James Bernard McGovern Jr. (February 4, 1922 – May 6, 1954)[1] was a World War II fighter pilot and later an aviator with the Central Intelligence Agency.

[3] The nickname "Earthquake McGoon" was given to McGovern in World War II because the first four letters of his last name, and, like the namesake character in the Li'l Abner comic strip, he was a big man at about 6 feet (1.8 m) and 260 pounds (120 kg) (considered large for a fighter pilot).

On May 6, 1954, his C-119 Flying Boxcar cargo plane was hit twice by ground fire, first in the port engine, then in the horizontal stabilizer,[1] while parachuting a howitzer to the besieged French garrison at Dien Bien Phu during the First Indochina War.

[5] He managed to fly 75 miles (121 km), but just short of a landing strip in Laos, a wingtip clipped a tree.

On February 24, 2005, James McGovern was posthumously awarded (along with Buford and six other surviving pilots) the Legion of Honour with the rank of knight (chevalier) by the President of France Jacques Chirac for their actions in supplying Dien Bien Phu during the 57-day siege.