Duane Beeson

Duane W. Beeson (1921-1947) was a World War II fighter pilot, born and raised in Boise, Idaho.

At the start of WWII Beeson went to Canada to join the Royal Air Force where he became a member of famed "Eagle squadron". When the opportunity presented itself Beeson joined the Eighth Air Force and accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was Don Gentile's rival in the Eighth Air Force's Ace Race' in an attempt to beat the great World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 enemy aircraft shot down. However, he came up four short after being brought down by German groundfire. He was captured on 5 April 1944, and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war. He scored 22.08 air victories, including 17.3 air to air kills, 5.3 of which were scored in the P-51-B Mustang.

Early years

In a family history his sister Elizabeth Beeson wrote,:"One of my most vivid memories is the types of books he read from the library, which he checked out in profusion. They were on philosophers and great men in history. Men like Lin Yu Tang, Napoleon, and he knew a great deal about Hitler. He put quotes on his room wall, which impressed me so much I would copy them in my school notebook. One is all I can recall now. It went, GOOD, BETTER, BEST, NEVER LET IT REST, TILL YOUR GOOD IS BETTER AND YOUR BETTER BEST."

Beeson took piano lessons and was loved classical music, at Boise High he played the trumpet, joined the junior ROTC program as platoon bugler. He debated and took part in speech club functions. His sophomore year he discovered William Blackstone's law dictionary and read it cover to cover non stop till graduation. Beeson was slight in stature in high school but was a member of a boxing club and loved to play American football. By his senior year he looked much younger than his 17 years, but he had intensity about him, a curiosity that had no ends and while he was slight, his mind was very mature for his age, the law, politics, civics and history fascinated him.

By the spring of 1939 Beeson and his classmates hung out at Tillotson's in Boise after school, they could eat burgers, drink malted milk shakes and listen to big band records on the juke box. Beeson told his buddies that he was headed to the University of California to study law. The plan was that he would move into his aunt's house in Oakland, California and work his way through school. With two little sisters and both parents working just to get by he knew they couldn't afford to send him to college, The Garfield marble champ, the Boise debater was on his own, and that suited him fine.

Beeson knew that he would need every cent in his scant savings, so he set out hitch-hiking. He just a few miles outside of Boise he got a ride with a guy who took him all the way to San Francisco. That summer Duane Beeson's family saw him off, he passed from the gates of the city of his childhood to a life that only Hollywood screenwriters could dream up.

Prewar Oakland was a tough place. A lot of Longshoremen were still out of work and jobs were scarce. Oakland was a bit smaller than today's Boise. Duane Beeson struggled but had the safety net of his aunts to help him. He finally settled into a job at a bearing factory a few weeks later he found a better job at the Piedmont Hotel.

He worked nights at the hotel with plans of going to school in the day. Finally, Beeson could work toward his lifetime goal, law school. But in September the Nazi's invaded Poland and WWII broke out. Beeson worked a year, sending some money home saving the rest for school but as the war progressed he knew that soon he would be swept into the fray. He did some checking around, he wanted to be a flyer…like the Barney Airline pilots he idolized as a kid back at the Boise airstrip along the river. He learned that in order to become an Army Air Corp Pilot he had to have at least two years of college. Beeson couldn't wait that long and his heart sunk. He thought he was out of luck, or was he? He made a trip across the bay to the British consulate.

The Battle of Britain has been fought late that the summer of 1940. The exploits of the RAF had been chronicled in the newspapers and virtually every news reel at the theatre. The romance and seer guts of the dashing flyers had to have left an impression on Beeson as he met with recruiters at the English Embassy in San Francisco. They told him that the Royal Canadian Air Force was accepting cadets and better yet, the top third of each class were accepted as pilots and officers. On June 23, 1941 Beeson traveled up the coast to Vancouver. He knew that he could do it and signed on without a second thought.

That summer was spent in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan as a flight cadet. The days were long and the prairie winds blow hard but it's seldom hot like Boise summers. The days were perfect for flying. Beeson's Boise ROTC training came in handy. He already knew how to march, already had the basic training that gave him a considerable edge over the other cadets. Beeson's attention to detail and his intensity impressed his superiors. By late summer it was on to basic flight school where he took his first flight in a WWI bi-plane. A month later after logging more than 5 hours in training in the Tiger Moth Duane made his first solo flight nailing the 45 minute flight.

From there he moved on to a twin engine Cessna at Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Beeson made his first solo flight in the Cessna the day before Pearl Harbor. Letters to and from home were filled with war news and clippings from the Idaho Daily Statesman, he knew all about the group of MK construction workers captured at Wake Island that Christmas, some were fellow Boise High classmates, neighbors, friends that only strengthened is resolve to succeed. It brought the war to a very personal level for Beeson.

