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locomotive at the Lion-d'Angers station. While attacking this objective, his aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft artillery fire. One of his engines caught fire and he parachuted, landing heavily on a farm building, his parachute having opened too low. Ilfrey was deep behind enemy lines. He was taken in by a friendly French family, who gave him shelter, food, a bicycle, and false identity papers as a deaf-mute farmer named "Jacques Robert". He eventually reached the Allied front line, and on June 20, 1944, he was back in
England.
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413:. He flew P-51D-5-NA 44-13761, obligatorily nicknamed "Happy Jack's Go Buggy". In early December 1944, his tour ended and he returned to the United States. He completed 70 combat missions and 320 flying hours with the 20th Fighter Group. Ilfrey spent the rest of the war in a staff position on the Pacific coast. He was discharged on December 28, 1945, with the rank of major. His final tally was seven and a half confirmed aerial victories, with two enemy aircraft damaged.
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619:, Texas, working for the Alamo National Bank, where he retired after 30 years. He died on October 15, 2004, in Houston, Texas, at the age of 84. He was buried in Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery. In 2008, Midwest Aero Restorations Ltd. finished work on P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74452, returning it to airworthy status and marking it as Ilfrey's "Happy Jack's Go Buggy".
359:, stepped in on his behalf. He flew P-38F-1-LO, serial number 41-7587, nicknamed "Texas Terror" (left tail boom)/"The Mad Dash" (right tail boom). He scored five and a half aerial victories and damaged two enemy aircraft, becoming what many believe to be one of the first, if not the first, pilot to reach
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collided with the right wing of Ilfrey's P-38 during aerial combat maneuvers, tearing off four to five feet of the wing tip; the German plane crashed, but Ilfrey managed to return to base in
England. On June 13, 1944, after attacking the La Possonniere (Maine-et-Loire) railway bridge, he saw a
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After his escape, instead of being returned to the United States as most other evaders were (to prevent the enemy from extracting valuable information about resistance networks from them if they were captured again), Ilfrey returned to the 79th
Fighter Squadron which was converting to
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while flying a P-38. During 1943, he was sent back to the United States to become a P-38 instructor in
California. He completed 72 combat missions and 208 flying hours with the 1st Fighter Group. He was promoted to captain on April 5, 1943.
388:, the famous "Loco Busters", where Ilfrey was known for his fearlessness. He flew a P-38J-15-LO, serial number 43-28431, nicknamed "Happy Jack's Go Buggy". On May 24, 1944, he scored two more confirmed aerial victories on a mission over
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Little is known of Ilfrey's personal life, however, it is assumed that he was the subject of one of Ensan Case's letters and, therefore, was gay.
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for his cheerful disposition, and his ground crews in
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in
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in April 1941 as an aviation cadet, and graduated on
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on his P-38 malfunctioned and he ran low on fuel. He landed at an airfield in
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After the war, Ilfrey briefly entered commercial aviation. He later lived in
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Jack Milton Ilfrey was born on July 31, 1920, in
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who was credited with shooting down seven and a half enemy aircraft during
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In the spring of 1944, he was posted as squadron commander of the
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Happy Jack's Go-Buggy: A WW II Fighter Pilot's
Personal Document
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P-51 Mustang restored as "Happy Jack's Go Buggy" in 2008
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757:"WWII pilot and author Ilfrey dies at 84"
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361:"ace" status
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73:(2004-10-15)
44:"Happy Jack"
844:2004 deaths
839:1920 births
617:San Antonio
584:2 destroyed
541:1 destroyed
496:2 destroyed
471:2 destroyed
265:fighter ace
41:Nickname(s)
833:Categories
821:2018-06-21
720:2018-06-21
643:References
341:drop tanks
301:Luke Field
273:Happy Jack
92:Allegiance
55:1920-07-31
763:. Houston
564:1 damaged
550:, Tunisia
521:1 damaged
507:, Tunisia
482:, Tunisia
349:Gibraltar
201:Air Medal
115:1941–1945
796:March 3,
631:See also
603:Post war
433:Location
355:General
345:Portugal
287:and the
160:Commands
133:O-431223
100:Service/
767:31 July
740:31 July
505:Bizerte
456:Tunisia
398:ramming
394:Germany
384:of the
305:Arizona
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587:Bf 109
567:Bf 109
544:Fw 190
524:Bf 109
390:Berlin
335:after
168:Awards
102:branch
82:Buried
787:(PDF)
593:P-38J
573:P-38F
553:P-38F
548:Tunis
530:P-38F
510:P-38F
485:P-38F
480:Gabès
460:P-38F
279:Youth
123:Major
798:2024
769:2019
742:2019
691:ISBN
664:ISBN
430:Type
424:Date
400:. A
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68:Died
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
