[Franklin W. Troup oral history interview]

Audio recording of an oral history with fighter ace Franklin W. Troup, circa 1990. Originally contained in a mailing envelope addressed to Eric M. Hammel. Accompanying handwritten note to Hammel was dated January 11, 1990. Postmark stamp on envelope was dated April 1990. Microcassette 1 of 1.

Abstract from transcript: Fighter ace Franklin W. Troup discusses his military service with the United States Navy during World War II. Special focus is given to a combat air patrol mission in December 1944 in which he encountered a Mitsubishi A6M “Zero” aircraft. After scoring a hit on the aircraft, Troup watched as the pilot leapt from the cockpit without a parachute, which he describes as one of his most peculiar experiences during the war.

Troup recorded this oral history at the request of historian Eric M. Hammel.

Franklin W. Troup was a fighter ace who served with the U.S. Navy during World War II. He was born on February 8, 1921 in Decatur, Alabama. Prior to his military service, he attended Vanderbilt University and the University of Alabama. He enlisted in the Navy in May 1942 and earned his commission as a naval aviator in December of the following year. He was then assigned to Fighting Squadron 29 (VF-29), which deployed aboard the USS Cabot (CVL-29) in 1944. During his wartime service, Troup flew missions over Japan, the Philippines, and other areas of the Pacific Theater.

After the end of World War II, Troup left military service and returned to Alabama, where he opened a Coca-Cola bottling plant. He married his first wife, Margaret Louise Nash Stuart, in 1945. After Margaret’s death in 1991, he married his second wife, Jane Walker. Troup passed away in 2014.