TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | President Plane This Grumman TBM Avenger has been restored as a replica of LT. (J.G.) George Bush’s plane; who would later become the 41st President of the United States, George H. W. Bush. President Bush was a high school senior on Dec. 7, 1941, at Phillips Academy Andover. On June 12, 1942, he turned 18, graduated from Andover, and shortly thereafter was sworn into the US Navy. A year later, Bush became an officer of the United States Naval Reserve, earned his wings as a naval aviator, and was assigned to fly TBM Avengers off the aircraft carrier San Jacinto in the Pacific. He was likely the Navy’s youngest flying officer; just days before his 19th birthday. As a member of the San Jacinto’s torpedo squadron VT-51, Bush flew an Avenger with the name “Barbara” inscribed.
At about 0715 on 2 Sep 1944, Bush took off along with his crew, William “Ted” G. White and John “Del” Delaney, to attack Chichi Jima, a Japanese island. An hour later, their plane was hit by AAA; setting his engine on fire. Choking on the smoke, he continued to fly his plane, a TBM Avenger, while dropping bombs and hitting his target, a radio tower. After flying the burning plane farther out to sea, he told White and Delaney to bail out before bailing out himself. The wind lifted him out of the cockpit and threw him backward into the tail. He cut his head and bruised his eye on the tail; then he pulled the ripcord and floated under his parachute until hitting the waves. Although badly injured, Bush managed to swim to a life raft about fifty feet away. He was alone bobbing on the ocean when he realized that White and Delaney were missing. After what seemed like many hours, a Navy submarine, the USS Finback, finally surfaced to rescue him.
For this action, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism under fire. During the war, he flew 58 combat missions for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation awarded to his ship, the San Jacinto. It seems all together fitting and proper to have a plane named after him. See TBM Avenger Gathering 2018 | a 7 Image Story for the whole story.
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