Walter Carl Beckham
Military
IWM, Roger Freeman Collection
Object Number - FRE 359 - Ace pilot Major Walter C. Beckham of the 351st Fighter Squadron, 353rd Fighter Group, in front of P-47 Thunderbolt (YJ-X, serial number 42-8476),...
Walter C Beckham enlisted in April 1941. He flew his first missions over the Panama Canal and Ecuador from December 1941. He was assigned to the 353rd Fighter Group in mid 1943, and arrived in the UK in August 1943. Beckham became a successful P-47 Thunderbolt pilot and claimed his first kill in September 1943, by October that year he had become an Ace. Beckham was shot down during a strafing mission over Ostheim in February 1944, with 18 victories to his name, at the time he was the highest scoring Ace in the European Theatre.
Beckham was liberated in April 1945 and stayed with the US Air Force. He earned a PHD in Physics in 1962 and joined the Air Force Weapons Laboratory as chief scientist, working on nuclear weapons. He retired in 1969 as Colonel and continued to work as a nuclear scientist. He died in 1996.
Shot down by flak when strafing Ostheim airfield and crashed near Bergen-Neukirchen on 22 Feb 1944 in P-47D #42-75226 'Little Demon'. Prisoner of War (POW).
DSC, DFC (4 OLC), AM (5 OLC), Silver Star (3 OLC), POW, WWII Victory, EAME, Croix de Guerre(Belgian).
18 air-to-air confirmed
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Air base
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Fighter
Aircraft
Events
| Event | Location | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Born |
Paxton, FL, USA | 12 May 1916 | |
|
Enlisted |
Fort Barrancas, 3182 Taylor Rd, Pensacola, FL 32508, USA | 26 April 1941 | Enlisted Fort Barrancas Florida |
|
Other Crashed |
Millville, NJ 08332, USA | 7 March 1943 | Taxiing Accident due to Mechanical Failure Millville, NJ Cat 3 damage Lt Walter C Beckham, 7-Mar-43. BT-14 40-1208 - 351FS 353FG. |
|
Based |
Raydon | 10 November 1943 - 22 February 1944 | Re-assigned to 351FS, 353FG, 8AF USAAF. |
|
Other Promotion |
Raydon, Ipswich IP7, UK | 6 December 1943 | Promoted to Major. |
|
Other Prisoner of War (POW) |
Bergen-Neukirchen | 22 February 1944 | Shot down by flak on 57th Mission over Ostheim and taken POW after successfully bailing out. |
|
Died |
Albuquerque, NM, USA | 31 May 1996 | |
|
Prisoner of War (POW) |
DeFuniak Springs, FL, USA | ||
|
Other Commissioned |
Panama Canal, Panama | ||
|
Other Assigned |
Ecuador | Assigned to 353FG. |
Revisions
Freeman, The Mighty Eighth, p. 278.
Hess, America's Top Eighth Air Force Aces in Their Own Words, pp. 28-29.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2670 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list / son in law, Lt. Col Robert L. Moore, US Army Ret.; Fighter Aces of the U. S. A. and Mustang Aces of the Eighth Air Force; Who's Who in the Eighth Air Force and/or Biographical Directory Command & Staff Officers Eighth Air Force 1942-45 MACR 2670
