George Herbert Walker Bush...former Navy Pilot...dead at 94 [1/5] - Bush_tbm_avenger.jpg (1/1)

Before he was president, George H.W. Bush was a pilot

https://pilotonline.com/news/militar...f56115254.html

While several presidents have had aircraft carriers named in their honor, only
George Herbert Walker Bush knows what it's like to fight off of one.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bush was a senior at Phillips
Academy in Andover, Mass.

Upon graduation six months later, he enlisted in the Navy Reserve and began
flight training. The following June, just before his 19th birthday, he received
his wings and commission as an ensign, making him the Navy's youngest pilot.

Bush was assigned to fly the TBM Avenger as a member of torpedo squadron VT-51.
In the spring of 1944, the squadron was assigned to the carrier San Jacinto,
which headed to the Pacific as part of Task Force 58. There, Bush took part in
operations over several islands: Wake, Marcus and the Marianas.

During one mission that June, Bush had to make a forced water landing. He and
the other two crew members were rescued by a U.S. destroyer, but the plane was
lost. The next month, Bush and another pilot sunk a small cargo ship.

On Sept. 2, 1944, Bush's plane and three others from VT-51 attacked
installations on the Japanese island of Chichi Jima.

"The flak was very heavy," he told the U.S. Naval Institute in an interview for
its "Americans at War" series. "You could just see it and hear it almost around
you."

Bush's plane was hit and caught fire, but he was still able to drop his bombs
successfully before heading back out to sea.

"It was when I saw the flame along the wing there that I said, 'I better get out
of here,' " he said during the interview. "I told the crewmen to get out. I dove
out onto the wing. I hit my head on the tail, a glancing blow, and bleeding like
a stuck pig."

Bush and one of his crew were able to bail out of the plane, but the other man's
parachute failed to open. The third crew member went down with the plane.

"I dropped into the ocean, and I swam over and got into this life raft," Bush
continued. "I was sick to my stomach. I was scared. If somebody didn't pick me
up, I would have been captured and killed. They were very brutal on Chichi
Jima."

Bush floated in the Pacific on his life raft for four hours, with U.S. planes
circling overhead, until the U.S. lifeguard submarine Finback rescued him. He
spent a month on the Finback, during which he helped rescue other downed pilots.

Upon returning to the San Jacinto, Bush saw action in the Philippines before
returning to Guam, where his squadron, which had suffered heavy losses, was
replaced.

Bush ended up flying 58 combat missions and received the Distinguished Flying
Cross for the Chichi Jima raid. He also earned three Air Medals.

"People talk about, 'Wow, you're a hero.' Well there's nothing heroic about
getting shot down," he said. "And I wondered why was I spared when two friends
in the plane with me were killed. I don't know the answer."

Bush headed to Norfolk to train new torpedo pilots before being assigned to fly
with a new squadron. He left active duty a month after the Japanese surrender
and entered Yale University. He resigned from the Navy Reserve in 1955 with the
rank of lieutenant.




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