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The Flying Tiger aces (2)
(8) Charles Bond
Charlie Bond was born in Dallas on April 22, 1915. As a high-school
student, he joined the ROTC and eventually the Texas National Guard.
In 1935 he joined the Army in hopes of attending the West Point
Preparatory School at Camp Bullis, Texas--a route for enlisted men
to attend the Military Academy. Failing to win an appointment, he
tried again as a flying cadet. He succeeded in becoming an officer,
but was disappointed to be assigned to the 2nd Bomb Group at Langley
Field, Virgina, instead of flying "pursuit" as every young pilot
dreamed of doing. He was ferrying Hudsons to the
RAF when an AVG recruiter caught up with him. For his services
in Burma, the British awarded him the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After his AVG tour--which included two weeks' extra service during
the transition to the 23rd Fighter Group--he became a career officer,
retiring from the Air Force with the rank of major general. In 1984, he
published his memoirs as
A Flying Tiger's Diary. He was
credited with 7 air-to-air victories:
(8) Frank Lawlor *
A graduate of the University of North Carolina, "Whitey"
Lawlor joined the Navy in 1938, and he was a fighter pilot on Saratoga when
he joined the AVG. He returned to the Navy after his AVG tour,
ending the war as a lieutenant commander. He tied Bond and Jack
Newkirk with 7 air-to-air victories:
(8) John Newkirk *
The newspapers called him "Scarsdale Jack," though he was actually
a native of New York City, born there on November 15, 1913.
Improbably, he had worked as a copy boy for Time magazine.
He also served a three-year hitch in the U.S. Army as an infantry
lieutenant, before switching to the Navy and flying, and somewhere
in there he apparently also flew for American Airlines. Jack was a
fighter pilot aboard Yorktown when he volunteered for the
AVG. At the age of 27, with his leadership training, he was already
a dominant figure in the group by the time he arrived
in Burma. By the time he was killed on the Chiang Mai raid, he too
had been credited with 7 air-to-air victories, though some AVG
veterans hinted broadly that were skeptical of his claims. (It is
certainly true that the squadron leaders, who had the primary responsibility
for signing off on victories, generally built up their
scores more quickly than the other pilots.)
(11) Robert Hedman *
Duke Hedman was the only AVG pilot--and one of very few
Americans--to make ace in a single day. (The record was confused
when one of his victories was shifted to an earlier day, and
again when his flight agreed to share all bonus credits equally.)
He attended the University of North Dakota and was serving with the 1st Pursuit
Group at Selfridge Field when he joined the AVG. He stayed on in China as
a civilian transport pilot for the national airline, CNAC. Postwar,
he was a pilot for Flying Tiger Line until he retired in 1971. Though
his CAMCO bonus account stands at only 4.83, he should have been credited
with 6 victories, putting him in a three-way tie as tenth-ranking AVG ace,
and one of very few Americans who achieved acedom in a single day:
(11) C. Joseph Rosbert
Joe Rosbert (his first initial stands for Camille) graduated from
Villanova as a chemical engineer before joining the Navy in 1938.
He was piloting a stately PBY Catalina for VP-44 in San Diego when
the AVG signed him up. He served two extra weeks during the transition to the 23rd
Fighter Group, then joined CNAC as a transport pilot flying cargo
over the "Hump" of the Himalayas. Postwar, he was one of the original
founder-pilots of Flying Tiger Line (see Bartling, below), before
moving over to Chennault's Civil Air Transport (the predecessor of
Air America). Later he ran several "Flying Tiger Joe" restaurants.
He too had six victories in the
record:
(11) J. Richard Rossi
Dick Rossi was born April 19, 1915, and he'd attended the University of
California and served a hitch in the Merchant Marine before joining
the Navy. He was a flight instructor at Pensacola when he joined the AVG.
Like the other six-victory aces, he declined to rejoin his country's
armed services after the AVG disbanded, staying on in China as a highly-paid CNAC pilot.
He flew for Flying Tiger Line until his retirement in 1971, and is
the long-time president of the Flying Tiger Assocation. He recently posted
his story online.
14. Robert Prescott *
Born May 5, 1913, and therefore apparently the oldest of the AVG
aces, Bob Prescott had been a pre-law student in college.
Recruited from the Navy, he was yet another of the Flying Tigers who chose to fly
for CNAC when his tour ended. He later founded the Flying Tiger Line,
the only "non-sked" established by World War II veterans that
survived and prospered, at least until it was absorbed by FedEx.
(Until the FAA put a stop to it, he used to fly AVG veterans to their
annual reunions.) The record shows him with 5.5 air-to-air victories:
(15) Percy Bartelt *An engineering graduate of the University of Iowa, Bartelt had served four years in the Navy when he joined the AVG. He quit the AVG in March 1942 and thus received a "dishonorable discharge" from Chennault, depriving him of the veterans' benefits and Silver Star that were later awarded to those who stayed with the group to the end. He was the only ace to be so treated, and probably for that reason I could find no photograph of him. He returned to the Navy as a lieutenant and served as a flight instructor until being hospitalized with a lung infection. He received a disability retirement in 1951 and worked for the state of Minnesota until retirement in 1974. He died in Fargo, ND on March 29, 1986. The record shows him in a five-way tie as the AVG's fifteenth-ranking ace:
(15) William Bartling *
A 1938 graduate of Purdue in chemical engineering, Bartling joined the
navy and flew a dive bomber off the USS Wasp. He was one of the
AVG pilots who volunteered two extra weeks' service
in China to ease the transition to the 23rd Fighter group, and he afterward flew
for CNAC. Postwar, he was an executive at National Skyway Freight
Corporation, which morphed into the Flying Tiger Line, the most successful
of the "non-scheds" established by veterans flying war-surplus aircraft (in
this case, Douglas C-47s with a rather bemused shark-mouth painted on).
He died November 1979.
(15) Edmund Overend *
Born May 31, 1914, Eddie Overend became a Flying Tiger ace shortly
before his 28th birthday. A Marine pilot when recruited for the AVG,
he'd also served two years in a machine-gun
company--presumably also in the Marines. He rejoined the Corps after
his AVG tour was ended, finishing the war with the rank of major.
(15) Robert Sandell *
A former Army flight instructor at Maxwell Field, Sandy Sandell
somehow ended up as squadron leader of the AVG 1st Squadron,
called the Adam & Eves. He was not particularly liked, but in his
short combat career at Rangoon he became one of the first of the
AVG aces. He was killed on 7 Feb 1942 when his recently-repaired
Tomahawk shed its tail on a test flight over Mingaladon airport.
(15) Robert H. Smith *
Sometimes called Snuffy, sometimes Smitty, this Bob Smith attended
Kansas State College and served in its ROTC detachment; he had
18 months in the Army Air Corps when he was recruited for the AVG.
He rejoined the Army after his tour as a Flying Tiger, ending the
war as a major.
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