Jerry Fred Delarm

[keith A]

This post war mercenary, who claimed probably the last F-47 kill in 1955, flew P47 in the Pacific in WW2. He claimed 2 Zeroes over Saipan. Does anyone know which unit he flew with?

[Frank Olynyk]

Keith,
None of my US databases (USAAF, USN, USMC) contain the name Delarm.

Can you supply any further details of the WW2 claims, and the 1955 claim, which I also cannot find in my files?

Enjoy!

Frank.

[Leendert]

Jerry DeLarm was involved in clandestine operations in Nicaragua.

His claim alledgedly on 19 Jan 55 when his P-47 (Nicaragua) shot down a Costa Rican F-51D.
Source: http://www.acig.org/artman/publish/article_162.shtml

If Delarm indeed operated P-47s, then perhaps with 318th FG out of Saipan?


Regards,

Leendert

[keith A]

Thanks chaps,

I wonder if this is just another flying tale by Jerry Delarm. He seems to have been involved in a number of mercenary operations in the post war years, including flying an armed C-47 in Puerto Rico rebellion of 1948!

[Cserpent]

I happend on this site and up pops Jerry Delarms name and some questions about him.

Jerry showed up at Tocumen International Airport in Panama with a Lockheed Lodestar which actually had operating bomb bay doors.
A little background on Jerry will help here: Jerry was raised in the south Florida area ( american indian background) and his father had started one of the Florida to Bahamas airways. Jerry and my father were friends from another era in Central America so Jerry being in need, he flew into Panama to see my father.
My father knew Jerry quite well and before he would help him, he had Jerry sign the aircraft over to him. The P&W engines needed some work so my father provided the money and a location on the airfield for the work to get underway.
As a young kid of 15-16, I was impressed with Jerry's free style of life and we went many places, and I listened to many stories including, P-47's in Guatemala, using the Locheed to drop some stuff on the "bad-guys". etc.
He stayed with us at our home and I heard some wild stories, with my dad shaking his head in disbelief that Jerry would actually be talking about some of the things that should not be mentioned anywhere.
Several weeks later, the aircraft repairs were complete and Jerry told my dad he wanted to take the plane out for a "local test flight". He took off and radioed back that he had several more adjustments to make and would go a bit farther. Last we heard he landed in San Jose, Costa Rica, and then shortly after that he went elsewhere. My father cussed like crazy, but he said he had known better, so much for the $$$$$.
Jerry was not a bad guy, just marched to the beat of different drummer. I would like to know what finally happened to him. My father passed 10 years ago, but every now and then, I think about Jerry and the Lockheed.

[Nortonfan]

Greetings to all,

I was quite interested in reading the anecdotes about Jerry Delarm. Here is my story.

During the mid 1950's I was attending junior high school in Guatemala City, Guatemala. These were very turbulent times for this small country, who had recently elected a socialist for President. Things were going rather well, at first, for the newly elected government, but it soon became infested with commies of the most undesirable kind including, Erenesto Che Guevara and his ilk. My father was a very close friend of the President, Jacobo Arbenz, they had been best of friends during their four years in attendance at the Escuela Politecnica -- the Guatemalan West Point, if you will. Things began to fall apart soon and the CIA formed a mercenary army, which also included a few aircraft and pilots. Jerry Delarm being one of them. After the overthrow of the Arbenz goverment, Jerry and his family lived in Guatemala City for a number of years -- the neighborhood were he and his family lived was Santa Clara. Jerry had two daughters who were part of my social network. We hung around together and were good friends. He was a very cool dude to be around and as a young teenager I was quite impressed with his black, '32 Ford roadster, hot rod which he drove all around town, sporting his Ray-Ban shades. He would often leave town for days or weeks at a time, but I never had any clue what he was up to.

