Captain Jay Walker – B-17 Pilot, 384th Bomb Group
When Jay gave a ride to a friend who wanted to join the Army Air Corps in early 1942, he never imagined he’d be the one who would eventually be flying lead on missions over Germany in 1944 and 1945. On that fateful day while Jay waited for his friend, the sergeant in the waiting room handed him a stack of papers and tests to fill out. Although Jay balked at the expected timeframe of two to three hours – he had to get back to work – he tackled the tests and finished in 20 minutes. When the sergeant graded the papers, he was astounded that Jay had aced the tests.
Soon Jay found himself going through physical exams before returning home. It wasn’t until the fall of 1942 that he was invited into the Air Corps’ cadet program. After a few months cramming a university education in Minnesota followed by primary, basic and advanced training, Jay moved to B-17 bombers.
Seeing the huge plane for the first time up close, Jay could hardly believe such a massive plane could actually fly. It wasn’t long, though, before Jay was flying it, and well. A natural pilot, Jay and his crew won the top award when graduating from the B-17 training at Rapid City, South Dakota in September, 1944.
Jay and his crew picked up a new B-17 and flew alone from the heartland to New England, Goose Bay, Iceland and finally England. Assigned to the 384th Bomb Group in Grafton Underwood, Jay flew his first mission on November 1, 1944 over Gelsenkirchen, Germany.
By their 10th mission, Jay and his crew in the SCREAMING EAGLE were flying squadron deputy lead, and soon thereafter group and finally wing lead. On the 14th of April, 1945, Jay and his crew flew their 30th and last mission over Royan, France, their only mission NOT over Germany.
Jay flew an additional 11 missions in a B-17 stripped of armament to analyze captured airfields in newly-liberated territory, or supposedly newly-liberated territory. One time, when he saw Germans diving for their guns in their revetments upon his landing approach, he decided landing there would be premature and returned instead back to England.
After separating from the Air Corps, Jay built the Bellflower Airport before going on to produce in Hollywood and own multiple car dealerships nationwide. He served as an Ambassador-at-large after the war, and flew a restored Collings Foundation B-17 across the country for many years while in his 70’s.
Jay was president of the governing board of the World War II History Project. He passed away on May 2, 2016 and will be sorely missed.
Grant Young – Torpedo Bomber Pilot – Sank the Yamato
Surviving Against the Odds
By Michael Fink
Grant C. Young inscribed his name in the history books on April 7th, 1945, when he became one of the last torpedo bombers to score a hit on the Japanese battleship Yamato. Shortly after his torpedo struck, Yamato rolled over, exploded cataclysmically, and sank. The sinking of the Yamato—one of the two biggest battleships ever constructed, the pride of the Japanese fleet—was the death knell of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The story of Grant’s successful torpedo run capped an incredible WWII saga and marked the beginning of three decades’ service in the United States Navy.
Grant was born on November 8th, 1921, in rural Dixon, Illinois. He enlisted in the Navy on August 26, 1940 at the age of 18. Grant’s boyhood experience repairing tractor engines and transmissions on the family farm landed him a job as an Aviation Metalsmith at Naval Air Station Pensacola. Though he advanced rapidly through the ranks, Grant’s real dream was to fly planes, not fix them. He applied for flight school shortly before the attack on Pearl Harbor, after which he was quickly accepted as an aviation cadet.
To earn his wings, Grant had to take off from and land on the converted carrier Wolverine as it steamed through the waters of Lake Michigan. His qualifying flights took place in December 1943; temperatures hovered in the mid-20s. During one of his landing attempts, Grant’s engine quit, forcing him to crash into the icy waters of the lake. He almost froze to death before the rescue boat got him back to shore. Despite this close call, Grant finished qualifying the very next day. His wedding date was just a couple weeks away, and he wasn’t going to let anything stand between he and his future wife, Ethel.
After he was assigned to a torpedo squadron, Grant came down with chicken pox. He had to be held back while his assigned squadron left to conduct anti-submarine patrols along the west coast of the U.S. Once he got better, Grant was slotted into a new unit, Torpedo Squadron 10 (VT-10), which was busy taking the fight to the Japanese in the Pacific. He was thus moved from a stateside billet and relatively safe flight duty, right to the front lines of combat.
