do we!” Eventually, Geordi and Data channel the transporter beam through the primary deflector dish, collecting Kong and permitting him to be re-settled on his very own planet. Worf, for taking a shot at Kong (and missing), is called into the Ready Room for an Official Scolding. ---
**Author:** ![audit1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@audit1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audit1)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/23 "2003-11-08T08:03:26Z")
Twas not the Army Air Corps. that killed the beast. The planes were Curtiss F8C Helldivers probably from Floyd Bennett Field. Therefore the US NAVY gets all thre credit. ---
**Author:** ![MrSarcasticus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@MrSarcasticus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSarcasticus)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/24 "2003-11-08T09:01:57Z")
I remember reading some essay years and years ago that this entire movie was a giant symbol for Negro Rage in America. Passed it off as pure bunk, but as I saw the directors’ earlier documentary work, I admit it could be possible. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/25 "2003-11-08T20:46:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*(Inspired by B. Kliban’s “Q: What did the city of New York do with King Kong?”): > > The Ronald MacDonald medal. \*\* Ole King Kong is really neat, He is full of Monkey Meat! Had to be said. 😃 And, given the “support” that Congress gave military aviation between the wars, Kong would would have gone into the Base’s stwe pot. :rolleyes: As for the medals, when I began to research military medals online, I discovered something rather odd… It seems that the US military did not completely standardize military records until the late 1930’s-early 40’s. Not in the medals’ current form, anyhoo. Things seem to have been pretty fluid back before then. A Medal of Honor would not have been out of the question, but unlikely, if only due to politics. A Republican was in the White House, & New York was heavily Democrat. But an Navy Cross seems likely, and the State Legislature of New York would certainly have declared them public benefactors, & possibly provided the widows & orphans, if any, of the downed pilots with a pension. ---
**Author:** ![Lux\_Interior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@Lux\_Interior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lux_Interior)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/26 "2003-11-08T20:51:53Z")
Purple hearts are awarded to those injures in combat - not killed. A Distinguised Flying Cross (posthumus) perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2003, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/27 "2003-11-08T20:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by David Simmons \* > \*\*And think of the property damage and people on the ground killed and injured by all of those bullets sprayed all over Manhattan. \*\* How about all those monkey parts sprayed all over Manhatten? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/28 "2003-11-09T14:35:35Z")
I imagine the Mayor of New York giving a ceremony awarding the pilots the Key to the City™ for ridding the city of its giant ape problem. I’m not sure what the pilots who helped rid the city of its second giant ape problem in 1976 would have recieved. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/29 "2003-11-10T13:53:15Z")
Link to site discussing the planes & pilots that whacked Kong. Also, it’s a really cool Kong site in general! [http://www.aboyd.com/kong/kongfaq2.html#A10](http://www.aboyd.com/kong/kongfaq2.html#A10) ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681/30 "2003-11-10T15:07:50Z")
No medals…in fact, they all received official reprimands for killing an endangered species… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-biplane-pilots-who-slew-king-kong-have-been-awarded-any-medals/211681.md?page=1)