Louis W. “Bill” Chick, Jr. (Part 1 of 2)
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The American Fighter Aces Association Oral Interviews The Museum of Flight Seattle, Washington Louis W. “Bill” Chick, Jr. (Part 1 of 2) Interview Date: circa 1980s-1990s 2 Abstract: In this two-part oral history, fighter ace Louis W. “Bill” Chick, Jr. discusses his military service with the United States Army Air Forces. In part one, he describes his experiences as a fighter pilot, including his time with the 24th Fighter Squadron in Panama, the 4th Fighter Group in England, and the 317th Fighter Squadron in Italy. Special focus on a bomber escort mission in January 1944 in which he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 over Udine, Italy; several years later, Chick met the German pilot while on a mission in Bolivia. Biography: Louis W. “Bill” Chick, Jr. was born on March 31, 1917 in Dallas, Texas. He joined the United States Army Air Corps in 1937 and attended flying school at Randolph Field in Texas. During World War II, he served with a number of squadrons and groups, including the 24th Fighter Squadron, the 4th Fighter Group, the 355th Fighter Group, and the 317th Fighter Squadron. Chick’s postwar career included flying the Air Force’s first jet aircraft, the Bell P-59 Airacomet; commanding the first Republic F-84 Thunderjet group; and serving as chief of the USAF mission to Bolivia in the early 1950s. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1958. In his civilian life, he worked as an engineer for the Ford Motor Company, then retired to take over his family’s ranch in Texas. Chick passed away in 1999. Biographical information courtesy of: Boyce, Ward J., ed., American fighter aces album. Mesa, Ariz: American Fighter Aces Association, 1996. Restrictions: Permission to publish material from the American Fighter Aces Association Oral Interviews must be obtained from The Museum of Flight Archives. Transcript: Transcribed by Pioneer Transcription Services 3 Index: Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Foxdale Field and Panama .............................................................................................................. 4 England and the 4th Fighter Group ................................................................................................. 4 Flying the P-47 in the Mediterranean Theater ................................................................................ 5 Bomber escort mission over Northern Italy (January 1944) ........................................................... 5 Postwar mission to Bolivia and meeting German pilot .................................................................. 6 Other mission details and thoughts on various aircraft ................................................................... 6 Postwar assignments ....................................................................................................................... 7 Civilian life ..................................................................................................................................... 8 4 Louis W. “Bill” Chick Jr. (Part 1 of 2) [START OF INTERVIEW] 0:00:00 [Introduction] LOUIS W. “BILL” CHICK JR: This is to Eric M. Hammel, writing books and gathering information about fighter aces and fighter missions. My name is Bill Chick. According to the Air Force records, I’m Louis W. Chick, Jr. I was a student at Texas A&M, and was scheduled to graduate in 1938. However, I decided to go to the flying school, so I started in the flying school 1 July 1937 and graduated in June of ’38, Class 38B. 00:00:41 [Foxdale Field and Panama] After graduation, I went to Foxdale Field and was flying P-12, P-6Es, and P-26s. Then, after I’d been there about six, seven months, we got—we started getting our P-36s. And the last day of August of ’39, I got an order to ferry the last P-26 in the United States to Panama. I got this at two o’clock in the afternoon and was told I didn’t need to be in San Antonio until dark, and I’d be gone for two years. So I went down to the flight line and packed a suitcase and grabbed a buddy and said, “Ship my stuff to me.” And went down to the flight line and took off in this P-26. I climbed up about 5,000 feet, rolled it over on its back, and buzzed the BOQ [Bachelor Officer Quarters] to tell my buddy goodbye. Six days later, I arrived in Panama. The officer of the day put under arrest in quarters. They’d caught me for buzzing. So anyway, I stayed in Panama and flew P-26s for, oh, six, seven months and then 36s. And at the time of Pearl Harbor, I was commanding the 24th Fighter Squadron, equipped with P-40s. That was a P-40C, the old deep bathtub type. Then shortly after that, we got P-39s, and we discovered the P-39 was real fast on the deck. If you got over 50 feet, you were above its altitude. 