DOUBLE-THEATER ACE

The fearless missions of legendary fighter pilot Col. John D. Landers

- BY CLIVE ROWLEY, MBE RAF (RET.)

"NO, I DON'T CARRY ANY KIND OF LUCK CHARM," said Lieutenant Colonel John D. Landers, commanding officer of the 78th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force, "I don't know where my luck in finding enemy planes comes from. Some of the other group commanders claim that if they dropped me into a barrel of lard, I'd bump into a Nazi plane!"

Whether it was luck or whether he could "smell the rats" (as some have said) is open to debate, but the fact remains that within one month of assuming command of the 78th FG, the colonel, flying his P-51 Mustang "Big Beautiful Doll," had led the group into two huge gaggles of German planes, both of which were apparently forming up in preparation for attacks on American bombers. The Mustang pilots destroyed 45 of the enemy fighters, 32 of them in one day, a new record for the group.

Early days

John Dave Landers was born on August 23, 1920, in Wilson, Oklahoma. His family moved to Johnson County, Texas, where John graduated from Cleburne High School. By 1938 he was employed by the Lone Star Gas Company in Texas. On April 25, 1941, Landers entered the Aviation Cadet Program of the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and was awarded his pilot wings at Stockton Field, California, on December 12, 1941, just five days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Pacific Theater

Having completed his flying training and with just under 200 hours in his logbook, Landers was posted to the 9th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter Group, then based in northern Australia. He departed from San Francisco aboard the troop transport ship SS Mariposa on January 12, 1942, and arrived in Australia on February 2, after a stopover in Hawaii. The 49th FG was equipped with Curtiss P-40E Warhawks, and 21-year-old Second Lieutenant Landers joined his new unit on April 3, 1942, by delivering a new P-40E to Batchelor Field, near Darwin.