Col. Don Blakeslee

[Pyker]

Blakeslee has been credited in the past with having flown the most missions and having the most combat time of any 8th A.F. fighter pilot, possibly of any U.S.A.A.F. fighter pilot. What are his total missions and combat time: Eagle Squadron - U.S.A.A.F. ?

Perhaps a list of the U.S. fighter pilot aces and their totals would be a worthy project ?

Pyker

[drgondog]

I don't know of anyone offhand that tops Blakeslee in total combat missions for USAAF.. my first reaction would be to look into John Landers who flew combat from Feb 42 through the end of the war and was with the 49th (P-40's), the 55th (P-38's), 357th (GpExec) and 78th(CO) in P-51's.

I'd look next to Ed Rector and Tex Hill who started in AVG and finished with 23rd..

But Blakeslee flew combat from 1941 to Sep 1944 continuously and fudged his logs (kept lower than actual) so they wouldn't send him home. He recorded more than 1000 hours of Pursuit time (all from UK) so estimates go as high as 1500 actual combat hours and over 500 missions.

[Andy Fletcher]

Numbers quoted in Frank Olynyk's Stars & Bars for the end Jul44:

179 hrs 50 min training
1071 hrs 10m pursuit
1251 hrs total time

Andy Fletcher

[SMF144]

Would his time spent in the Royal Canadian Air Force be considered?

Stephen

[Pyker]

To drgondog, Andy Fletcher and SMF144,

Thanks for your imput !

Rector and Hill would be good choices, plus Landers and another- Grant Mahony ? I have been attempting to find information about the last named in the Allied and Japanese section of the forums. Blakeslee's hours as listed in the Stars and Bars are very impressive. In my opinion all of a pilot's service, R.A.F., R.C.A.F., A.V.G., and U.S.A.A.F. should be counted.

Pyker

[JACK COOK]

Grant Mahony flew at least 550 combat missions with close to 1000 combat hours. He flew in the 3rd Pursuit Sq in the Philippines, commanded the 17th Provisional in Java, commanded the 76th FS in China, commanded the Fighter Section of the 1st Air Commandos in Burma and was KIA has the Deputy CO of the 8th FG in the Philippines in Jan 1945. He was also one of the most highly decorated with the DSC, 2 Silver Stars, 3 DFCs,Purple Heart, 11 Air Medals, British DFC, 4 US Pres. Citations, Phil. Pres Citation and 12 battle service stars. It's a shame that he's been largely forgotten.