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William Bruce Overstreet Jr

Military

  •  

Highly decorated P-51 ace with 130 sorties from February through August 1944. Flew 90 minutes unconscious when oxygen shot out. Landed blind when eyes swollen shut after power dive after Me 109. Bailed out 3 times. Landed softly after armed bombs wouldn't release. Fought rocket 163 and jet 262 unsuccessfully. Captured once, and escaped. He flew with C. E. 'Bud' Anderson and Chuck Yeager.

6 Silver Stars/ DFC/ 14 Air Medals/ PH/ ETO Ribbon w/ 5 stars/ WW II Victory Medal/ Medals from Russia, France, Belgium and Yugoslavia

10/2/2004

Service

Units served with

  • 357th Fighter Group

    357th Fighter Group

    Group
    The 357th Fighter Group was the first P-51 Mustang Group in the Eighth Air Force, training with them from November 1943 at Raydon, England and entering combat with them in the February of the following year from their new base at Leiston. The Group was...

  • 363rd Fighter Squadron

    363rd Fighter Squadron

    Squadron

Aircraft

  • 43-24823 'Old Crow' 'Berlin Express'

    P-51 Mustang
    Assigned to 363FS, 357FG, 8AF USAAF. Personal aircraft of Capt Clarence E Anderson. Re-assigned to Lt William B Overstreet. Re-assigned to Lt William H Fricker. Landing accident 30-May-45 - Lt. William S Davis.

  • 42-103309 Berlin Express

    P-51 Mustang
    Assigned to 363FS, 357FG, 8AF USAAF. ...

Events

Event Location Date
Born Clifton Forge, Virginia 10 April 1921
Died Roanoke, Roanoke City, Virginia, USA 29 December 2013

(aged 92)
Buried Roanoke, Roanoke City, Virginia, USA

Evergreen Burial Park
Plot Section 6 Lot 219
Nationality
American
Nickname
Not yet known
Service numbers
O-745787
Highest rank
Captain
Role/job
Fighter Pilot
Awards
Not yet known

Revisions

Date Contributor Update
08 September 2020 20:55:32 jmoore43 Changes to nickname
Sources

Removed the "Possible DUPLICATE" flag in the Nickname field and then removed the duplicate person.
Date Contributor Update
08 September 2020 20:51:34 jmoore43 Changes to events
Sources

Updated Died event and Added a Buried event per Find-a-grave Memorial ID 122512871.
Date Contributor Update
08 September 2020 20:04:38 jmoore43 Changes to nickname and biography
Sources

Flagged as a "Possible DUPLICATE" in the Nickname field so an Admin can check out this person.
Corrected a typo in the "Summary biography" - "decorated" was misspelled.
Date Contributor Update
27 September 2014 18:27:44 AAM AAM ingest
Sources

Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / self

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