Robert Lee Scott, Jr.

Robert Lee Scott, Jr.
Robert Lee Scott Jr., fighter ace and best selling author
Nickname	"Scotty"
Born	12 April 1908(1908-04-12) Waynesboro, Georgia
Died	27 February 2006(2006-02-27) (aged 97) Warner Robins, Georgia
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1932–1957
Rank	Brigadier General
Unit	Flying Tigers
Commands held	23rd Fighter Group 36th Fighter Bomber Wing Luke Air Force Base
Battles/wars	World War II
Awards	Silver Star (2) Distinguished Flying Cross (3) Air Medal (3)
Other work	author

Robert Lee Scott Jr. (12 April 1908 – 27 February 2006) was a Brigadier General in the United States Air Force. Scott is best known for his autobiography God is My Co-Pilot about his exploits in World War II with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma. The book was eventually made into a film of the same name.

Early years

Scott was born in Waynesboro, near Macon, Georgia, the oldest of three children born to Ola and Robert Scott Sr. As a youth, Scott was educated in Macon and became an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.^[1][2] Also in Macon as a youth of 3 he witnessed the fatal plane crash of pioneer aviator Eugene Ely.

Military career

Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1932, Scott completed pilot training at Kelly Field, Texas. In October 1933 he was assigned to Mitchel Field, New York. Like other air officers, Scott flew the air mail in 1934, commanded a pursuit squadron in Panama and helped instruct other pilots at bases in Texas and California.

Colonel Robert L. Scott Jr. in his P-40 Warhawk in 1943. (USAF photo)

World War II

After World War II began, he joined Task Force Aquila in February 1942 to fly a group of B-17 Flying Fortress bombers to the China Burma India Theater. Anxious to join the mission, which was to bomb Japan from China, he professed to be an experienced B-17 pilot. He actually learned to fly it en route to Africa. Upon arrival in India, he found the mission had been scrubbed so he became stuck in India when he really wanted to be on the frontline in a cockpit flying combat. Within a month he was executive and operations officer of the Assam-Burma-China (Ferry) Command, forerunner of the famous Air Transport Command flying the Hump from India to China to supply the Kuomintang government. When the commanding officer left for China on June 17, Scott was actually left in command of the operation for several days.

Still anxious to get into combat and wishing to learn the Flying Tigers' tactics,^[3] he obtained the use of a Republic P-43 Lancer, actually assigned to the Flying Tigers from Claire Chennault, with which he flew at least one high altitude mission over Mt. Everest, as described in the opening pages of his auto-biography God Is My Co-Pilot. Scott began flying missions with the Flying Tigers, flying a P-40 as a single ship escort for the transports and flying ground attack missions. During this period, he frequently repainted the propeller spinner in different colors to create the illusion of a much larger fighter force in the area than a single aircraft becoming, in effect, a "one-man air force".^[3]

In July 1942, at the request of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek Scott was named commander of the newly formed 23rd Fighter Group, formed by General Claire Chennault when the Flying Tigers were incorporated into the USAAF. Popular accounts stated that Scott inherited command of the Flying Tigers which actually disbanded that same month. The 23rd later become part of the 14th Air Force.

Colonel Scott flew 388 combat missions in 925 hours from July 1942 to October 1943, shooting down 13 Japanese aircraft to become one of America's earliest fighter aces of the war.

Scott was ordered back to the U.S. in October 1943 as deputy for operations at the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Air Base, Florida.

He returned to China in 1944 to fly fighter aircraft equipped with experimental rockets directed against Japanese supply locomotives in eastern China. He then went to Okinawa to direct the same type of strikes against enemy shipping as the war ended.

Postwar

Scott then returned to the U.S. for staff duty in Washington, D.C. and other stations until the period of 1947-1949 when he commanded the Jet Fighter School at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. In 1951, he was reassigned to West Germany as commander of the 36th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base.

Scott graduated from the National War College in 1954 and was assigned to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, and then to the position of Director of Information under the Secretary of the Air Force. In October 1956, he was assigned to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, as base commander.

Scott in 1994 standing next to an oil painting of himself at the Museum of Aviation in Georgia.

Brig. Gen. Robert L. Scott Jr. after his B-1 flight in 1997. (USAF photo)

Retirement

Scott retired from the United States Air Force as a Brigadier General on 30 September 1957, and remained in Arizona until the 1980s. He then lived in Warner Robins, Georgia, until his death in 2006. General Scott wrote about a dozen books including God Is My Copilot and The Day I Owned the Sky.

Scott continued to be active well into his retirement. In 1984, he flew an F-16 Falcon jet fighter, and in 1995, an F-15 Eagle. On his 89th birthday, in 1997, he flew in a B-1B Lancer bomber.

Awards and honors

For his combat record against the enemy in World War II, Scott received two Silver Stars, three Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals.

During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Scott carried the Olympic Flame along a section of Georgia Highway 247 named in his honor.

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

United States Air Force portal

• Ace Pilots Biography
• USAF Biography
• Biography in The New Georgia Encyclopedia
• CNN "WWII fighter ace Scott dies at 97"
• Annals of the Flying Tigers
• Interview with Retired Brig. General Robert L. Scott - American World War II Ace Pilot and Hero by Jamie H. Cockfield
• Burma Is No Paradise February 1944 Popular Science article by Col. Robert Scott