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Fred Rubidge
FRED RUBIDGE, born on Nov. 4th,
1924 at Chicago, Ill. where he attended
Grammar school, then went to Lewis School
of Aero. at Lockport, Ill. for one and a half
years, and finished high school at De La Salle
in Chicago.
In Nov. 1942 he took the Cadet exam and
Was sworn in in Dec. and left for active duty
Feb. 1943. After basic, C.T.D., preflight at
Maxwell, primary at Clarksdale, Basic at
Greenville, he received his wings at Jackson
A.A.B. Miss. in the class of 44-E, then to
Craig Field for P-40 trans. then to Camp
Springs A.A.B. for P-47 Transition, then
Millville A.A.B. for gunnery, and then was
sent to the E.T.0. and assigned to the 358th.
Ftr. Gp. 366th Ftr. Sq. Rubidge had a
memorable experience just 2 days before the
war ended. At briefing that morning they said
that orders came down from 12th Tac. (provisional) headquarters and were not to fire on any enemy aircraft or ground positions
unless fired upon, with no exceptions. That
same morning he spotted a lone aircraft 1000ft. below and peeled off to investigate from astern. It was an F.W.-189 with black crosses
and all. He flipped on the gun switch, but the
German just kept flying level with no evasive
action. Finally he pulled in close on the 189s
right wing and the startled German did a 90
degree turn to the left and to this day is
probably wondering why the Jug pilot failed
to shoot him down and so is the Jug pilot.
After returning to the States, Rubidge had
a short stint of flying a photographer around
at 100 ft. in the air, taking- pictures of farms
in Wisconsin, then went into the automobile
wholesale business, got married to Helen
Ellwart in 1947, had six children, Jan, Fred,
Derrill, Mark, Rita, and Laura and 2 grandchildren, Milissa, and Fred IV. He still flies on occasion and does as much cruising on his
boat as possible.
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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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