During the overthrow of the Arbenz government, he flew a P-47. I will never forget the day he flew over my parents home as we watched him go by from our terrace. He was flying very low, headed toward a ravine where some army troops were lying in wait, two hundred yards from our home. Jerry was on to them, all along, and lined up to clean them out. I still remember, quite vividly, the sound of the .50cal. guns going off over our heads. The sound of the return fire was also quite scary. .50 cal. shell casings from Jerry's plane landing into our yard, still smoldering, just a few feet away from where we were standing. Jerry re-entered the ravine once he had finished strafing the army's position, and followed this narrow gap until he ended up at the National Palace, totally confusing the army as he caught them off guard, and he then proceded to strafe their positions. It was one of the most thrilling days of my life. These kinds of missions were flown a few times before the President tendered his resignation.

I left Guatemala in the early sixties, and Jerry and his family were still living there. I have no idea how long they remained after I left. I still remember him, a very cool, brazen and charismatic individual. I remember the '32 Ford roadster, and the wonderful sounds that came from it. And I also remember those wonderful friends.

Cheers,
Norman C

[dp_burke]

I decided to check out thename on ancestry.com and found this November 21st, 1954 front page news article from the 'The Independant Record' newspaper of Helena, Montana.

Basically an article about Jerry Fred Delarm, 33 years fighting in Guateamala.

I've tried to attach the whole page ut I'll try to crop it if that doesn;t work.

Basically, going on that name, he seems to have been born in August 1928 in California and died 8 Jun 2000 in Homestead, Miami-Dade, Florida (per Social Security Death Index)

Might be wrong but the name is compelling.

[dp_burke]

his enlistment record is:
Name: Jerry F De Larm
Birth Year: 1921
Race: White, Citizen (White)
Nativity State or Country: California
State of Residence: Panama Canal Zone

Enlistment Date: 27 Jun 1945
Branch: Air Corps
Branch Code: Air Corps
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source: Civil Life

Education: 2 years of high school
Civil Occupation: Ship captains, mates, pilots, and engineers
Marital Status: Married

[R Leonard]

USAAF pilots with credits, all theaters, from official USAAF/USAF list:

Dayhuff, Harry J
Deakins, Richard S
Deakyne, Theodore A
Dealy, John P
Dean, Cecil O
Dean, Clifford H
Dean, Fred M
Dean, John L
Dean, Zach W.
Deardon, Russell W
Debaugh, Richard H.
Deberry, Pat M.
Deboer, Eugene C.
Decker, Earl A
Decker, Edmund L
Decker, Richard E
Decker, Robert W.
Decklar, Carl E
Deckman, Robert
Deeds, Alvin L
Deeds, Frederick B
Deen, Grover C
Defoor, Charles W Jr
Deforrest, Glen O.
Defrance, Jesse E
Degain, William J
Degenaro, August V
Degeorge, John J Jr
Degraffenreid, Edwin L.
Degraffenried, Tom L
Degroff, Ellis I
Dehaven, Robert M.
Dehon, William B Jr
Deiz, Robert W
Dejarnette, Thomas D.
Delager, Herman H
Delaney, Ronald C
Delaney, Sanders E
Della, George .
Dellinger, Homer D.
Deloach, Robert
Delp, Robert C
Demerit, Merrill W Jr
Demers, Julian G
Demers, Raymond F
Demeter, Edward .
Demos, Michael D.
Demoss, Lloyd K
Dempsey, Peter
Dempsey, Robert C
Denham, Charles R
Denman, Thomas W.
Denmark, Samuel P.
Dennehy, Bernard L
Dennis, Richard H.
Denny, Chester N.
Dent, Elliott E., Jr.
Denton, Harris L.
Dentz, Howard R Jr
Depner, Earl G
Des Voignes, Clair W
Desclos, Jean B E.
Deskin, Millard M
Desper, Dale D.
Dessert, Donald M.
Dettre, Rexford H Jr
Detz, Nicholas .
Devine, Gerald P
Devita, Nicholas R.
Devries, Paul K
Dewey, George G.
Dewey, Ryland T
Deyonker, James A.
Diamond, Brack Jr


No De Larm, DeLarm, nor Delarm

[Tom Semenza]

If he enlisted on 27 June 1945, there was no way that he would have been trained and entered combat in the little more than 2 months before the war's end.

Tom