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Jerry C. Gibson
JERRY C. GIBSON, born March 28,
1924 in Flint, Michigan although he spent
most of his youth in Philadelphia, Penn.
Following his graduation from Northeast
High School, he enlisted as an Aviation Cadet
in February, 1943. He attended Kent State
University in Kent, Ohio until September,
1943 when he was accepted for pilot training
at San Antonio, Texas Classification Center.
On completion of Pre-Flight training at San
Antonio, Primary at Pine Bluff, Arkansas,
Basic at Independence, Kansas and
Advanced at Eagle Pass, Texas, he received
his wings and commission in Class 44-F.
Following fighter transition in P-40's, and
aerial gunnery training, he checked out in
the P-47 at Bruning, Nebraska. He continued fighter training in the P-47 at Abilene,
Texas before transferring to the European
Theatre of operations in February, 1945.
After arrival in England, he was assigned to
the 405th Fighter Group, 509th Fighter
Squadron which was based at that time near
Maastricht, Holland. He flew 17 sorties
providing ground support for the U.S. Third
Army as it advanced through Germany.
Following termination of the war in
Europe, he volunteered for transfer to the
Pacific but instead was assigned to the army
of occupation in Kassel, Germany. He
returned to the U.S. and was released from
active duty in September, 1946 as a First
Lieutenant. After assuming civilian status
again, he resumed his career with American
Telephone and Telegraph Company, Long
Lines Department. He rotated through
numerous management jobs and departments
in the northeastern states region before taking a leave of absence in June, 1976 to join
American Bell International, Inc. in Tehran,
Iran. While there, he assisted in the engineer-
ing of a modern telecommunications system
for the nation of Iran. He remained in
Tehran until January, 1979 when the political and social unrest made it necessary for
him to be evacuated by the U.S. Military
Airlift Command.
Following his return from Iran, he
resumed his position with American Telephone and Telegraph Company at their headquarters in Bedminster, New Jersey where he
retired in 1980 after 38 years of service.
He married Mary Curran in Philadelphia
in 1948 and has two sons, Dean and Scott.
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Pilot Name
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Biography Summary
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John Abbotts
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P-47 transition followed at Pocatello, Idaho and Greenville, Texas after which he was assigned to the 56th Fighter Group in England. When the news of his arrival reached Berlin, Hitler retired to his bunker with his cyanide capsule and revolver. Eva found the news equally depressing.
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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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Edward B. Addison
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The 507th Fighter Group, equipped with P-47N's, won the Presidential Unit Citation for destroying 32 Japanese aircraft in the air on one mission to Seoul, Korea. The average flying time for raids to Korea and Japan would be 7 to 9 hours flying time. In a total of 31 months, the 507th not only provided top cover for B-29's, but also
dive-bombed, napalm-bombed and flew low-level on strafing missions.
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Levon B. Agha-Zarian
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It is rumored that he, took his primary training on a flying rug. He flew Spits, briefly, in England, but as the, war moved to the East, he was sent to India as a Sgt. Pilot and first saw action from Ceylon, flying the Curtiss P.36, the Brewster Buffalo, and the Hurricane. At this point he might have opted for the rug! This was at the time of the fall of Singapore and the sinking of the Prince of Wales and the Repulse.
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George N. Ahles
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Posted to A-20 light bomber squadron Barksdale Field, Louisiana. . Group moved to Hunter Air Base Savannah, Georgia. Qualified for Pilot training November 1940. Entered Aviation Cadets January 1942. Presented wings November 1942 class of 42-J. Married Mary Louise while in Advanced Pilot Training at Craig AFB, Selma, Alabama, September 1942.
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Roy J. Aldritt
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Shortly after the group moved to France he ran into some unseen flak and was forced to make a nylon descent behind the lines; some evasion and a lot of luck had him back with his unit
in 24 hours.
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Eugene J. Amaral
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After graduation from Stonington High School he enlisted as an Aviation Cadet in December 1942 and was called to active duty in March, 1943. He received his wings and commission at Spence Field, Georgia as a member of the Class of 43-C.
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Talmadge L. Ambrose
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Flew 84 missions thru VE Day, was downed by 22mm ground fire over Siefried Line. He destroyed 11 enemy aircraft, 9 known confirmed in air and on
ground, including 4 FW 190-D's in one afternoon over Hanover, Germany, April 8, 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross,
Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, 17 man, Oak Leaf Clusters, Good Conduct Medal, Pacific Theatre and European Theatre Meda1s with 5 Battle
Stars and Unit Citation Medal.
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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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William Anderson
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It was not always flak,two ME-109's beat the hell out of me one day. The central controller called me and said "Basher-Red Leader do you have contact Bandits," I replied, "I sure do, I'll bring them over the field in 3 minutes, they're chasing me home." Got all the usual medals including two Belgium and two French but one I'm most proud of is the Silver Star -it is the greatest.
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