Grant started flying bombing missions in late June 1944 while VT-10 was assigned to the carrier Enterprise. On one of his first strikes he hit and sank a Japanese trawler, earning him accolades in his hometown newspaper and further strike assignments with his squadron. He stayed with Enterprise through July 6th, the end of VT-10’s first deployment. At the dawn of 1945 Grant and the rest of Torpedo Squadron 10 went aboard USS Intrepid for a second tour of duty. Their target was Okinawa, a stone’s throw from Japan itself. In a last ditch effort to stop the Allied advance, the Japanese decided to send Yamato south on a one-way mission to beach itself on the shores of Okinawa, where it would serve as an unsinkable coastal artillery battery.
On April 7th, 1945, while steaming south to complete its mission, Yamato and her consorts were spotted by U.S. carrier forces. 12 men from Torpedo Squadron 10, including Grant Young, were sent out from Intrepid to join a multi-carrier strike against the behemoth battleship. Carriers closest to the sighting report got their planes over the target quickly, wracking Yamato with bomb hits and torpedo strikes. Intrepid’s pilots had to cover a whopping 275 miles to the Japanese ships; they were last on the scene. Though the weather that day was overcast and stormy, the site of battle was plain as day: flashes from Yamato’s guns were still visible from 12 miles away.
Intrepid’s Avenger crews were supposed to execute a coordinated torpedo attack on a cruiser escorting Yamato. As they approached the enemy ships, descending through thick clouds into the open air below, they traded the buffeting of the storm for the buffeting of flak bursting all around them. It was incredible that 11 of Intrepid’s planes stuck together through such rough treatment. Grant, however, became the one pilot bounced out of formation. When he pushed through into clear skies, his Avenger was pointed right at the broadside of Yamato. He was all alone against the biggest battleship on Earth.
Grant pressed the attack. Yamato, bristling with anti-aircraft guns, threw up a veritable hail of gunfire in response. Despite doing his best to dodge incoming fire, Grant’s plane sustained hit after hit. And yet he still continued closing. At 1,000 yards he dropped his torpedo and circled back just in time to see its blast heave Yamato over to one side. Soon after Grant headed back to Intrepid with the other Avenger crews, Yamato rolled over on its beam ends and exploded. The doomed ship threw up a mushroom almost 4 miles high—one which could be seen 100 miles away on Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan.
Grant went on to fly jets during the Korean War, and served as a carrier air officer during the Vietnam War before retiring in 1970 after 30 years in the United States Navy. He was awarded a slew of medals over the course of his career, including multiple Air Medals and Navy Commendation Medals; a Purple Heart for being wounded as a result of a kamikaze attack on Intrepid; and, for scoring a hit on Yamato, the Navy Cross. Despite these achievements Grant remained modest. He chalked success up to a team effort: after all, it took almost a dozen torpedoes and 6 bombs to sink Yamato.
Grant and his wife Ethel returned to Illinois in their later years, settling close to the farm in Dixon that started Grant down his path as an aviator. His life’s arc had been almost unbelievable. He went from a kid in rural Illinois fixing tractor transmissions on his family’s plot, to surviving plane crashes in freezing lakes and shell fire from the largest guns ever mounted on a warship. Yet he survived—even thrived—and became one of the many men who contributed to Allied victory in the Pacific.
Dates of Interview: January 2014.
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Format: Audio
Length: 185 minutes
Wing Commander Ken Wallis – Wellington Bomber Pilot and Autogyro Inventor
by Zoe Hume and Heather Steele
Wing Commander Ken Wallis was a skilled inventor and passionate aviator, who flew well into his 90’s. From a young age, he was determined to fly despite being turned down by the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve due to a defect in his right eye. Ken’s impaired vision did not stop him from earning his private pilot’s license in a quick 12 hours and 10 minutes. In 1939, he succeeded in successfully joined the Royal Air Force after cheating on his eye exam, reading the letters off the chart with his left eye while the doctor’s back was turned.
Despite his bad eye, Ken was an excellent pilot and flew 36 missions over Germany and Italy during the war. He flew in Wellingtons – the twin-engine, medium-range bomber with the unique spiral geodesic airframe structure designed by his cousin, Barnes Wallis. Its ability to withstand a great deal of punishment was to save Ken’s life on multiple occasions
Ken flew his first tour of duty with No. 103 Squadron, a night bomber unit which carried out missions over Germany and other areas of German-occupied Europe for the entire war. After completing one tour of duty, Ken returned to front-line duty with No. 37 Squadron in Italy, also flying Wellingtons. Both units suffered terrible losses through the war. Although Ken’s luck and skill as a pilot saw him through several potentially fatal plane crashes, his first captain and five of his subsequent second pilots were killed in action.