By February 26 1942 Beeson had 201 hours of flight time. He had successfully completed the Royal Canadian Air Force flight training curriculum. His commanding officer wrote in his pilot log book, "A good average pilot and is slightly over confident. No outstanding faults." His C.O. recalled later that he had only one other pilot with that kind of self discipline but that he needed to learn how to relax. On graduation that Canadian winter he got his silver wings. He made the long trip to Boise as his sister Elizabeth remembered in a 1978 interview:"His first visit home after joining the RCAF was one of the proudest times of my life. He looked so handsome in his uniform. Nothing he did in the future could beat that."

Duane had three weeks off, he wore his smart RCAF uniform around town, (The same uniform on display at the Boise Air Terminal). The Beeson family pampered Duane and the boy was now a man on a mission. WWII was just a few months old, The Axis powers were winning battles on all fronts and it was perhaps the darkest days of the war. For any young man headed to war, it couldn't be much different than running into a burning building. On March 20 Beeson headed for the U.K. headed to his war in the skies over Europe.

He was ordered to Bournemouth, Hampshire, England. New pilots were evaluated then assigned aircraft, the powers that be decided that Duane W. Beeson of Boise was suited to be a fighter pilot and he started transition training for the Hawker Hurricane. After a few months he made a series of in country training missions in one of the best fighters of its day. The flying was day to day venture. Fog and rain made some days impossible but Beeson kept focused. He had to study hard, perform and earn a posting to a front line combat squadron. One misstep and he was out and Beeson had come a long way, he wasn't taking chances.

The London Blitz had ended the year before; but the German air strikes continued. It was the time of lend lease and Americans were solidly behind their English cousins sending everything from fighters to tanks to Tommy guns. There was even a so-called Eagle squadron forming. It was made up of mostly Americans that joined before Pearl Harbor and now found themselves in RAF uniforms.

The stories of the RAF pilots flying their Hurricanes and Spitfires inspired many to look into joining the RAF. After the Battle of Britain the RAF was short on pilots so a call went out for pilots to replace the RAF's depleted ranks. Of the thousands that volunteered, just 244 American pilots were picked to fly for the Eagle Squadrons; They made up three squadrons of the Royal Air Force Fighter Command. It was the RAF's policy to pick veteran English pilots as squadron and flight commanders and 16 of these British pilots served in the Eagle Squadrons.

They had the best mentors; Brit aces who had survived the Battle of Britain. They now freely shared that invaluable knowledge with the young Americans. On September 5 1942 Beeson got his posting and headed to 71 Squadron at Debden, Essex. The glamorous Eagles were in the newspapers that summer for their part in the Dieppe raid. Beeson knew he would finally see some action; he had 300 hours of flight time.

Most Eagle Squadron pilots did not have a college education or even military experience. Most of the pilots volunteered for sheer adventure. Leo Nomis wrote "I think that all of us, with very few exceptions were simply adventurers and romanticists, and perhaps idealists." Robert Patterson said "I joined the RAF not primarily for patriotic reasons. We all knew a war was coming. I used this as a quick way for some flying excitement." Howard Stickland remembered "We were all motivated by the thought of high adventure, the thrill of combat flying, and a desire to help the British." Red McColpin wrote that some "could not take the long routine in the U.S. services to become military pilots, when they were already experienced aviators."

Once in England the new recruits were sent to an operational training unit (OTU) for two to four weeks, where they learned to fly Miles Master trainers, Hurricanes, and Spitfires before being command posted them to a squadron. After OTU some of the men went straight to one of the Eagle Squadrons while others first served with other RAF squadrons before being transferred to an Eagle squadron.

Beeson spent much of September transitioning and getting used the sleek and fast Spitfire. Some of his fellow flyers were a bit taken back by Beeson at first. He was competitive and focused and when not flying was practicing shooting, studying, anything to make him not just a good pilot, he wanted to be the best.

Just as Beeson was getting ready for his first combat missions the Army Air Forces had arrived in England and were gearing up for the fight. Beeson resigned his RCAF commission and joined the Army Air Corp, fighters were in short command, and the Spits were painted with US. markings.

Finally Beeson had his chance to fly his first combat mission with his new unit the 334th Fighter Squadron; they flew the Spitfires over Dieppe, France. The mission lasted an hour and a half. Beeson wrote in his logbook that "We didn't see a thing".