00:02:18 [England and the 4th Fighter Group] Well, anyway, in August of ’42, I was sent back to the States to be—to go—to be sent on to China as a replacement pilot. This time, I was a major. Well, I had too much rank to go to China as a replacement pilot, so I ended up commanding the 58th Fighter Group, equipped with P-40s, at Hog Island, Philadelphia. Well, I locked horns with the wrong man, “Greazy Pete” Quesada, and he sent me to England to be killed. 5 So anyway, in December of ’42, I left for England and arrived there, joined up with the 4th Fighter Group, which had been the Eagle Squadrons, and we were equipped with Spit 5Bs and still had RAF mechanics. And the boys were—their Air Corps uniforms were so new, they all shone. Well, anyway, after 45 minutes in the Spitfire, I said I was ready for combat. And the next day I went on four missions: [unintelligible 00:03:25] Dunkirk and return. Very uneventful but tiring. 00:03:31 Also discovered that when you’ve missed lunch at an RAF mess, you go hungry for the rest of the day. I think RAF rations were pretty skimpy. Well, anyway, I flew Spitfires, and then the 4th Group was re-equipped with Thunderbolts. We got the C-2s, and that was one of the—that was the very beginning of them, and it was a good airplane. It had certain faults. So, anyway, I flew those, and then they wanted a combat—somebody with combat experience and combat ops, headquarters, VIII Fighter Command. [Flying the P-47 in the Mediterranean Theater] Well, they drugged me in there, and I spent about five months hating it all the time. And finally, he got us reassigned back out to the 355th Fighter Group, which had P-47D-10, is what I had. So I flew with them for a short period of time. And then there was a P-40 outfit in North Africa that was being re-equipped with Thunderbolts. And they had asked for a combat-experienced man in the P-47 to come down and show them the ropes and taking the P-47 into combat. So I left England in November of ’43 and went to Africa, where I spent 10 days, and then we moved on into Italy. At this time, I had a P-47D-15, the old razorback. They were all razorbacks at that time. [Bomber escort mission over Northern Italy (January 1944)] And you asked about my most interesting mission. Oh, in January of ’44, I think I was a light colonel at this time. We decided that—Jimmy Doolittle had been in talking to us, and asked us how we’d like the idea of staying with the bombers until enemy fighters were sighted. And then we were to leave the bombers to the P-38s and destroy the enemy fighters, so we didn’t have to fight them again the next day. 00:05:45 And boy, did we agree to that with much pleasure. So, anyway, in January, the bombers were scheduled to bomb airfields up around Udine, Northern Italy. And this 325th—I was in the 325th Group there, and we were called the “Checkertail Clan.” And the idea was that the bombers 6 would go up there and appear to be unescorted. While we were going up on the deck, 48 P-47s— and the word was if you saw anybody get over 50 feet high, shoot them down. So we stayed right on the water, all the way up to Venice. And in Venice, well, we went into full power and started climbing. My boy, Jerry, was up. So my room—my tentmate, “Herky” Green, called out that he’d sighted some down low, so I says, “Go get them, Herk.” And I continued to climb up towards the bombers, and there’s Me 109s going after them, too. So, anyway, I was after one Me 109, and another one got in my way, so I shot it—I shot it down in—on the way into the second one. And this guy was after my wingman. He’s on my wingman’s tail. So anyway, I started after him, and he was doing hijinks and everything else trying to get rid of me and doing a pretty good job, and all of a sudden, he straightened out. And I wondered why. 00:07:19 And I looked up above, and there we were, right under the B-17s. Their bomb bay doors were open, and it looked like the sky was full of fly specks. I knew they’d been loading frag bombs, and so then my thought was to pass this Me 109 and get out of there faster. So we got out from underneath the bombers, and then I nailed him. [Postwar mission to Bolivia and meeting German pilot] Well, the funny part about the whole deal is, years later, I was the chief of the Air Force mission to La Paz, Bolivia, and I used to go into Lima, Peru quite often.