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P47 Pilots Biographies, Last Name Starting With "L"
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Pilot Name
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Biography Summary
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Rui Moreira Lima
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On
October 7, I arrived in Tarquinia, Italy, with
the 1st Brazilian Fighter Squadron under the
operation control of 350th Fighter Group.
Started on combat missions in November 6
and flew 94 missions, destroying supply
routes, ammunition depots, bridges, railroads
and one Italian fighter Macchi 202 on the
ground. I made close support attacks on tanks
(destroyed 5). I was hit by a 20mm 9 times
and had one belly landing in Forli, A-20
Polish Base in Paco Valley with the Thunderbolt on fire.....
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Thompson D. Litchfield
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In March of 1942, he was assigned to
the 52nd Fighter Group in Charlotte, N.C.
and went to England with this group in May
of 1942. There was a tremendous shortage of
American combat planes at this time and the
pilots of the 52nd Flying Group trained with
the RAF and were equipped with Spitfires.
Litchfield flew combat missions out of
England from June through October of '42.
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Erik Price Littlejohn
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Entered service as a 2nd Lt. in the
U.S. Calvary and was assigned to Armored
Force School, Ft. Knox, Kentucky. Upon
completion of Armored Force Training was
assigned to 3rd Armored Division, California
at which time the Army became aware that he
held a commercial pilot's license and transferred him to the Army Air Corps where he
underwent military pilots' training in the
first class of Student Officers, graduating
from Randolph Field, Kelly Field and
received his wings at Aloe Field, Victoria,
Texas.
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Barbara Erickson London
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BARBARA (ERICKSON)
LONDON, born and raised in Seattle,
Washington, where she attended the University of Washington. While in College, she
took the first CPT program and then continued on to become an instructor in the program in 1941. While in the CPT program she
won the Western Region Shell Aviation
Scholarship and competed in the finals in
Washington D.C. in 1940.
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Elton B. Long
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Assigned to the 10th Service Group at
Baer Field, Fort Wayne, Indiana he was
promoted to a Chief Warrant Officer.
He entered Flying School as a CWO in the
early part of 1943 and graduated as a Second
Lieutenant at Spence Field, Georgia in the
Class of 43K in December 1943. After
fighter training in Florida and in England, he
joined the 508 Fighter Squadron, 404th
Fighter Group and flew his first combat
mission on June 7, 1944.
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Robert P. Longley
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Longley returned his aircraft to base after it had
been severely damaged in aerial combat with
3 - FW-190's. During the encounter, the
P-47 was carrying a Hung-500 lb. bomb on
the left wing. Oil leaking from the damaged
engine completely covered the canopy and
most of the fuselage. Since Longley could
still maneuver the aircraft, he was vectored
home while flying on the gages. But, three
problems still remained.......
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Irvin Lowen
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.........They then hung a 250 lb. bomb on each
wing and instructions how to bomb - (written by a Spitfire pilot I think). However we
developed our own system. Approached target at over 8 thousand feet, closed throttle,
pulled up sharply. Did a stall turn, prop in
fine pitch - dropped the eggs as soon as lined
up in the vertical dive and then pulled out.
With practice it was very accurate and only a
short blackout.
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Ralph S. Lucardi
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During Korea, he rejoined the Air Force,
trained in Biological Warfare with the Army,
put in a tour at the Pentagon, and worked on
Aircraft Escape Systems at Wright Patterson
AFB, Ohio. Eventually moving to the electronics field, he joined the 425L Program of
the Electronics System Division, Air Force
Research and Development Command. The
425L Project Office was charged with the
responsibility of designing, developing, and
testing of the NORAD Combat Operations
Center as well as the design and construction
of the Combat Center itself, deep in the heart
of Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs,
Colorado.
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Franklin P. Luckman
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......with his nickname of "Lucky", he
flew many of his 103 combat missions in
"Lucky's Lady". Most of those flights were
in support of ground troops or interdiction
throughout France, Belgium, Luxembourg
and Germany. On Oct. 21, 1944 Luckman
participated in a fighter sweep in which he
destroyed one FW-190 and damaged another
while the 365th destroyed a total of 21
aircraft, 11 probables and 3 damaged without loss to itself. This led to the Fighter
Groups first of two Presidential Unit Citations.
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Lt. Duane E. Lund
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Lt. Duane E. Lund was born in Kenmare, ND and grew up in Carrington, ND.
While attending the University of North Dakota he enlisted in the Army Air
Corps as an Aviation Cadet on Dec 14, 1942 and entered active duty on Feb
22, 1943. He was a veteran of the 9th Air Force flying P-47s for the 366
Fighter Group, 390 Fighter Squadron.
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