Richard I. Bong Memorial Bridge

Another Duluth-Superior photo, this one of the curvy high-level bridge that carries US-2 across the harbor. This bridge replaced a similarly-curvy bridge (great pix; go, look) which was much nearer water level.

Dick Bong was a WWII fighter pilot, from Poplar, Wisconsin. Bong was credited with shooting down over 40 Japanese aircraft and was considered the United States Ace of Aces. He died in an aircraft testing incident in Burbank, California, on the same day as the Hiroshima bombing.

Over the years I've taken several tours of this harbor. During one of those tours the guide made quite a point about the bridge--named after a Pacific War hero and crossing the world's greatest iron-shipping harbor--being built of Japanese steel. Ah, irony.