|
James H. Simpson
JAMES H. SIMPSON, born August 15, 1922 in Ben Avon Heights, a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA. He attended the Universtiy of Pittsburgh for one and a half years before enlisting as an Aviation Cadet in early 1943.
Simpson graduated and was commissioned in the class of 44-C at Aloe AAF in Victoria, Texas where he also took gunnery training and fighter transition in P-40's. Training in P-47's was taken at Seymour Johnson AAF in Goldsboro, N.C. and Bluethenthal AAF in Wilmington, N.C.
He was assigned to the 366th Fighter Group 391st Fighter Squadron with the 9th Air Force in the European Theater. Simpson flew 70 missions through VE day destroying marshalling yards, ammo and fuel dumps, bridges and close support attacks on tanks, trains, artillery, transport columns and troops. He was awarded the Distinguished. Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 8 oak leaf clusters.
Simpson was released from service in September of 1945 as a First Lieutenant and
resumed his education at the University of Pittsburgh, graduating in 1948 as a Mechanical Engineer. In 1949 he joined the Pennsylvania Air National Guard where he flew P-47 N's and
P51-H's with the 146th Fighter Squadron.
There were many memorable flights in the P-47, but one which he recalls involved a
flight of 3 Thunderbolts on a ground support mission. Three Tiger tanks had one of our tank columns pinned down and they called upon our flight for help.
Bill Johnson, Ray Hunt and Simpson each dove down, in turn, and each one got a direct
hit. There were no tanks left, just three craters. Simpson found out later that some of our troops were hiding out in ditches not 20 yards from the tanks. Luckily, all troops survived the bomb blast.
Simpson is presently employed by Koppers Company, Inc., in Pittsburgh as a Design Engineer in the Forest Products Division.
He married Ruth Frederick in 1948 and: they have four children James, Scott, Kimberly and Richard and two grandchildren.
|
Pilot Name
|
Biography Summary
|
|
Asa A. Adair
|
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.
|
|
John C. Anderson
|
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.
|
|
W.B. 'Tex' Badger
|
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.
|
|
Robert T. (Bob) Bagby
|
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.
|
|
Frank Baker
|
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.
|
|
John M. Balason
|
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.
|
|
Albert W. Barlow, Jr.
|
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.
|
|
William T. Beckler
|
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.
|
|
Herbert R. Benson
|
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.
|
|
Marvin C. Bigelow
|
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.
|
|
|