By November Beeson was getting restless, when ordered to test fire his guns he took his Spitfire across the channel and ‘tested' them on some German trucks near a coastal gun emplacement. The bursts of machine gun fire torched the targets but the Germans got their licks in too, they opened up with the first hostile fire of the war for the Boise boy. They madly returned fire with anti-aircraft artillery. The peppered Beeson's Spitfire with shell fragments. Beeson had some explaining to do, he sheepishly told his superiors that no order was given as to where he was supposed to test his machine guns.

The rest of 1942 was spent escorting bombers and freelancing targets of opportunity across the channel. One gray fall day he and another squadron mate swooped down on a German barracks in the Netherlands. The target was juicy; outside on the parade ground enemy troops were lined up in formation, they let ‘em have it with their machine guns. With each mission 22-year old Beeson was becoming more and more confident, his skills continued to get sharper as Beeson wanted to be the best.

In January of 1943 Beeson was transferred to a temporary unit for transition training into the big, powerful American made P-47. Finally the Americans had their own aircraft and Beeson was among the first to fly them in the European theatre. Affectionately nicknamed "Jug," the P-47 was one of the most famous AAF fighter planes of the war. Although originally conceived as a lightweight interceptor, the P-47 developed as a heavyweight fighter and made its first flight on May 6, 1941. The first production model was delivered to the AAF in March 1942, and in April 1943 the Thunderbolt flew its first combat mission--a sweep over Western Europe.

Used as both a high-altitude escort fighter and a low-level fighter-bomber, the P-47 had a reputation for ruggedness. Its sturdy construction and air-cooled radial engine enabled the Thunderbolt to absorb severe battle damage and keep flying. During WW II, the P-47 served in almost every active war theater and in the forces of several Allied nations. By the end of WW II, more than 15,600 Thunderbolts had been built. The transitions to the "Jugs" as they were nicknamed were dangerous, but Beeson had little trouble with the big, powerful birds.

With his new aircraft, soon Beeson got a new crew chief that was every bit as anal attentive as he was. Air Force Magazine profiled Beeson's crew chief. Staff Sergeant Willard Wall, He was described as old and wise, wearing a grease smudged fatigue jacket, strong, quiet, oil stained hands, the bill of his baseball hat tipped up. Confidence oozed from the crew chief, he had mastered his job and knew it. Wall was responsible for every aspect of Beeson's aircraft. From patching up the holes, to waxing the wings, to making sure the radio works. At the time Wall was 23 years old, he was so much like Beeson they could have been Boise brothers.

It was written at the time that:"Beeson is particular, Nothing but perfection satisfies him, in himself as well as in others. Beeson knows planes He knows planes just as he knows about everything connected with his business. He's a man to spend hours poring over recognition charts at night, even after two years and nine months as a combat pilot…he still is practicing dry runs of marksmanship on an aiming gadget he set up in dispersal hut. The plane has to be right for Beeson."

May 8 1943 was a big day for Boise High Grad Duane Beeson. At 5:02 p.m. Beeson was in the snug cockpit of his P-47. He and wingman Jim Clark had spent most of the day escorting a flight of bombers into Belgium. The mission was uneventful until the last leg home. In the far distance behind them they saw a group of German fighters closing fast. They were after the last bombers of a flight. They came in low from the east and the first of two Messersmitt 109's came at Beeson and Clark from the left side they turned directly into the attackers. Jim Clark fired on the first; Beeson broke hard right and managed to get on the tail of the other in a high-speed dive. At 3,000 feet Beeson opened up with short bursts from his machine guns at point blank range. In a mater of seconds it was over, the engine and wings exploded into a fireball, but the pilot bailed out just before the crash. The rest of the 109's turned for home. Beeson has proven himself in combat. On that day he was the best.

Lt. Beeson had a mission just about every day. Most were bomber escort missions shepherding the new B-17, and B-24's into enemy held Europe. They bombed munitions and aircraft factories day and night, In 1943 U.S. air crews suffered huge loses. They bombed in broad daylight, sitting ducks for anti-aircraft fire, and enemy fighters.

On June 26 Beeson was flying an escort mission over Dieppe, France when his squadron jumped some 109's, they gave chase but they got away, Beeson was heading for home when he came out some clouds over the channel. He spotted two Messerschmidtt 109's, one with a P-47 on his tail. He closed in other German aircraft, locked on his tail. The pilot tried desperately tried to break free with a series of short turns. But Beeson was fixed on the target, the fighter went into a steep dive, Beeson opened up with his guns, the plane caught fire and crashed into the sea, he used just 400 rounds of ammunition.

A month later Beeson was awarded his first combat medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross in recognition of his 37 combat missions and two victories. The citation read::"The skillful and zealous manner in which Lieutenant Beeson has sought out the enemy and destroyed him, his devotion to duty and courage under all conditions serve as an inspiration to his fellow flyers. His action on all these occasions reflects the highest credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of the United States."