In his first brush with death, Ken was returning from a mission when a massive fog bank rolled in over England. All returning planes were ordered to Scotland, but as Ken’s Wellington did not have enough fuel to make it there, he and his crew bailed out. As the last one out, Ken was about to lower himself through the escape hatch when he found his parachute snagged on a lever on the pilot’s seat. If he had jumped then, he would have been caught dangling under the doomed bomber. Luckily, he was able to untangle the parachute and jump with just enough height to unfurl it before hitting the ground and injuring his back. While he languished in pain until morning in a noble estate in the area, left both hungry and thirsty, his crew were entertained heartily by local workers in their cottages until the sun came up and they returned to their base.
During his next close call, Ken flew his Wellington into one of the many barrage balloons tethered above English towns to protect them from enemy bombers, but which instead, in the typically British miserable weather and low visibility, managed to bring down more British planes than German ones. Already down one engine at the end of their mission, the Wellington’s wing and fuel lines were cut by balloon’s steel cable, nearly causing the plane to stall. The cable miraculously released just in time to allow Ken to crash his bomber feet from the edge a convenient nearby cliff. Fortunately, the plane did not catch fire. During the herculean efforts to land his plane safely in the blacked-out darkness, Ken’s fingers were sliced by the throttle cables and his face smashed into the windshield, adding significant lifelong hand injuries to his permanent back and eye problems.
In another hair-raising escape, a stray reconnaissance flare meant to lay a path for following bombers on a mission to Bremen became trapped inside his Wellington, which was carrying an incendiary bomb load. Ken’s crew quickly advised him to jettison the load, which had started to burn. Although he quickly pulled the release lever, sending the bombs through his bomb bay doors, the resulting flames ate away at the body of the plane on the return trip to England. The fire burned the skin of the plane and melted many integral parts of its skeleton, but the unique geodesic design of the Wellington provided enough structural integrity for Ken and his crew to return safely over the Channel.
During his RAF career, Ken also worked in weapons testing and development, an area of fascination for him. For a short while, he shared an office with Harold J. Turpin, one of the men who had designed the STEN gun, a crude but effective British submachine gun that was easy and inexpensive to make. Ken took the opportunity to show Turpin his pride and joy, three tiny miniature working pistols he had fashioned by hand, along with the near-microscopic ammunition that accompanied them.
After the war, Ken spent two years in America with the U.S. Strategic Air Command flying B-36’s, the largest piston-fired plane ever made . He completed his service in the Royal Air Force in 1964, though his career as both a pilot and an inventor was far from over.
In his retirement, Wallis turned his attention to inventing a new sort of open-air, personal aircraft in 1961, the Wallis autogyro. The aircraft featured in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, and Ken was pleased to fly it on set as a stunt double for Sean Connery., He then went on to set 34 world records for speed in the autogryo (17 of which he still held at the time of his death).
When interviewed for the World War II History Project at the age of 96, he was still flying his “harem” of autogyros around his estate and neighborhood. He passed away a little over a year later on September 1st, 2013.
Date of Interview: May 12, 2012.
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Format: Standard Definition Video
Length: 53 minutes
Commander Willis “Bill” Hardy – VF-17 Ace in a Day over Okinawa
Bill Hardy served as a Hellcat pilot in the VF-17 fighter group. His first action was over Iwo Jima, taking out artillery positions on Mt. Suribachi that were firing on the incoming Marines. Over Okinawa he shot down five kamikazes in one day on April 6, 1945 and took down two more Japanese planes later. He is a Navy Cross holder.
Dates of Interview: Multiple between 2011 and 2015
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Affiliation: Old Bold Pilots Oceanside
Format: Standard Definition Video
Length: 362 minutes
Transcribed: Yes
Bob Cozens – B-17 Pilot – 95th Bomb Group
Bob Cozens served as a B-17 pilot in the 95th Bomb Group over Europe in 1943, completing 25 missions before being transferred to work at the Pentagon.
This interview has been transcribed and is ready for archival research. If you are interested in conducting archival research in regards to this interview, please contact us at Info at ww2historyproject.org.
Date of Interviews: April 17 2011 and May 3, 2011
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Format: Standard Definition Video
Transcribed: Partially
Length: 174 minutes
Ed Davidson – B-17 Pilot – 96th Bomb Group – POW
Ed Davidson served as a B-17 pilot over Europe with the 96th Bomb Group. He was shot down on his 7th mission over Bordeaux, France, and ended up in Stalag Luft I in Barth, Germany.
Date of Interview: July 16, 2011
Interviewer: Heather Steele
This interview has been transcribed and is ready for archival research. If you are interested in conducting archival research in regards to this interview, please contact us at Info at ww2historyproject.org.
