Posted on 04/11/2006 4:50:26 PM PDT by Rakkasan1
To make a point to fellow fighter pilots in World War II, Col. Fred J. Christensen always flew with Sinbad, a stray black cat he had found.
Seeing him return safe from combat missions — black cat and all — helped motivate the other pilots, his daughter Diane Haagensen said Sunday.
And counter to traditional superstitions, Sinbad was very good luck for her father, who shot down 22 Nazi planes during the war, including six in a two-minute span of one air battle.
Christensen, who the Massachusetts Air National Guard said was believed to be the last living U.S. ace from World War II, died April 4 in a Northborough, Mass., nursing center. He was 84 and was being treated for complications from diabetes.
Though he flew 107 combat missions against the German Luftwaffe, "he was a very humble man," his daughter said in a telephone interview. "He didn't want to be known as a war hero."
Christensen "was happy for the opportunity to speak with people, especially children, because he wanted them to know about history and that wars were not always good things," she said, "because people had to make sacrifices and their families had to make sacrifices."
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Black cat ping.
Awwwwww.
WOW 22 Nazis shot down. When was the last American figher ace? Vietnam?
I'm assuming the cat was secured somehow in the cockpit. I can't imagine bringing a cat to a dogfight.
Yep, THE DUKESTER! Too bad he got old and turned out to be an idiot.
LOL...I was noticing that there was not one word even hinting that the cat eagerly participated!
Impressive, if true.
God bless the men that fly and fight, and I wear AF blue... but a cat?
I've never had one that could stand a 3 county trip on Interstate highways that didn't empty every little pocket of smelly stuff in it's body.
I keep getting an image of the pilot pulling down his goggles, and a cat attached to his face, 30 milliseconds later.
Brave man. And good to get rid of the superstitions about flying and fighting (kissing my hand and smacking a wing strut). But a cat? At altitude?
That's gonna leave a mark.
Cayanne and Spook (collectively known as CHECK SIX YOU SORRY LITTLE BA....!) will never leave the ground.
/johnny
If the cat wasn't secured, I'm sure it would find a way all by it self.
lol... what a great story! I gotta look up more info... R.I.P. Col!!
Christensen, who the Massachusetts Air National Guard said was believed to be the last living U.S. ace from World War II.....
Giving thanks for his service to our country. God bless his family in their time of sorrow.
Be glad the PETA wasn't around then or downing Luftwaffe would have seemed like childs play in comparison to what he'd have gotten for taking that cat with him.
ping
WWII ace who flew with cat dies at 84
To make a point to fellow fighter pilots in World War II, Col. Fred J. Christensen always flew with Sinbad, a stray black cat he had found.
Seeing him return safe from combat missions — black cat and all — helped motivate the other pilots, his daughter Diane Haagensen said Sunday.
And counter to traditional superstitions, Sinbad was very good luck for her father, who shot down 22 Nazi planes during the war, including six in a two-minute span of one air battle.
Christensen, who the Massachusetts Air National Guard said was believed to be the last living U.S. ace from World War II, died April 4 in a Northborough, Mass., nursing center. He was 84 and was being treated for complications from diabetes.
Though he flew 107 combat missions against the German Luftwaffe, "he was a very humble man," his daughter said in a telephone interview. "He didn't want to be known as a war hero."
Christensen "was happy for the opportunity to speak with people, especially children, because he wanted them to know about history and that wars were not always good things," she said, "because people had to make sacrifices and their families had to make sacrifices."
His older brother, also a pilot, died during the Korean War — a loss Christensen never got over.
Christensen had studied at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the nascent days of World War II and sought to join the military after Germany invaded Norway, where his ancestors were from and his extended family lived.
He had always wanted to fly.
"From a very early age, he did anything he could to get to the airport or befriend those at school whose dads had planes," his daughter said, adding, "As children, we thought he could fly without wings."
A second lieutenant and captain in the Army Air Corps, he flew P-47 Thunderbolts with the 56th Fighter Group — Colonel Hubert "Hub" Zemke's Wolfpack — and shot down six enemy planes July 7, 1944.
One time, a reporter and photographer arrived to do a feature on the Wolfpack. When the photographer tried to get a picture of Sinbad, the cat kept leaping among the packed parachutes. That day, Haagensen said, all the pilots whose gear Sinbad had touched returned with air victories, increasing the cat's legend.
For his service in combat, he was awarded some of the most prestigious medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star and the Air Medal.
Tell that to Spook. I didn't name her for her color, I named her because I couldn't find her for the first two weeks, until I walked past a mirror, to see her in my blind spot, directly behind me, about 5 ft out.
Scary.
/johnny
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
