Dudley Moore
Amoss was born on July 7, 1922 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The son of a pathologist and diagnostician at Johns Hopkins
Hospital, he became interested in flying after a trip to
China with his parents.
Amoss found his way into a cockpit any way he could. His
first lesson was a prize from a naming contest at an air
show and, after catching the flying bug, he hitchhiked
all the way to Florida from his school in Connecticut for
more lessons from the instructor. He never stopped thinking
about flying.
After graduating from high school, Amoss visited his brother
at school in North Carolina, found a pilot to befriend
and began to trade maintenance work on airplanes for flight
time. From there, he joined the Navy ROTC and put in an
application for flight school. When the Navy turned him
down, Amoss traveled to Florence, South Carolina and earned
his private pilot’s license.
He heard the Royal Air Force (RAF) was looking for pilots,
so he enlisted in the RAF in New York City in January 1942.
After passing his flight exam on Long Island, New York,
he traveled by train to Florida for flight school, finishing
in nine months and flying aircraft such as the Boeing-Stearman
PT-17, the Vultee BT-13 and the North American AT-6.
After spending some brief office time in Canada, Amoss
traveled to England only to find no available pilot positions.
He was offered a position in North Africa, but didn’t
want to fly there, so he asked the Americans in England
if he could join them. While waiting for his chance,
the British sent Amoss to an operational training unit
where he gladly flew Spitfires.
He learned
that the Americans were finally looking for pilots and,
after the British recommend him, Amoss was assigned
to the 38th Fighter squadron of the 55th Fighter
Group, starting out as a Staff Sergeant and then
given the non-commissioned rank of Flight Officer. |
