King of Aces

Alex Coolman

Just telling the bare facts of Walker “Bud” Mahurin’s life as a fighter

pilot takes quite some time.

His military career was so long and distinguished that Mahurin, who isn’t

given to boasting about himself, takes several minutes merely running

through the unembellished names and dates.

The 80-year-old Newport Island resident flew combat missions during World

War II and the Korean War, receiving credit for shooting down 25 1/2

German, one Japanese and 3 1/2 Russian planes [half a plane denotes kills

he accomplished with assistance from other pilots].

His success in Europe made Mahurin the Army Air Force’s leading ace in

1944, and today it makes him, as he puts it, “the only guy living” who

can speak of having shot down so many planes in so many different places.

Mahurin was also on the receiving end of enemy fire a few times.

“I’ve had to parachute three times and I crashed once,” he remembered.

In 1944 -- “March 27,” he said, “I’m not likely to forget that date” --

Mahurin’s P-47 was clipped while he was attacking a German bomber. He

escaped his flaming plane and ended up spending more than a month with

the French resistance before being flown to England.

Later, during the Korean War, Mahurin was in charge of the 4th

Fighter-Interceptor Wing and dueled in the skies with Russian MIG-15s.

During this period, Mahurin said, he came up with the idea of using his

plane, an F-86, to divebomb enemy positions.

“We couldn’t get the Russians to come out and fight with us,” Mahurin

explained. “So we would dive on their positions.”

The maneuver was theoretically possible in the early jets, but it had

never previously been attempted. It proved successful -- maybe too

successful -- for drawing the enemy into combat. It also exposed Mahurin

to antiaircraft fire at close range.

On May 13, 1952, he was shot down again.

This time, Mahurin was in for a true ordeal. He broke his arm in the

ensuing crash, was captured by North Koreans and spent the next 16 months

in solitary confinement.

These days, Mahurin, who still likes to fly a Piper Cherokee, keeps

himself involved with a variety of what he calls “do-good projects,”

including charitable work with the American Fighter Aces Assn. and

writing about his experiences in combat.

He’s finished two books already, including the recently published study

“Hitler’s Fall Guys,” which examinesthe post-World War II ostracism of

Germany’s fighter pilots. He says he corresponds frequently with German

airmen, with whom he shared the skies, and with the families of some of

those who didn’t survive.

In spite of the dangers he encountered over the course of his career,

Mahurin has nothing but praise for the military experience.

“It’s a superb life,” he said. “It’s an honorable life, whether it’s in

this nation or in any other nation.”