Archie Chatterley, born in 1920 in San Francisco, was living in San Diego, California when he joined the Royal Air Force before the entry of the USA in the conflict. He flew in the RAF and was later assigned to the 4th Fighter Group, 334th Squadron on 20-Jan-43. He flew a P-47 Thunderbolt named " California or Bust". His tour was not without incidents. His normal combat routine was first interrupted by a mid-air collision on 27-Apr-43. He was flying a P-47 in a mock dogfight over Castle Camps with Lt. James Wilkinson. Archie overshot, slicing off Wilkinson's tail. Wilkinson bailed out, but was unconscious, with back injuries when he hit the ground - the injuries kept him in hospital for months. Archie, however, was able to perform a dead-stick landing in his plane Near Newmarket.

Almost a year later, on 6-Mar-44 Col. Blakeslee led the Group, flying Mustangs, on a Target Support Mission to Berlin. During this sortie, Archie downed one enemy aircraft and chased off another targeting a B-17. As part of a section of four aircraft in line abreast formation heading for home, Archie had to respond to a call of nature. He was in the midst of using the pilot's relief tube just in time to see tracers pass on each side of him. The section broke and Lt. Godfrey destroyed the intruder. Back at Debden, four machine-gun holes were found in Archie's stabiliser, two in the propellor, a cannon hole in the port aileron and machine-gun holes ripping the underside of the port wing!

Archie's next misfortune occurred on 27-Mar-44 on a bomber escort mission to Bordeaux. He had downed an Me-109 and reported 2 sea planes anchored in Lake Biscarosse, just North of Biscarosse in the Landes Department, France. The formation downed on the sea planes. These turned out to be Flak posts, which opened up on the Americans from all around the lake. Archie's Mustang was hit by flak and he reported oil pressure down and signaled he would have to bail out. He was seen to bail out at about 6,000ft.

He landed between Montoncour and Loudun, more than 300km North of Biscarosse and was soon captured. He was sent to Dulag Luft in Oberursel for interrogation and was later interned at Stalag Luft 1 in Barth, Germany. In spite of his misfortunes, Archie had 5.5 enemy aircraft destroyed [4.5 destroyed [Air], 1 destroyed [Ground]. He remained in the Air Force after the war and served in Korea and Vietnam, ending his military career with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.