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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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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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