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James E. Lundy
JAMES (JIM) E. LUNDY, born in
Albany, Georgia on November 8, 1920. At
age 15 I began flying in exchange for gassing,
washing, and working on small airplanes.
After a total of 3:15 I soloed on Kenner Bird
Aircraft. With no more than 6 hours I began
instructing. In 1942 I graduated from the
University of Georgia.
As a civilian, later in 1942, I began flight
instructing at Darr Aero Tech in Albany,
Georgia. For 14 months I followed this
career. Many of my students went on to fly in
all branches of the Army Air Corps. One
former student subsequently shot down 18
enemy aircraft.
I left instructing to get actively into the Air
Corps as a Service Pilot and rank of Flight
Officer. At Brownsville, Texas I was checked
out on all pursuit type aircraft. Then I was
assigned to the 6th Ferrying Group at Long
Beach, California. While I was at Brownsville
I met a WASP, Elizabeth Pearce, and later
married her.
I was kept busy ferrying all types of "P"
shooters, mostly P-51 's. This included ferrying P-63's to Alaska for the Russians.
Towards the end of the war I was based in
Fairbanks, Alaska flying C-47's and C-54's
throughout the mainland as well as the Aleutian Island Chain.
When the war ended I went to work as a
co-pilot for National Airlines. Since 1950 I
have been a Captain. For the last 3 years I
have been flying DC-10's from Miami to
Europe.
During my flying career I have been qualified on more than 50 different types of
aircraft, and am still going strong. I have
more than 32,000 hours flying time. On
November 8, 1980 I must retire from
National Airlines.
I have been married to Elizabeth Pearce
since 1945. We have two daughters, Sally
and Margaret. Sally is married to Wayne
Lukens, and they have one son, Brad. Margaret is a Flight Attendant for TWA based in
Chicago.
Liz and I are the only husband and wife
team who belong to the P-47 Association, and
we are very proud of it.
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Pilot Name
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Biography Summary
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Asa A. Adair
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He returned to the States in August of 1944 after participating in the invasion "D" Day. He flew P-63's, P-51's, F-80's, T-33's, F-84's, T-38's, P-47's in numerous assignments during the following twenty years in in, Japan, U.S.A. and Europe before retiring after twenty-six years of Active Duty.
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John C. Anderson
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After P-47 transition he was assigned to the 406th Fighter Group, 512th Fighter Squadron. (E.T
.0.) He flew 56 missions through January, 1945 destroying supply routes, bridges, and railroads; he also flew close support missions with the ground forces, with attacks on tanks, artillery and enemy positions.
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W.B. 'Tex' Badger
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Eight and Ninth Air Force in WWII. B-l7's, P-51's and P-47's. Fifth Air Force in Korea, F80's and F86's. WWII and Korea, Flew 156 missions. Tactical units served in with the USAAF and USAF were: 305th BG , 368th Fighter Group, 4th Fighter Group, 49th Fighter Group, 12th Fighter Wing, 506th Fighter Wing.
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Robert T. (Bob) Bagby
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He trained in P47's at Cross City and Dale Mabry Fields, Florida and then joined the 341st FS Black Jack Squadron), 348th FG of the 5th AF in Brisbane, Australia in June 1943. Bob flew 78 combat missions in New Guinea (Port Moresby, Finchafen, Sador, Wakde and Biak) primarily as wingman to squadron CO's John Campbell and John Moore. Also privileged to fly wing to Neil Kirby on several occasions.
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Frank Baker
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After brief stops at Stone and Atcham, England he joined the 313th Fighter Squadron of the 50th Fighter Group in France. He flew 90 missions through V.E. Day. Most of the missions were close support attacks on various ground targets with a few B-26 escort missions thrown in. All of the missions took place in eastern France and southern Germany. He was awarded the Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters.
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John M. Balason
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To relieve the boredom, Balason went down on the deck and blew up a locomotive
he had observed at altitude. A few seconds after making his strafing pass he received a hit in his left wing tank and a fire started immediately in the cockpit. The paralyzing effect of the intense heat made climbing out of the cockpit impossible.
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Albert W. Barlow, Jr.
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He flew 69 escort and ground support missions. Destroyed one E/A (ME-I09). Was shot down on Sept. 8, 1944, and evaded enemy ground forces for 8 days. Was picked up by an American Recon. Unit behind the German lines. Was hospitalized until Feb. 1948, when he was medically retired with the rank of Capt. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, and Purple Heart.
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William T. Beckler
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In July, 1944 Beckler exchanged his P-40 for a P-47N Thunderbolt. Missions in the Jug covered Northern Italy and Southern France. These included escorting medium bombers. The Bombers, based in Southern Italy, would be escorted to France by Thunderbolts based on Corsica. Shortly before target the Jugs would pull ahead of the bombers and bomb the enemy gun positions.
Beckler's activities while participation in three major campaigns earned him the DFC, two Air Medals and two Presidential citations.
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Herbert R. Benson
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After training in P-47 Thunderbolts at bases in North Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware, he was
assigned to the European Theatre of operations and joined the 48th Fighter Group
493rd Fighter Squadron at St. Trond, Belgium. After flying 44 combat missions, he was awarded the Air Medal with 4 Oak Leaf clusters.
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Marvin C. Bigelow
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Training in the Southeast Training Command with the class of 44C, he graduated and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant single engine pilot at Marianna, Florida with the class of
44D. After checking out in the P-40 at Marianna, he transitioned in the P-47 in the Northeast Defense Command and after gunnery at Dover, Delaware was shipped on the Queen Mary to England.
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