World War II veteran Air Force Col. Frank Royal died Saturday

lwd · Nov 22, 2016

See:
http://gazette.com/one-month-after-colorado-springs-flight-war-world-ii-pilot-frank-royal-dies/article/1590690?custom_click=rss

He made the news recently when he got to fly in the plane he flew during the war which had been recently renovated.

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To make ends meet, he joined an Army program for would-be fliers in 1940. When World War II erupted, Royal was sent to the southwest Pacific flying the Bell P-39. Royal loathed the weird fighter with it's carlike doors that made bailing out nearly impossible. While the P-39 was well-armed with a 37 mm cannon, it was sluggish at high altitude and not much of a match for the nimble Japanese Zero, which dominated the skies over New Guinea,
Royal's unit was re-equipped with the twin-engined Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Royal said he fell in love with his, a plane dubbed White-33.
"The first time I took off, everything worked perfectly," Royal said.
With a deadly combination of machine guns and cannon centered in the nose, the P-38 was a match for anything the Japanese flew. Royal was credited with one kill and two probables in the P-38 before he was sent to the Pentagon to plan air campaigns. His plane stayed in New Guinea and was scrapped after battle damage
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A lot more in the article linked.

Skipper · Nov 22, 2016

rip

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World War II veteran Air Force Col. Frank Royal died Saturday

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