[Curran L. Jones oral history interview (Part 2 of 2)]

In this two-part oral history, fighter ace Curran L. Jones discusses his military service with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. In part two, he provides clarifying details regarding his wartime experiences and the combat mission discussed in the previous interview. He also gives an overview of his postwar assignments with the Air Force and his civilian careers.

Curran L. Jones was born on October 4, 1919 in Columbia, South Carolina. He joined the United States Army Air Corps in 1940 and graduated from flight training the following year. A member of the 39th Fighter Squadron, Jones served in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and other areas of the Pacific Theater. In 1943, he returned to the United States and became director of operations for a fighter replacement training unit. Jones remained in the military after the end of World War II and went on to command a transport squadron during the Berlin Airlift and a jet training group in Texas. After his retirement as a lieutenant colonel in 1961, he embarked on a number of civilian careers, including cattle farming, managing a retail business, teaching as a professor of aeroscience, and writing an aviation-themed newspaper column. Jones passed away in 2013.