WWII Ace, Author Robert L. Scott Dies

Associated Press | February 27, 2006

[HAL9000]

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. - Retired Brig. Gen. Robert L. Scott, the World War II flying ace who told of his exploits in his book "God is My Co-Pilot," died Monday. He was 97.

The Georgia-born Scott rose to nationwide prominence during World War II as a fighter ace in the China-Burma-India theater, then with his best-selling 1943 book, made into a 1945 movie starring Dennis Morgan as Scott.

Scott, who retired from the Air Force as a brigadier general, won three Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Silver Stars and five Air Medals before he was called home to travel the country giving speeches for the war effort.

"You had to have two witnesses in the formation, or you needed a gun camera to take a picture," he once said. "Only we didn‘t have gun cameras in China. I actually had 22 aerial victims, but I only had proof of 13."

At 33, Scott was considered too old for combat and was still at a training job in California when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and the U.S. entered the war in December of that year.

In the years just after the war, Scott was one of the proponents of making the Air Force into a separate service.

From the mid-1980s onward, Scott was an active staffer at the Robins air base‘s aviation museum.

[uglybiker]

[Heatseeker]

RIP General Scott. I remember reading his book in junior high. The CNN story says that despite his age he remained active until a few years ago, carrying the Olympic torch in 1996, piloting an F-15 fighter jet on his 88th birthday and flying a B-1 bomber on his 89th birthday".

[Dubya]

Soldier rest, Gently pressed,
To the calm, Mother Earth's
Waiting breast;
Duty done, Like the sun:
Going West.

SEMPER FI SOLDER

[dakine]

Interesting...

[bill1952]

Terrible. I knew a man who flew with him.

Read his book in high school.
I still remember the chapter "Rats on the Burma Road."

[GBA]

What a great man and one of my personal heroes! I must have read "God is My Co-Pilot" a dozen times in jr. high. God bless you, General Scott!

[Patriot Hooligan]

Robert Scott: God Was His Co-pilot A Radio Tokyo broadcast revealed to Colonel Robert L. Scott how effective his 23rd Fighter Group was. “They were making the point that we were weak because we only had 500 planes,” said Scott. “At that time we had only 35!” Thank You General Scott For Our Freedom.

[af_vet_rr]

He was a good man, and got quite a few youngsters interested in flying with his writing (which in some ways, is more important than anything he did in the cockpit, and is a much more lasting tribute).