David C Schilling
MilitaryRoger Freeman's writing on reverse of print: 'Dave Schilling with repeater revolver'.
Another print copy has a handwritten caption on the reverse written by ace Hub Zemke:
'Summer 1942. Then Major David C. Schilling CO 62nd Fighter Squadron, Bradley Field Conn., showing off his modification to an Army Colt 45. David was up to some engineering gadget all the time. In this case an extended clip was built for more ammunition capacity. A handle had to be built to hold the weapon as it sprayed ammunition all over the landscape. Many a barrel was burned out.' Roger Freeman Collection
1911 analysis provided by LTC J. Diamond (USA).
Schilling flew P-47 Thunderbolts and was one of the leading aces of the war. He was Commanding Officer of the 56th Fighter Group between August 1944 and January 1945, taking over from Colonel Hubert A Zemke.
Schilling became an ace in December 1944 when he shot down five German aircraft. He was the 8th highest ranked fighter ace in the European Theater. He helped the 56th Fighter Group become the first Group to destroy more than 1,000 enemy planes.
After the war he was a pioneer of long-distance jet flight, making the first non-stop fighter jet crossing of the Atlantic.
At age 37 he died in a car crash driving his sports car in a narrow lane between RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall (still US Air Force bases in the UK today).
Schilling Air Force Base, in Kansas, is named after him.
Connections
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Units served with
People
Aircraft
Places
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Leavenworth, KS, USA | 15 December 1918 | |
Died |
Eriswell, Brandon, Suffolk IP27, UK | 14 August 1956 | Died in a car crash travelling between RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall. |
Revisions
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Fighter Aces of the U. S. A. and Aces and Wingmen II; Who's Who in the Eighth Air Force and/or Biographical Directory Command & Staff Officers Eighth Air Force 1942-45 / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / www.56thfightergroup.co.uk/personnel.htm