A WWII Screamin' Demon of the 7th FS
Robert Dehaven's story..
Robert M. DeHaven
Robert Marshall DeHaven
was born on 13 January 1922 in San Diego, California. He attended
Washington and Lee University but left to join the Army Air Corps
in February 1942. Earning his pilot's wings, he was assigned to
P-40 training in Florida. In February 1943 he was sent to Hawaii,
then on to Port Moresby, New Guinea via Australia in May. He was
assigned to the P-40 equipped 7th Fighter Squadron, 49th Fighter
Group at Dobodura.
Lieutenant DeHaven
scored his first victory on 14 July 1943 and became an ace
on 10 December. He participated in the offensives which took
Buna, Lae, Markham Valley, Hollandia and Biak Islands. During
these battles, he downed a total of ten enemy aircraft with
the P-40, one of the highest P-40 scores for USAAF pilots,
other than AVG pilots.
DeHaven liked the P-40,
surprisingly, even preferring it to the highly acclaimed P-38. In
Eric Bergerud's Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific
After training I requested duty in the Pacific
and I requested being posted to a P-40 squadron and both wishes
were granted. This was early in 1943 and most pilots already
desired more advanced types and some thought my decision a
mistake. Yet I had been inspired by the deeds of the Flying
Tigers. We had also heard accounts that the P-38 was difficult to
bail out of because of its twin-boom tail and that it was
difficult when flying with one engine. I also knew that P-38s
were still rare in the theater and I wanted to get into the war
as soon as possible. That wish, too, was granted. I never
regretted the choice.
If you flew wisely, the P-40 was a very
capable aircraft. In many conditions, it could outturn
a P-38, a fact that some pilots didn't realize when they made the
transition between the two aircraft. The P-40 kept me alive and
allowed me to accomplish my mission. The real problem with it was
lack of range. As we pushed the Japanese back, P-40 pilots were
slowly left out of the war. So when I moved to P-38s, an
excellent aircraft, I did so not because I believed that the P-40
was an inferior fighter, but because I knew the P-38 would allow
us to reach the enemy. I was a fighter pilot and that was what I
was supposed to do.
The 7th Fighter Squadron
transitioned to P-38s in July-September 1944 for the
Philippine invasion. On 27 October, leading the 7th Squadron,
DeHaven became one of the first AAF fighters to
"return" to the Philippines. Within seven days he
acquired four more victories. After leave in the U.S. he rejoined
the 49th at Lingayen as group operations officer, serving into
the occupation of Japan.
Following World War II,
DeHaven joined the Hughes Aircraft Company as an engineering test
pilot and personal pilot to Howard Hughes. Eventually he became
an executive of the firm and manager of the Flight Test Division
for over 30 years. He was also elected a Fellow in the Society of
Experimental Test Pilots and served as President of the American
Fighter Aces Association.
TALLY RECORD: 14
Confirmed and one Damaged
DECORATIONS: Silver Star
with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with 2
OLCs, Air Medal with 13 OLCs, and the Presidential Unit Citation
with one OLC.
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