Moody hosts WWII veterans

by Airman 1st Class Ryan Callaghan
23d Wing Public Affairs

3/20/2014 - MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. -- How far would someone go to bring booze to the party? For one World War II pilot, the answer is round-trip from Italy to Tunisia in his P-38 Lightning fighter plane.

All was going according to plan until, mid-flight, tragedy struck. After retrieving the goods and on his way back to Italy, the thirst-quenching fighter pilot hero made a diving run at a training field to frighten some cadets, and upon pulling out of the dive, he realized he had lost the bottle-filled belly tanks from the bottom of his aircraft.

Retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Jack Lenox and former 1st Lt. Ken Taylor shared this and many more of their stories during a visit to Moody Air Force Base, Ga. hosted by the 71st Rescue Squadron, here, March 7.

Maj. Eric Lipp, 71st RQS HC-130J Combat King II evaluation pilot, and his parents Chris and Vicki, organized the visit, giving Lenox and Taylor the opportunity to operate both the HC-130P Combat King and A-10C Thunderbolt II simulators prior to a capabilities demonstration aboard the HC-130J Combat King II.

"I decided that having them here for just a simulator and static display wouldn't be adequate," Lipp said. "We should also take the time to show them the respect they deserve and have them spend time with the 23d Wing to tell their stories and inspire our people."

Lenox and Taylor enlisted in the U.S. Army in the early 1940s, and by 1944, both men were flying as part of the Army Air Forces. Lenox would become an enlisted pilot, known as a "flying sergeant," and Taylor a bombardier.

"I qualified for pilot, bombardier and navigator," Taylor said. "In the meantime, if you washed out [of training] you had to go back to the Infantry, so I chose bombardier. I figured anybody could hit the ground with a bomb."

Lenox was determined to become a pilot immediately after graduating high school in 1941.

"I had read an article in the local newspaper about a new group of people who were flying but were not commissioned officers," he said. "I went to find out about that, and it seemed like I was qualified to go into this program, so I got to boot camp, I put in for flight training and passed the physical to be a flying sergeant."

By the end of their training, Lenox was promoted to flight officer under a warranted commission and Taylor graduated as a second lieutenant.

Post training, both Lennox and Taylor volunteered for combat duty, Lenox learning to fly P-40s and P-51s and Taylor the B-29.

In September 1943, Lenox was sent to Dakar, Africa, as a P-51 replacement pilot to contribute to the Allied war effort but was met with an unexpected twist.

"I got to Africa the first day of September 1943, and there were no P-51s [there], they didn't know what a P-51 looked like," he said. "They didn't know what to do with us! I had been flying twin engine AT-11s at the bombardier school, so they stuck me on P-38s."

The newly transitioned pilots averaged only 25 training hours on their new aircraft. Fortunately for Lenox, flying the P-38 Lightning came easily to him.

"About all we learned how to do was take it off and land it. We didn't get any practice shooting the guns," he explained. "We ended up going from P-51s into P-38s and [the next thing you know] we're flying combat missions."

Lenox named his plane "Snookie", after a woman he was dating, and in December 1943, he and Snookie, along with the 49th Squadron, moved to Italy to become part of the 15th Air Force.

While stationed in Italy, Lenox earned his first aerial victory against a German ME-109 during a dogfight over Athens, Greece. He was flying in formation with the group commander on an escort mission when 15 to 20 ME-109s moved in to attack the bombers he was protecting.

Even though Lenox has cemented his legendary legacy he still tells his story with humorous modesty.

"The group commander rolled his aircraft over and made a diving run toward the enemy fighters down below," he said. "I followed him down, but I didn't know exactly what I was doing. I looked at my airspeed and said, 'oh, that's too fast.'"

While Lenox was focused on slowing down and straightening out his aircraft, he accidentally fell perfectly in place behind a small formation of enemy fighters.

"In front of me were four ME-109s just sitting there in formation, and I was right behind them," he said. "I started shooting at one of them and black smoke was running down his fuselage on both sides."

After his target peeled off the formation and went down, Lenox quickly realized he was gaining on the remaining enemy aircraft.

"I did a tight [maneuver] to the left to get away from the other three, because I was about to pass them up. Then they would be shooting at me!" he said. "Unfortunately putting myself into a maneuver like that ... I blacked myself out."

His aircraft rose almost 2,000 feet before his vision returned, and once he came-to, he found himself in another fortunate position.

"I saw another P-38 by itself, so I scooted up there and got in formation with him. Low and behold, it was the group commander who I had started out with in the first place!"

Flight Officer Lenox flew 51 combat missions totaling 252 combat hours and received a battlefield commission to second lieutenant during his time in Italy.

Meanwhile, Taylor was finally able to join the fight in April 1945 as part of a B-29 crew with the 6th Squadron flying out of Guam. Although the war would end only five months later, he and his crew flew 30 missions, each lasting between 14 and 18 hours, for a total of 428 combat hours. Taylor said two of his flights stand out; the first earning him a Distinguished Flying Cross and the second being the last combat mission flown during WWII.

Taylor's Distinguished Flying Cross citation details the dangerous situation on May 29, 1945.

"While participating in a daring daylight formation incendiary attack, intense anti-aircraft fire scored hits on their bomber," it reads. "Fire broke out, filling the aircraft with smoke."

Despite the hazardous conditions, the crew remained in formation to complete their run.

"The crew prepared to bail out, however after further investigation of the fire and after breaking through the floor boards and using the complete supply of drinking water, brought the fire under control."

With almost no remaining electrical system components, the crew flew the crippled aircraft to an emergency field and managed a safe landing.

When Taylor tells the story, he always enjoys explaining why they had such trouble putting the fire out in the first place.

"We would come to find out that the ground crews were using the fire extinguishers to cool their beer with, and they didn't replace them," he said. "There were a lot of [demotions] when we got back."

By the end of the war, both men had earned their share of victories and a handful of awards to prove it.

In all, Taylor was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, two Presidential Citations, the Asiatic Pacific Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, the American Theatre Service Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Iwo Jima Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

Lenox is an Ace with four confirmed victories and was decorated with the Silver Star. He piloted 12 aircraft during his career and was also awarded the Air Medal with 11 Oak Leaf Clusters, the European-Middle Eastern- African Campaign Ribbon with two Battle Stars and the Distinguished Unit Citation Ribbon.

Taylor was discharged in December 1945 and Lenox retired from the Air Force in 1967. Both are now enjoying retirement in Florida.

To wrap up his time at Moody, Lenox simply wanted to remind the listeners to be friendly to each other.

"I would hope that people think of all the great friends that they are making for life," he said. "I remember the people that I flew with in the war and realize I really made a lot of lifelong friends. There are a lot of good, good people in the military."