FOUR ACES
Dartmouth Pilots Among Top Heroes of 8th Air Force
FOUR DARTMOUTH FIGHTER PILOTS, each with five or more enemy planes to his credit, were listed recently in the official roster of American Aces with the Army's Eighth Air Force in England. Two of them flying Thunderbolts in the same fighter outfit are Dartmouth classmates, Lt. Col. David C. Schilling '39 and Lt. Joseph L. Egan Jr. '39, who between them have accounted for fifteen Jerries—Colonel Schilling ten and Lieutenant Egan five. Major James Averell Clark Jr. '44, who pilots a Mustang fighter, has a record of five enemy planes downed, and so has Capt. Lindol F. Graham '4l, a Lightning pilot.
Among a total of 63 American Aces in this one European air theatre, four Dartm outh men with 25 enemy planes to their credit give the College a representation and a record of daring and skill that bring pride to everyone connected with Dartmouth.
Colonel Schilling flew several months before making a start on his present score. Suddenly he hit his stride and in five missions destroyed five Jerries. His fellow pilots started calling him "One-ADay Schilling" and the name has stuck. A group executive fighting officer, Colonel Schilling has led his outfit on more than 30 combat missions over enemy territory, the group on these missions destroying 106 enemy air craft. His outfit has the distinction of having brought down more Nazi fighters than any other in the theatre. Its record was brought past the hundred mark on the airmen's fabled "Sadie Hawkins" day.
Colonel Schilling holds the Silver Star with cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, and the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters.
Lieutenant Egan, known as "Long John" is probably the tallest fighting pilot in ETO, standing six feet four inches in his stocking feet and making quite a reach for the officer who pins on his decorations. Serving as wing man and element leader, his main job when flying is to protect his leader's tail, and this doesn't give him much chance to engage the enemy. Even so, he has managed to get his five planes and qualify as an Ace. Lieutenant Egan has been awarded the Air Medal with three clusters, and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Major Clark, who appeared on the cover of Life last November, tried to enlist in the Army Air Corps while still an under- graduate. Rejected because of being over- weight, he joined the RAF in England and shortly after Pearl Harbor was transferred to the U. S. Army Air Corps. In one of the first "Big Days" of the Eighth Air Force Fighter Command in August, 1943, Major Clark (then Captain) bagged two Focke-Wulfe 190's. From the beginning of his flying career, he has been a fighter of ingenuity and daring. In 1942, then a second lieutenant, he was forced to make a crash landing when, returning to his base after a bombing mission over France, he flew so low blasting objectives that his landing gear was lost in brushing over tree tops. In the same raid, spotting enemy engineers repairing a sixty-foot chimney, he knocked every man off the scaffolding. Major Clark was among eleven airmen decorated by Brigadier General Frank D. Hunter, Commander of the Eighth Army Air Force.
Captain Graham enlisted in the Army Air Corps in December, 1941. He trained at three different fields in California. At the Ontario Army Air Base, with the 79th Fighter Squadron, he taught newly graduated second lieutenants about the P-38. In August, 1943, he was sent to England where, since the P-38 which he flew had not arrived, he spent two months waiting to go into action. But as his later record shows, he more than made up for his delay. Captain Graham has received the Air Medal with three clusters.
At Dartmouth, Colonel Schilling majored in geology; his one indication of airmindedness being that he substituted an aerial photograph of a mountainside for the usual geological survey made on foot. He is a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity and was married in January, 1942, to Georgia Weidman of Bergland, Michigan. Lieutenant Egan, a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, majored in psychology at Dartmouth. In November, 1942, he was married to Miss Bernice Coleman of Bridgeport, Conn. Captain Graham is a fraternity brother of Colonel Schilling. His engagement to Miss Marjorie Smith, of Ross, Calif., a sister of Russell Smith '43. was announced last May.
TWO OF DARTMOUTH'S ACES, shown together at their fighter base in England, are Lt. Col. David C. Schilling '39 (right) and his classmate, Lt. Joseph L. Egan '39. Schilling has bagged ten enemy planes, Egan five.
