Reddit mentions of Black Sheep: The Life of Pappy Boyington (Library of Naval Biography)

The simple answer to your question is yes, but very rarely. The most famous example of a pilot taunting an enemy combatant is Major Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, during the air war in the South Pacific, or more specifically, over Bougainville and Rabaul in 1943. As the naval and land forces fought it out on the many islands surrounding “The Slot” and “Iron Bottom Sound”, epic air battles took place over the islands surrounding the Solomon Sea. With the U.S. and Japanese air forces in such close proximity (the U.S. Marines and Army had air bases on Guadalcanal, Espiritu Santo, Vella LaVella and whatever carrier task force that happened to be in the area, while the Japanese forces centered around Rabaul) it was inevitable that a battle for air superiority would result.

According to biographer and VMF-214 historian Bruce Gamble, on the afternoon of October 18, 1943, Boyington led a flight of F4U Corsairs to Kara and Kahili airfields and began circling the enemy bases at around 18,000 feet. Knowing that an English speaking Japanese soldier was monitoring the American frequencies, he began insulting and taunting the Japanese fighter pilots to come up and fight. Eventually, the Black Sheep pilots saw the Japanese Zeros taking off, first one at a time, then eventually in pairs. Boyington describes the ensuing dogfight in his autobiography "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in great detail, stating that the Zeros gained altitude in a lazy, turning circle instead of vectoring off in another direction, climbing, and then returning to the fight at a suitable altitude. As a result, the American pilots had the fortune of watching their opponents throughout the whole process, never losing sight of them. While the Zeros were still at a low altitude and in a moderate climb, the Corsairs (still holding the “high ground” at around 18,000 feet) dove in and picked off the Zeros one by one. At the end of the day, 14 Zeros were claimed to have been shot down (8 by the Black Sheep, 6 by their sister squadron VMF 221 “The Fighting Falcons”, who happened to join in on the brawl) which clashed with official Japanese losses stating that only 8 planes were shot down during the engagement.

Another aspect of this question that must be mentioned is that taunting was not only done between pilots, but also between nations. Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose are famous examples of radio propaganda programs designed by the Axis to demoralize and antagonize the Allied forces. This type of propaganda/radio warfare was especially useful in the Pacific, where radio communication was often the only way in which Allied forces could communicate with each other. American B-29 crews would often get their weather reports from China or Australia, which would have to be relayed via radio from a nearby source, as the B-29 comm’s equipment wasn’t sensitive enough to pick up the original report. Even for naval ships with huge antennae, the weather reports (transmitted via Morse code or coded language) were usually very faint and required intense concentration to be decoded. The Japanese, who were able to tune into the same radio reports, would often broadcast loud music, distracting noises, or false Morse Code beeps to throw off the American radio operators.

One last comment about Boyington and the Black Sheep: the dogfight that I alluded to early was one of the Black Sheep’s most famous engagements. During the 1970’s television show Black Sheep Squadron starring Robert Conrad (which Boyington signed on as a “Technical Advisor”) the radio taunting and subsequent engagement were drawn out for over half a season, where Boyington and the Black Sheep go head to head with one of the highest ranking Japanese aces in the South Pacific, in which numerous taunts and threats are exchanged.

For more information on the Black Sheep, I’d recommend reading Gamble’s [Definitive History of the Black Sheep] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Definitive-Fighting-Squadron/dp/0891418253/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372217034&sr=1-1&keywords=black+sheep) or [Black Sheep One] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-One-Gregory-Boyington/dp/0891418016/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-5&keywords=black+sheep). You can also read [Wukovits's updated version] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Boyington-Library-Biography/dp/1591149770/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-3&keywords=black+sheep).

For first person accounts of former Black Sheep, Boyington’s autobiography [Baa Baa Black Sheep] (http://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Gregory-Pappy-Boyington/dp/0553263501/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-4&keywords=black+sheep) and Frank Walton's autobiography [Once They Were Eagles] (http://www.amazon.com/Once-They-Were-Eagles-Squadron/dp/0813108756/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-7&keywords=black+sheep) are both excellent reads. Boyington's book, however, does tend to leave the reader wondering how exaggerated some of the combat scenes were. For more information on Black Sheep pilot Chris Magee (one of the most daring and colorful Black Sheep) you should read Reed's [Lost Black Sheep] (http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Black-Sheep-Search-Chris/dp/1555716474/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372222939&sr=1-9&keywords=black+sheep)

Finally, for an exhaustively researched history of air combat in the South Pacific, I highly recommend Bergerud's Fire in the Sky. It's size is intimidating, but he keeps it interesting throughout all 700 pages (no easy task when explaining the nuances between Japanese and U.S. carrier tactics, the effect of the vast expanse of the Pacific theater on the U.S. command structure in the Army air corps, etc.)

Finally, [Flying Aces] (http://www.amazon.com/Flying-Aces-Aviation-Art-World/dp/1586632477/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1372224263&sr=1-5&keywords=aviation+art+of+world+war+2) provides a great pictorial representation of the Black Sheep engagement I mentioned earlier.