Later that summer on July 2h the 4th Fighter Group made Air Force history. They were the first Fighter Group to penetrate enemy air space. The Germans had owned the skies over the fatherland but the sheer number of fighters and bombers around the clock was changing the tide of the war. On the way back over the Netherlands they came face to face with a flight of ME 109s. They were ripping into a formation of B-17's. Beeson and wing man Hank Mills dove from 21,000 feet to cut off fighters that were attacking the underside of the B-17 formation. Beeson turned into the enemy fighter and got on his tail and closed within 75 yards before opening up with all 8 machine guns. The aircraft disintegrated before his eyes. Beeson now had three confirmed kills. Later in September, after 65 combat missions, the Boise man was awarded the Silver Star.

The rest of the year was a series of dangerous bomber escorts. On October 8 1943 Beeson joined an elite club. He shot down two ME 109's over the Netherlands. It was cool day with light clouds when more than 30 enemy fighters attacked a formation of B-17's they came in high from above the Flying Forts. One of Beeson's buddies C.D. Smith got jumped by a 109, He got some good hits into the P-47 and went down in flames. Beeson made a sharp turn and got on his tail and blasted the German, he blew the wing off and the plane exploded in flames, Beeson had no time to rejoice his 4th kill because a bitter battle was swirling about him. Two more 109's dove at him from above, they were closing fast and head on…it was a game of chicken, the first broke right and Beeson blasted him, but he didn't go down, a second later another 109 flew right into his kill zone in front of the P-47 it shocked Beeson to see an arrogant pilot gave Beeson the finger, he opened up on him sending him to the deck in flames. Beeson was now an ace.

Commanding Officer Lieutenant Colonel Don Blakeslee watched Beeson's development with interest. He knew Beeson was a sharp shooter and word has filtered back to him that Beeson practiced day and night on a targeting device he had developed that was one of the first combat simulators. It was built using a bicycle, with usable pedals and models simulated enemy fighters. The device was ingenious and Blakeslee appointed Beeson the group Gunnery officer, the ace got two months off to perfect his skills and then share them with the Fighter Group.

Meanwhile the 4th Fighter Groups press releases had made their way back to the Idaho Daily Statesman. Idaho had its ace and anything on Beeson was front page news. His parents were proud and Governor Bottefson wrote a letter to Carl and Zelda saying "Idaho is might proud of her ace pilot, relay to him this message of our pride in his valor and heroism."

On the 29 January 1944 in Beeson's personal encounter report he described a typical mission.

"We sighted approximately fifteen Me 109's and FW 190's flying near the bombers and when Pectin squadron attacked them they went into a dive." He wrote. " I saw six other Me 109's coming in, Lt. Chatterley and I turned into this group. I got on the tail of the nearest one, and opened fire at 250 yards, closing to about 50 yards. I saw very severe strikes on the fuselage and wing roots, then a large flash somewhere in the cockpit area and the enmy aircraft flicked violently ot the right and went down trailing a long stream of gray-black smoke." Beeson then engaged another enemy fighter. "I don't think he saw me as I was approaching out of the sun, but he steepened his dive a little and I was closing on him slowly, he wrote. "So I fired a burst out of range trying to slow him down. He went into a cloud and when we came out, I was only 300 feet behind. I opened fire again and saw many incendiary strikes on his fuselage. He dropped his nose at about 200 feet altitude and went into the deck. Claim: 1 Me 109 and 1 FW 190 destroyed.

Beeson's laconic narrative doesn't do him justice. He and Chatterley took on six seasoned enemy pilots and sent half of them down in flames. His courage on that day earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross. A day later Beeson gunned down his 10th enemy aircraft, he was now the elite of the elite, a double ace.

A review of Beeson's gun camera films shows how skilled of a pilot he was. He is often up close to the target and pursuing with vigor. Those that have studied these films become life-long fans of his skills.

By February, 1944, the 8th Air Force had a vast number of bomber groups wanted to move onto large-scale raids necessary to bring the Luftwaffe to its knees and create air superiority over Europe. Their mission was to initiate "Operation Pointblank," the destruction of the Luftwaffe through bombing of aircraft factories, dogfights and strafing German airfields. The bold plan would have disastrous results for Beeson.

The big raids were called "The Big Week," and that week stretched for weeks to come. The P-47s were now equipped with two drop tanks instead of one and that doubled their range â€" during this time the Luftwaffe began to use up all their experienced fighter pilots- and they suffered more pilot losses in this month than in all the daylight raids of 1943 combined. For fighter pilots like Beeson it was a happy hunting time.

