Frederick R. Payne | WWII fighter ace, 104

Frederick R. "Fritz" Payne, 104, a World War II fighter ace who left his mark on aviation and wartime history by shooting down six Japanese warplanes during the Battle of Guadalcanal, a bloody, months-long confrontation that helped change the course of the war, has died.

The retired Marine Corps brigadier general, who was believed to be the oldest surviving U.S. fighter ace, died Aug. 6 at his home in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Hundreds had turned out to honor him on Memorial Day at the Palm Springs Air Museum, which on Tuesday confirmed his death.

What Gen. Payne did between September and October 1942 was take to the skies in an F4F Wildcat and shoot down four Japanese bombers and two fighter planes during a crucial battle for control of the Pacific that Allied forces had launched with no clear indication they could win.

Gen. Payne would be honored with the Navy Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, and other medals during a long military career.

When Congress decided this year to honor all of the nation's fighter aces with a Gold Medal, its highest civilian honor, he was too frail to attend the ceremony in Washington. Rep. Raul Ruiz took it to him at the Palm Springs Air Museum.

Gen. Payne, the son of a Spanish-American War veteran, attended the U.S. Naval Academy for two years before completing his college education at the University of Arizona in 1935. Upon graduation, he had hoped to join the Navy's cadet program but learned it was full.

"My father said, 'You're a college graduate, go to the recruiting office and tell them you'd like to join the Marine Corps,' " he told the Palm Springs Desert Sun in 2010. So he did and the Marines made him a second lieutenant. When he retired in 1958, he was a brigadier general. - AP