Affiliation: AXPOW
Format: Standard Definition Video
Length: 84 minutes
Fred “Buck” Dungan – Hellcat Pilot – Ace – Nightfighter
By Michael Fink
Few inventions had as profound an impact on the course of World War II as radar. Whether deployed ashore, on ships at sea or planes in the air, radar gave the Allies a decisive edge in combat. Fred Dungan joined the Navy just as this fledgling technology was being tested in aircraft. Though he didn’t know the purpose of Project Affirm when he was first told to report to Quonset Point, Rhode Island, he would soon find himself at the very tip of the Navy’s night fighting spear.
Fred Leroy Dungan, born in Los Angeles on June 27th, 1921, was a veritable workhorse of a man. He was an enthusiast of all things mechanical—especially things that went fast. While attending school full-time and participating in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, he also built and raced hotrods. It wasn’t enough for Fred to push the limits at school or during his free time, though: he also got a job working nightshift for Lockheed on their P-38 assembly line.
Normally Fred would have been exempt from military service due to his work in war industries, but he was not about to miss out on his chance to fly. Before the United States’ entry into the war, he regularly took trips down to Naval Air Station Los Alamitos to ask if any openings were available for students. None were. He returned over and over again hoping for a break. On December 8th, 1941, the day after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, men were lined up around the block to enlist in the Navy. The recruiter at Los Alamitos noticed that Fred was back again and waiting at the front of the line. He liked that. The recruiter happened to be Wayne Morris, a movie star and future fighter ace himself. Wayne immediately took Fred inside to get him enlisted. Soon Fred had his orders. He was free from work and school and on his way to ‘Wings of Gold.’
Becoming a naval aviator was just the first step. After a year of training Fred was told to report to Quonset Point to participate in Project Affirm. While being briefed on the program, he was asked by its leader, Bill Taylor, what he knew about the assignment. Fred admitted he didn’t know much of anything, and Taylor reportedly said, “Good, because if you knew something I’d have to shoot you.” Project Affirm was the Navy’s attempt to work with the MIT radiation laboratory to equip single seat carrier-type aircraft with radar. It was top secret stuff.
On December 19th, 1942, Fred was chosen to assist in the first ground control approach experiment. He was put in the back seat of an SNJ two-seater trainer whose canopy was totally papered over. It was up to the pilot up front, Fred in the back and “coaches” on the ground to bring the plane down to a successful blind landing. When all was said and done that day, the aviators had made history. They proved that with the right combination of training and technology, Navy fighters could operate during all hours of the day—and even in the pitch black of night.
Though he was relatively young and only a newly-graduated ensign, Fred fit right in with his fellows. He picked up a couple of nicknames including “Gunga Din” due to his last name, and “Buck” as a result of his Buck Rogers-esque personality. After initial training, the Navy’s first radar-assisted pilots were broken up into squadrons for carrier training. Fred went to Night Fighting Squadron 76 [VF(N)-76] in 1943. His detachment started aboard USS Yorktown early in 1944 and followed the ship’s skipper, Joseph J. “Jocko” Clark, to his flagship Hornet for a spring–summer 1944 deployment.
To say that Fred’s combat service was exciting would be an understatement. His detachment of VF(N)-76 picked up the nickname “Jocko’s Boys” due to their familiarity with the famous skipper-turned-admiral. Because of this relationship, and because of their desire to fly as much as humanly possible, Fred and his companions convinced the powers that be aboard Hornet to let them fly both day and night. It was during these sun-up hours in the cockpit that Fred got his chance to make history.
His first opportunity arrived on April 23, 1944, during a routine Combat Air Patrol (CAP) mission near New Guinea. A Japanese G4M “Betty” bomber on course for Hornet’s task group spotted Fred and his fellow fighters too late. By the time its pilot started to turn tail and run, Fred in his Hellcat fighter was easily overtaking the lumbering land-based bomber. In fact, Fred had to chop his throttle and weave so he didn’t overshoot his target. Fred opened up with his guns. The Betty plummeted into the waters below, cartwheeling itself to pieces. The plane’s pilot miraculously survived the crash, was subsequently picked up by U.S. Navy carriers, and later met Fred Dungan, the man who shot him down.
