Kenneth Harry Underwood
Military ROLL OF HONOURCorrespondence with Kenneth Underwood's son, Ken.
Kenneth H Underwood served as a fighter pilot with the 55th Fighter Group.
His son recalled:
'My father sent a Stars and Stripes articles about his outfit destroying locomotives. He wrote on it how much fun it was to "prang" the trains. Prang being British for strafe.
He was practicing strafing trains at the railroad yard at Little Saxham when his P-38 lost both engines and he had to do a belly landing.'
Kenneth was killed in a flying accident when the P-38 Lightning (serial number 42-104334) he was flying crashed due to mechanical failings on 18 May 1944.
He left behind a wife, Alice, who was 7 and a half months pregnant at the time with their son Ken.
Ken was able to visit England in 1992 and the farmer was able to show him the tree that his father's aircraft had collided with. In 1997, Ken was given the surviving part of one of his father's flying boots that had been found at the crash site.
Ken H Underwood's grandson, Harryson Underwood, is in training to become a fighter pilot with the United States Air Force. He will wear the same wings his grandfather wore on his graduation. He is now a Captain flying the F15E Strike Eagle and has equalled his Grandfather’s achievement of an Air Medal with 2 Bronze Stars for 40 successful missions in various parts of the world.
Connections
See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.
Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 55th Fighter Group Headquarters Squadron (55th Fighter Group)
- Service Numbers: O-022606
- Highest Rank: Colonel
- Role/Job: Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 55th Fighter Group 38th Fighter Squadron
- Service Numbers: 11097459
- Highest Rank: Sergeant
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 55th Fighter Group 38th Fighter Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-794558
- Highest Rank: Captain
- Role/Job: Fighter Pilot, Pilot
Aircraft
- Aircraft Type: P-38 Lightning
- Unit: 55th Fighter Group 38th Fighter Squadron
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Bures / RAF Wormingford / RFC Wormingford / USAAF Station 159 / Wormingford Landing Ground
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas, USA | 16 April 1921 | |
Died |
Little Saxham, Bury Saint Edmunds IP29, UK | 18 May 1944 | |
Buried |
Plot F Row 3 Grave 131 | ||
Other Entered service from |
Kansas, USA | Exact date not yet known |
Revisions
Updated events per " World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947" at Ancestry.com.
SOURCE: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/25076631:2238?tid=&pi…
Added In Memoriam message from Ken Underwood, Kenneth H Underwood's son.
Brought in information from a duplicate record for Kenneth H Underwood. Source:
Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list
See also:
ABMC record: http://abmc.gov/node/543196#.VxiizE32aUk
http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=underwood&GSfn=kennet…;
http://www.aviationarchaeology.com/src/dbapi.asp?Pilot=underwood%2C+ken…
And correspondence with Kenneth Underwood's son, Ken.
Double Nickel-Double Trouble / Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia