Fighter Pilot

Edward Bostick Whitman Jr., a retired State Department official and World War II fighter pilot, died Friday of respiratory failure at a hospital in Auckland, New Zealand, where he had lived since 1985. The former Owings Mills resident was 80.During the war, Mr. Whitman served in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. He was shot down in both theaters, once landing behind Japanese lines but eluding capture. Then in 1952, while serving as director of intelligence at Air Force headquarters in Washington, he was forced to bail out of a burning P-51 Mustang while on a training flight from South Carolina to Andrews Air Force Base.

WHEN JEFF Woolford graduated from Westminster High School nearly 10 years ago, his social studies teacher, Carol Richardson, gave him a four-leaf clover that she received from her father at her college graduation."

BLOOMFIELD, N.Y. - A Vietnam veteran and gulf war fighter pilot, downed by what he sees as reverse sex discrimination, is locked in a new battle, one to salvage his career and reputation.Col. David Hamlin Jr., 52, was stripped of command of the Syracuse-based 174th Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard in November. A board of inquiry found that he had allowed the training of Maj. Jacquelyn S. Parker to be dragged out so long that she resigned in frustration.He was also denied promotion to brigadier general and stricken from the Guard rolls for fostering "an atmosphere permitting acts of gender-based discrimination and harassment."

Donald F. Cronin, a World War II ace as a Navy fighter pilot, died Sunday of cancer at his home in Mays Chapel. He was 78.His exploits won him the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with three gold stars.He enlisted as a Navy aviation cadet in 1941 after earning a bachelor's degree from Providence College and was commissioned a naval aviator in 1942 at Pensacola, Fla.In 1943 in Virginia, he was assigned to the newly created VF-8 Squadron on board the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill.

Harry S. Freedman, 53, formerly of Pimlico, a decorated Vietnam War fighter pilot who later flew for Eastern Airlines, died Friday of a massive heart attack at his home in Stone Mountain, Ga.Mr. Freedman was born in Baltimore and was a 1959 graduate of City College.As a member of the 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron, the Screaming Eagles, Mr. Freedman flew scores of missions in F-100 Supersabres over South Vietnam and across the border into Laos in 1966 and 1967 in support of American and South Vietnamese ground troops and bombing Viet Cong and North Vietnamese bases.

Sidney Kingsley, 89, a playwright who won a 1934 Pulitzer Prize for his hospital drama "Men in White," died Monday of a stroke in Oakland, N.J. "Men In White," which ran on Broadway for 351 performances, depicted doctors' dilemmas in balancing their professional and personal lives. In 1943, he garnered the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for "The Patriots," which examined the conflict between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the nature of democracy. President Franklin D. Roosevelt honored Mr. Kingsley by inviting him to sit beside him at the unveiling of the Jefferson Memorial.

The maiden outing of the star ship Voyager can be seen again tonight, while World War II memories continue to unreel with a documentary on the life of a fighter pilot and a cable screening of a penetrating Hitler profile.* "Star Trek: Voyager" (8 p.m.-10 p.m., WNUV, Channel 54) -- The latest series in the expanding "Star Trek" universe launched a new network in January -- and is the only Paramount show that will survive to the fall season. This is the movie-length premiere, "Caretaker," in which Kate Mulgrew signed on as the first female star ship captain to command a show.

Bruce Tuxill's passion for planes has taken him from flying with his father in World War II-era training aircraft to piloting sleek fighter planes."I can't imagine doing anything else," said Colonel Tuxill, a 25-year fighter pilot with the Maryland Air National Guard.The Ellicott City resident oversees the 175th Fighter Group and 135th Airlift Group at Warfield Air National Guard Base in Middle River.This summer, Gov. William Donald Schaefer swore in Colonel Tuxill as assistant adjutant general of the Maryland Air National Guard, making him one of the top three military officers in the state -- but ending his days as a fighter pilot.

Although it took 47 years, a World War II bomber pilot from Nebraska finally got to thank a fighter pilot from Towson for saving his life in the sky over Germany.It was March 21, 1945, and smoke from the massive bomb bursts plumed skyward from the German city of Plauen as an armada of B-17 Flying Fortresses turned for home in Britain.Suddenly, at more than 500 miles an hour, a twin-engine German ME262, the world's first jet fighter, zoomed through the formation with machine guns blazing, blasting one B-17 out of the sky. Lt. Richard L. Roberts, in the pilot's seat of another B-17, could only watch helplessly.

H. Baetjer II, fighter pilot, businessmanA memorial service for Howard Baetjer II, retired owner of TC binding company and a combat veteran of World War II, will be held at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Thomas' Episcopal Church, St. Thomas Lane and Garrison Forest Road.Mr. Baetjer, who lived on Brooklawn Road in Stevenson, died Tuesday of an apparent heart attack in his sleep while in Asheville, N.C., on a golfing trip. He was 73.He retired about 10 years ago. He had owned Everyman's Finishing Co., which bound annual reports, prospectuses and similar publications.

William Peter Feimer, a World War II Army Air Forces fighter pilot who later joined the Baltimore Police Department, died Monday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Heart Homes Lutherville, an assisted-living facility. The longtime Linthicum resident was 88. Mr. Feimer, the son of immigrants from Hungary and Romania, was born in Baltimore and raised in Locust Point. After graduating from City College in 1939, he attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he studied drafting.

Lemuel O. Warfield, a former naval fighter pilot and reservist who later became an oil company manager, died Nov. 15 at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center from complications of a fall he suffered at his Annapolis home. He was 80. Mr. Warfield was born in Baltimore and raised in Towson. After graduating from Polytechnic Institute in 1945, he enlisted in the Navy. He was designated a naval aviator in 1948 and commissioned an ensign. He was assigned to Fighting Squadron 23 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea in the Pacific Theater.

Col. Eugene Martin "Gene" Faber, a career Air Force officer and decorated combat fighter pilot who flew during World War II and the Korean War, died in his sleep Saturday at Gilchrist Hospice Care. The Kingsville resident was 85. Colonel Martin was born in El Modena, Calif., and was raised there and in Orange and Santa Ana, Calif. "He excelled in sports in high school and developed an intense interest in flying. Flying was just something he always wanted to do," said a son, Larry E. Faber, a retired Air Force colonel who lives in Boerne, Texas.

Joseph J. Maisch Jr., a retired Maryland Air National Guard officer and fighter pilot who flew numerous missions over the enemy in World War II, died of stroke complications Monday at the Lorien Bel Air nursing home. The Joppatowne resident was 86. Born in Baltimore and raised in the 900 block of Calvert St., he attended the Cathedral School on Mulberry Street and was a 1940 City College graduate. He attended the University of Baltimore. He worked briefly as a salesman for the Baltimore Stationery Co. before enlisting in the Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet in March 1942.

Donald C. Utermahlen, a World War II fighter pilot and longtime telephone company employee, died of complications from cancer June 1 at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. The Parkville resident was 86. He was born in Union Bridge in Carroll County, where his father was a power engineer at a cement factory. As a boy, he hunted squirrels, pheasants and rabbits. His mother died when he was 9 years old, and his father died when he was 17. He graduated from Elmer Wolfe High School and received an award from teachers for his academic and athletic achievements.

Sylvan L. "Corky" Tenberg, a decorated World War II Navy fighter pilot and former Baltimore resident, died of complications from an infection Oct. 10 at a hospice in Lecanto, Fla. He was 85. Mr. Tenberg was born in Baltimore and raised in the city's Pimlico neighborhood. After graduating from City College in 1939, he went to work building airplanes for $15 a week at the old Glenn L. Martin Co. plant in Middle River. Mr. Tenberg's interest in aviation began in his youth when he built and flew model airplanes.

Herschel "Herky" Green, 86, a former fighter pilot recognized as one of the most accurate shooters in World War II, died Wednesday at a hospital in Torrance, Calif. A fighter pilot in Europe and Africa in 1943 and 1944, Colonel Green was the leading ace of the 15th Air Force. He destroyed 18 enemy aircraft and 10 more on the ground during his career. He had such a proficient shot that during one attack on German bombers, he single-handedly destroyed six aircraft. By the time he hung up his pilot's wings in 1944, he had flown 100 combat missions, amounting to 402 combat hours in the air. He had also amassed military decorations including the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star and two Distinguished Flying Crosses.

John Fulton Reynolds Scott Jr., a decorated World War II fighter pilot who was later associate administrator for the Maryland Aviation Administration, died Thursday of complications from a stroke at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. He was 82 and lived in Homeland. The son of a career Army officer, Mr. Scott was born at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. He was descended from Samuel Moore, who served with George Washington during the Revolutionary War as captain of the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment. His paternal great-uncle was Union Gen. John F. Reynolds, who was killed at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, while leading the 1st Corps into battle.

LONG REACH resident Lt. Col. William S. Pachura, U.S. Air Force, retired, was honored at a reunion in Texas last month. But this reunion, May 28, was a little different than most - the retired fighter pilot was reunited with the plane he flew on 129 combat missions during the Vietnam War. Only about 200 of the 833 F-105s produced - the type of plane Pachura flew - survived the war, he said. Many of the pilots did not make it either. But this plane and this pilot survived. Pachura is described as modest and quiet by family members.

AFP: American Fighter Pilot is a classic example of what U.S. media does better than almost anything: Create myths that make us feel better about ourselves as a nation. CBS is billing the show that premieres tomorrow night as a "new reality series" from directors Tony Scott (Top Gun) and Ridley Scott (Black Hawk Down). In terms of structure, it is a reality series in the way that it follows three young Air Force officers through 110 days of Top Gun training to become F-15 fighter pilots, the elite of elite.