 James
S. Peterson, Sr. developed a fascination for planes early
in life. Born November 7th, 1920, he spent his childhood
in Antonio, Texas, where his family lived near Kelly Field.
As he grew older, he began building model airplanes and
remained captivated with flying. World War II brought his
opportunity to fly the planes he couldn’t afford
to take the lessons to learn. The Army Air Corps accepted
him, and his two years of college education was interrupted.
Peterson’s training started in Sheppard Field,
Texas and continued throughout the southeast part of
the United States, including Tennessee, Arkansas, Georgia,
and North Carolina. At Spence Field, Georgia, he earned
his wings and traveled on to Wilmington, North Carolina
for Gunnery in the P-47 Thunderbolt.
After this, Peterson ended up at Duxford, England,
home of the 78th Fighter Group. Assigned to the 83rd
Fighter Squadron, he had a few weeks of familiarization
and then embarked on his first flight over the English
Channel ferrying some war-weary “jugs” to
the 9th Air Force in France. It was on this first flight
that three of the sixteen planes that started in horrendous
weather conditions had to belly in due to the 50 to
100 foot ceiling, low fuel, and loss
of sight of the air strip. Peterson was one of those
three. Quite
the introduction!
One day a Thunderbolt, the next, a Mustang. In January
of 1945, the 78th converted to the Mustang, of which
Peterson got two whole hours of practice in before
heading out on a mission. Many of Peterson’s
missions were escort missions, but, he experienced
plenty of flak. He relates, “It was a very emotional
feeling to see the bombers fly into that—after
the IP and on the bomb run, they could not divert and
were helpless targets. I watched many a bomber go down—something
I shall never forget.”
 February 14th, 1945, Peterson was nearing Chemnitz,
the bomber’s target area when his element leader
dropped out of formation, losing power. Instructed
to provide him cover, Peterson realized he was heading
for the North Sea and took lead taking up a compass
heading to Poltava, a shuttle base primarily for bombers.
The element leader indicated he had to get down fast,
and they spotted an air strip under Russian possession.
Peterson damaged one landing gear plowing through an
unseen mud puddle, and the element leader got down
safely. Peterson’s P-51 was beyond repair, but
parts were salvaged to repair other planes. From here,
Peterson was transported to a site where two B-17s
had crashed landed, and one had been repaired. He was
flown out on the B-17 Bomber, “Stardust,” and
back to Duxford.
Peterson returned to flying status, and compensated
for his mishaps by destroying a “target of opportunity,” Fw-190
and a locomotive. After this, he was elevated to flight
leader and promoted in rank to Lieutenant. After VE-Day
he volunteered for Pacific action but was sent to Germany
briefly, never to participate in the Pacific Theater.
After the war, he returned to college to get a B.S.
in Geology, got sidetracked into geophysics and oil
exploration, and bounced around the country and in
foreign operations. To his regret, he was unable maintain
flying status.
He married in 1954, and he and his lovely wife had
two sons. Now, a retired widower, Peterson is active
in the Colorado Chapter of the 8th Air Force Historical
Society and tries to pick up some flight time when
possible.
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