[George T. Buck oral history interview (Part 1 of 2)]

In this two-part oral history, fighter ace George T. Buck discusses his military service with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. In part one, he describes his experiences as a fighter pilot, including his time in Europe with the 307th and 309th Fighter Squadrons of the 31st Fighter Group. Special focus on his bomber escort missions in Romania and Germany and on an incident in which he was erroneously given malaria control pamphlets rather than his overseas deployment orders.

George T. Buck was born on December 9, 1918 in Tchula, Mississippi. He graduated from West Point in 1942 and received his pilots’ wings in December of that year. After his initial assignment as a stateside flight and gunnery instructor, he was deployed to Europe in April 1944 and joined the 31st Fighter Group in Italy. He flew with the 307th Fighter Squadron and 309th Fighter Squadron, eventually becoming commander of the 309th. Buck remained in the military after the war and held a number of command positions at Holloman Air Force Base (New Mexico), the Pentagon, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (Ohio). He retired as a colonel in 1970 and passed away in 1993.

Biographical information courtesy of: Boyce, Ward J., ed., American fighter aces album. Mesa, Ariz: American Fighter Aces Association, 1996.