Ace pilot of two wars dies at 91

one...two...tree · May 17, 2010

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Walker "Bud" Mahurin, returning from a raid in November 1943.

By ALEJANDRA MOLINA THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Walker "Bud" Mahurin, a leading American fighter pilot during World War II, who took down enemy planes in Europe and piloted planes in the Korean War, died Tuesday. He was 91.

Mahurin, a retired Air Force colonel, died at his home in Newport Beach, according to his wife, Joan Mahurin.

Mahurin was regarded as America's greatest living ace. He shot down 24 planes in two wars. He was shot down twice in World War II and again in Korea – then captured.

"Ever since I've been married to him, he's received fan mail," Joan Mahurin said Sunday. "Every day he gets fan letters – people thanking him for being in two wars and young kids saying, 'I read about you in our school.'"

Joan Mahurin fondly remembers trips the two would take to Catalina on their boat and how they would spend time on their plane.

"We had an airplane and we would fly to a lot of different places for lunch – just fly around," Joan said.

The first plane Mahurin knocked out of the sky in World War II was his own, according to a 2007 Orange County Register profile.

He'd flown three missions in his P-47 Thunderbolt – a fighter plane with eight 50-caliber machine guns.

His job in the 56th Fighter Group was to protect the big bombers - B-17s and B-24s - on missions from England to Germany.

Between missions, Mahurin trained, flying with the bombers over England. One day he pulled up alongside one.

"It was rah-rah, 'hi,' waving back and forth," he told the Register. "We referred to them as our Big Friends and they referred to us as their Little Friends."

Mahurin recalled inching closer, his wingtip within a few feet of the hulking B-24 cruising at 200 mph. As he pulled away, he miscalculated and hit the bomber's propeller. Mahurin bailed out at 500 feet and landed beside the crater left by his plane.

A month after destroying his own plane, Mahurin shot down two German Fw 190s during a bombing run. A week later, he shot another. Then three more of Hitler's Luftwaffe – this time, twin-engine Me 110's with rear gunners – during a single mission.

An "ace" is a pilot who shoots down five or more enemy planes. Mahurin became America's first "double-ace" in the European Theater of Operations when he shot down his 10th enemy plane in November 1943 – half his World War II tally.

In addition to his wife of 40 years, Mahurin is survived by three children from a previous marriage, George Mahurin, Michael Mahurin and Lynn Vaughn; stepdaughter Valerie Miller; seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

The family is planning a party on a friend's yacht to celebrate Mahurin's life.

Mahurin will be buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on Aug. 11.

Reporter Tom Berg contributed to this report.

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