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P47 Pilots Biographies, Last Name Starting With "C"
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Pilot Name
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Biography Summary
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Leonard C. Costello
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After a short stint at Dover Army Air Force
base in Delaware, where he flew some P-47's
to their last resting place in Independence,
Kansas, he elected to remain in the service
for overseas replacement duty. However,
upon arrival at Kearns replacement depot
just outside Salt Lake City, Utah, he found
that he had been pulled from shipment and
assigned to that base as assistant civilian
personnel officer. He knew then that his
P-47 flying days were over and shortly thereafter
applied for a discharge and was separated from the service in the fall of 1946
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Joseph T. Cox
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Joe served as a Captain in the Army Air Corps and flew 90 combat missions as a fighter pilot in Italy, Corsica, France and Germany. He was awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 12 Oak Leaf Clusters.
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Rufus A. (Red) Cox
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He arrived in England with 112
new Jug replacement pilots in April 1944.
He was assigned to the 507 Sq, 404 Ftr Gp
commanded by Red McColpin, former Eagle
Sq member. The 404 "Tin Hornets" flew
sweeps and bomber escorts until "D" Day.
Then dive bombing and straffing with "D"
model Jugs from airfields carved out of apple
orchards and captured German airfields
across Europe!
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John D. Craig
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Jack joined the 514th Squadron, 406th
Fighter Group of the 29th Tactical Air
Command, 9th Air Force at Y-29 Asch,
Belgium in February 1945. Along with
being tail-end Charlie there was time for
..voulez vous couche avec moi," a few
escorts, support Rhine crossing, cognac and
Cafe de la Paix, airfield or two, couple of
tanks, R&R on the Riviera, marshalling
yards, runway alert, ..wilst du slafen mit
mir," more tail-end Charlie, several zigzag-
ging Kraut motorcyclists - why do crew
chiefs count holes in their favorite plane -
schnaps, twinkling lights and an assortment
of four legged animals before V -E Day at X-94
Handorf, Germany.
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Earle M. Craig, Jr.
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Witnessed the Nagasaki atom
bomb explosion on 9 August 1945. Commissioned Captain in Eighth Air Force in January 1946. Released from active duty in
October 1946. Returned to Yale University
and graduated with Bachelor of Science
Degree in Applied Economics, in January
1949.
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Carl E. Cronk
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After first 22
missions he felt the odds were bad being
"Tailend Charlie" on most of these missions.
On his 43rd mission, he started leading
flights and attacked some of the hottest
targets in Italy, Austria and Yugoslavia and is
very proud that he never lost a man. On three
consecutive missions in the Alps, his flights
destroyed or damaged 11, 9 and 7 locomotives with rails cars. One was a 12 car troop train and as the flight strafed the train, troops
were seen jumping from doors and windows
on both sides.
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John Paul Crow
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In strafing and bombing the Sports Palace P-47 pilots were handicapped by a flak tower in
the top of a chimney over-looking the area. They
tried all in their power to knock it down but after
the war Crow flew back over Auchen and that flak
tower was still standing.......
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Johnny O. Crowell
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His most noteworthy achievement was buzzing the mess tent with a full combat load aboard. Gen Quesada was having
lunch with Col. H. N. Holt and ordered the
pilot to serve as O.D. for thirty days.
V.E. Day came and he along with the rest
of the junior pilots proceeded with the interesting occupation duty. After release from active duty he flew P-47's in the N.C.A.N.G.
for a total of more than 700 hours in the Jug.
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John W. (Wild Bill) Crump
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After completing all the flight training
schools in Texas he then graduated in class
44B at Moore Field Mission Texas.
While transitioning to P-47 at Baton
Rouge and Harding Field Nebraska he
adopted a Coyote Mascot, which was
undoubtedly the only coyote to fly in combat
in the world. Bill discarded his gas mask and
"smuggled" the baby coyote aboard the
Queen Elizabeth. The Coyote became a family member at the 360th Squadron, 356th
Fighter Group, 8th Air Force located at
Martelshom Heath, Ipswich England. The
coyote had "dog" tags, a log book ("Form
5 "), Immunization record. The coyote was
called "Jeep" NMI Coyoto and flew 5 missions with his master.
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William Ross Cunningham
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During WW II he was from Indianapolis Indiana. Born in 1923. He was used as a resource for the History Channel's special on the Thunderbolts and they even showed a clip of him as a you pilot. (footage of his flying was supposed to be shown).
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