On Tue, 23 Sep 2003 13:24:21 GMT, "Matt Wiser" wrote:


Was this the same George Welch who flew a P-40 out of Halewia, Oahu on
the morning of 7 Dec 41, killing pair of Vals, a Kate and a Zero, before
being a P-38 ace in SWPA? IIRC he was KIFA in a F-100 in the mid 1950s.

Yes, this was the same lunatic. LOL

Welch was credited with 4 kills at Pearl Harbor and his wingman (Taylor)
swears that Welch got another two that crashed out to sea. His wingman shot down
another two and damaged several others. Between them, they accounted for
6 kills, two prabables and several damaged. That's nearly 21% of all Japanese
combat losses at Pearl (as much as 28% if you counted the two probably shot
down).

Later while flying P-39Ds, Welch shot down three more fighters (one sortie)
bringing his score up to seven. After he transferred to the 8th FG flying P-38s,
he added nine more before a life-threatening case of malaria sent him home.

Welch is one of only a handful of American fighter pilots that scored kills in
three different fighter types.

Every time Welch shot down any Japanese aircraft, he got at least 2, and killed
4 on two occasions.

His peers believed that had he not become deathly ill, he would have challenged,
and possibly even outpaced Bong and McGuire in total victories.

As it was, Hap Arnold set up an interview for Welch with North American. Some
believe that this was his way of making up for Welch not getting the CMoH due to
someone in the chain of command disapproving the recommendation because Welch
took off without specific orders. Arnold was incensed with Squadron CO Maj
Gordon H. Austin, but it seems Austin probably approved the recommendation.
Although bounced back to CONUS, Austin was given command of a P-40 outfit that
he took to North Africa where he shot down 3 enemy aircraft while flying more
than 100 combat hours. Later Austin commanded the 319th BG (a B-26 outfit) where
he logged another 115 hours. In 1944 he was transferred stateside where he
served in many posts until he retired as a highly decorated Major General in
1966. If he is still alive, he would be 90 years old.

It's likely that someone in the USAAF command structure at Pearl Harbor gave
Welch the deep six. Who that was is unknown to me.

My regards,

Widewing (C.C. Jordan)
http://www.worldwar2aviation.com
http://www.netaces.org
http://www.hitechcreations.com