Warriors in Their Own Words is our attempt to present an unvarnished, unsanitized truth of what we have asked of those who defend this nation. In partnership with the Honor Project, we’ve brought this podcast back at a time when our nation needs these stories more than ever. I’m Ken Harbaugh, host of Warriors In Their Own Words. Click here to learn about his birthday celebration.įor more pictures of Bud during the war, click here. Anderson was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 2008, and in 2013, was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame.

He also commanded the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, an F-105 Thunderchief unit, during its final months of service in the Vietnam War.Ĭol. Anderson was a member of the 357th Fighter group, which was said to have “shot down the most airplanes in the shortest time of any unit in the European theater, perhaps the whole Air Force.” They had over 600 aerial victories in 14 months, and 42 aces, more than any other fighter group. He’s the highest scoring living American fighter ace, and the 10th highest scoring Mustang Ace of all time.Ĭol. Clarence (Bud) Emil Anderson served in the United States Air Force during World War II, and is a triple-ace fighter pilot. Anderson describes how the Mustang came to be, the differences between allied and enemy aircraft, and an intense dogfight he had during a large-scale bombing mission near Ludwigshafen, Germany.Ĭol. Kathy Leigh Berkowitz can be reached at or at 86.In this first part of his interview, Col. “My pilot pushed it up, and we broke out over probably 30,000 feet, these P51s, running together and spinning,” he said. 1 guy, he should have called back and said this weather is too bad for fighters, turn those guys around,” he said. It was a big line squall about 250 miles north of Iwo, and we had 12 B29s leading 148 P51s that day up to Japan. That was the day 27 P51 Mustangs were lost during a thunderstorm while they were on the way to attack Osaka. He also remembers “Black Friday,” June 1, 1945. So he returned with them.Īust flew all of the fighters in WWII, except the P38. And when I pulled up, I was the only guy in the sky up there, and I had seven other P51s with me, but I don’t know, they went back and joined up with B29, and went back to Iwo Jima,” he said. I followed him down into the clouds, we were in a mountainous area, and I didn’t remember how big the mountains were, so I pulled back up.

I dropped off and got number 3, then I got hits on two more, and then number 6, I had him smoking, going down into the clouds. I did a tight loop, and ended up, upside down behind number two, I shot him down. “So I picked out the leader, I shot him down. But in 13 missions over Japan, I only saw airplanes in the air twice. “They always told us don’t go head on with the Japanese because they might head in to you. “People ask me about dog fighting,” he said. “That is a good advantage for a fighter pilot. In July 1945, Aust was flying the P51 fighter when he ran into six Japanese airplanes. “The day I landed there in March 1945, they were building our parking area,” said Aust. In January 1945, his squadron commander was selected to take the fighters to Iwo Jima, a Japanese volcano island. He became an instructor, and in 1944, came to the very field where Sun 'n Fun is held, at Drane Field, where he joined the 506th Air Fighter Squadron. Working his way through the P40 training, he said, his other friends ended up in B17s, an aircraft that is hotly discussed as to its performance in World War II. By the following April, he had completed everything except combat training, so he took a short leave and then headed to Fort Myers for the training. When his birth certificate arrived June 23, he signed up for the military and then was sent to Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. “Once we got the runway ready, they’d bring the airplanes over every morning for the training.”Īfter completing his pilot training in June 1942, he went to get licensed on June 15, only to discover he had no birth certificate. All you did was level up the ground, and that was it,” he said. He and other student pilots decided to build their own runway that would make way for the instructor planes to come over from the airfield at Greenwood, Mississippi.

Ace fighter pilot