Fred’s next scoring day became one of the most famous in Navy history: June 19, 1944, the “Marianas Turkey Shoot.” Though that day is best remembered for the clash between American and Japanese carriers, Fred’s mission was to bomb Orote Field on Guam. After dropping his ordnance, he returned with his squadron mates to polish off some aircraft hidden on the ground. As they did so, the men noticed that a huge number of Japanese planes—50 to 60 of them—were in a landing pattern attempting to use the freshly pockmarked field. Though they were almost comically outnumbered, “Jocko’s Boys” attacked and managed to destroy 8 enemy planes before the fight fizzled out. Fred was credited with knocking two of them down.
The last major engagement of Fred’s career could make good Hollywood blockbuster material. He and his colleague John W. Dear took off from Hornet under the cover of darkness to launch a sunrise strike against Chichi Jima. They left their ship with 500lb bombs slung under their wings for the attack, and auxiliary fuels tanks centerline for their long return trip home. Despite the fact that the Navy had hit Japanese facilities in the Bonin Islands the previous night, enemy ships at Chichi Jima were at anchor with their lights on; nobody seemed to be on high alert. The sun rose just as Dear and Dungan began their bombing runs. Suddenly there were A6M2-N “Rufe” floatplane fighters milling about below them, glinting in the sunlight. Fred ditched his auxiliary tank and bombs, shedding the dangerous weight for the coming fight.
He came tore into the first Rufe with his machine guns and quickly eliminated it before the balance of power suddenly shifted. Fred found at least three Japanese planes on his tail. He radioed “Johnny” that he was about to cross his path with some planes in tow. As soon as Fred’s plane passed through his field of fire, Johnny Dear opened up with his guns and dropped two more of the Japanese fighters into the drink.
As the engagement wore on and Dear and Fred fought an outnumbered air battle, Dear’s picked up damage from enemy guns. Fred might have made it through the fight unscathed, but an enemy managed to get on his tail from above. Bullets clattered into his Hellcat. One bullet managed to slip through his plane’s armor and into the cockpit. If not for a buckle on his parachute harness it could have been much worse; as it was, he was hit in his shoulder. The bullet fractured his collar bone. It was to be Fred’s last combat mission. He’d shot down four enemy planes, bringing his final tally to seven aerial victories.
Fred “Buck” Dungan was awarded the Navy Cross and Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war, he retained the workhorse drive he exhibited in his youth well into his gray years. After he lost his beloved first wife, he found love again late in life. He was a volunteer sheriff; a member of the Golden Eagles—an elite organization that includes pioneer aviators and astronauts—; and active in the Legion of Honor, the Distinguished Flying Cross Association and the American Fighter Aces Association. In his capacity as a representative of the Fighter Aces Association, he met with President Obama in 2014 for the signing of the American Fighter Aces Congressional Gold Medal Act. His was a life well-lived. To all this Fred would simply say, “I’ve been so lucky.”
Fred Dungan passed away January 2, 2018 at the age of 96.
Date of Interview: March 13, 2011
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Affiliation: Old Bold Pilots Oceanside
Format: Standard Definition Video
Transcribed: Yes
Length: 104 minutes
Frank Burger – B-24s – POW
Frank Burger served on B-24’s flying out of Italy and was shot down on the border between Austria and Hungary, was captured and escaped, and was captured again. After interrogation by the Gestapo, Frank ended up as a POW in Stalag Luft IV and then Stalag Luft I.
This interview is ready for transcription, please contact us if you would like to volunteer to transcribe this interview: info (at) ww2historyproject.org
Dates of Interview: Multiple between November, 2011 and January, 2012
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Affiliation: AXPOW
Format: Standard Definition Video
Length: 1,351 minutes
Stanley “Swede” Vejtasa – Double Ace – Wildcats
Swede Vejtasa served as a naval aviator first in SBD dive bombers, and then in Wildcat fighters. He was a double ace and the holder of three Navy Crosses.
This interview has been transcribed and is ready for archival research. If you are interested in conducting archival research in regards to this interview, please contact us at Info at ww2historyproject.org.
Dates of Interview: April and July, 2011
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Transcribed: Partially
Format: Standard Definition Video
Length: 247 minutes
Stephen King – B-17 Pilot – 379th Bomb Group – POW
Stephen King flew B-17s out of England and was shot down on June 18, 1944 over Germany. Stephen attempted to evade capture but was discovered by German townspeople who were on the way to lynching him when German soldiers intervened. He became a POW at Stalag Luft III and Stalag VII-A.
This interview is ready for transcription, please contact us if you would like to volunteer to transcribe this interview: info (at) ww2historyproject.org
Date of Interview: September 3, 2011
Interviewer: Heather Steele
Affiliation: AXPOW
Format: Standard Definition Video
Length: 213 minutes