The Fourth put in such a good performance during "Big Week" that Blakeslee was able to get the brass to give them top priority for the new P-51's Mustangs, He promised that on arrival "I'll have them operational in 24 hours," On February 24, the first four Mustangs arrived at Debden, with the 46 others arriving over the next 48 hours. When the group flew its first missions on February 25th, the pilots had less than one hour and ten minutes' flight time in the fast sleek, new fighter.

During the week, Beeson was awarded an oak leaf cluster to go with his Distinguished Flying Cross and promoted to Captain, he had 80 combat missions, he was just 22 years old. He was also became the Commanding Officer of B flight. On the 28 February Beeson got his new P-51-B. He and crew chief Willard Wahl named the new bird simply "Bee." In his first mission they made a short jump across the channel and strafed an airfield, Beeson shot up a JU 88 and it exploded on the ground, He wrote in his log that the P-51 was a very sweet fighter.

By March 8 Beeson was in the headlines. He was one of the top scoring aces that were all trying for fame glory and aviation immortality. Beeson would have none of that, he was driven by perfection. He wanted to master every aspect of aerial combat, to be the best. After each mission newspaper and magazine reporters would hunt Beeson down for a comment, he complained bitterly that the German pilots wouldn't engage, one paper headline quoted Beeson as saying "Can't do business with Hitler."

On the 23 March Beeson downed two more aircraft putting him firmly in 1st place in the American Ace race, he wrote in his report: "I got two 109's and damaged a train, had a hell of a fight with one of them, lots of fun." He shot down the enemy fighters over Munster, Germany. "I opened up everything and went after him," Beeson wrote "…at about 25,000 feet, was in range and got good strikes on him; he began to smoke and dived for a cloud at 6,000 feet. I got on his tail as he came out of the cloud and clobbered him again, but he stuck to his aircraft and crash landed in a field, I strafed the a/c on the ground…He ran very fast across the field and fell behind a fence post as I came over again." It was Beeson's 93rd combat mission and he had 17 swastikas painted on the fuselage of the Bee.

He made a couple more kills but on April 5 things turned sour for Beeson. The 4th Fighter Groups policy of shooting up enemy airfields was made the Mustangs very vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire. Beeson had dove on an airfield destroyed 6 enemy planes on the flight line…but all the sudden tracers and flak were everywhere. Lt. Thomas Biel described what he saw in his report: "I saw Captain Beeson clobbering the first Ju 88, setting it on fire, and the shooting up the other 6. "While this was going on," Biel added. "The Jerries were throwing up intense flak which was very accurate. I saw Captain Beeson get hit and glycol streaming out."

The cockpit of the Bee was filled with smoke those final moments. It was noisy, there was confusion and the plane was losing altitude. Beeson got on the radio; he thought there was a way out. "I've got a glycol leak, but I'll make it home anyway." But then the reality of the situation caught up with him. "I've got to bail out in a minute; My temperature is up to 150."

Beeson was in a pickle. His Mustang was seizing up, he pulled the stick back all the way to try and get some altitude, when engine seized he dropped the stick barely able to bale out at 200 feet. His chute barely opened before he hit the ground. He landed hard in a field surrounded by Germans; he turned his knee and ankle, and had cuts from a barbed wire fence. The local Luftwaffe immediately arrested him.

Eight days later Boise learned of Beeson's crash, a telegram was sent to his parents saying the Duane was missing, the read accounts of the incident in the wire stories, some of his squadron members thought they had seen him alive on the ground. It was little solace for his worried parents. By summer a postcard from Beeson arrived, he told them he was safe and sound in a concentration camp in Rostock, Germany.

In the camp Beeson cooled his heels like a pacing tiger in a zoo. Don Gentile continued to shoot down planes, surpassing him in the ace race. It pained Beeson to miss out on the race and to miss out on the joy of his day to day missions. He passed the time boxing, reading, studying, anything to keep his mind busy. Nearly a year passed before the camp was freed by the Russians on April 29 1945. It took Beeson nearly a month to make it back Debden, England. One of the first things he did was take up a brand new P-51. He found out that he had been promoted to Major and had received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Flying Medal with five clusters, Silver Star, Air Medal most of which were presented to his proud parents at Gowen Field while he was in the POW camp.

He returned to Boise in June of 1945. He was the hometown hero and a big fuss was made everywhere he went. He spoke at the Jaycees, Kiwanis, attended dances at Hillcrest and spoke to the VFW. But through it all he wanted to get back into the war and made every effort to get reassigned but the war in the Pacific ended before that could happen.

He was reassigned to Sarasota, Florida and met a beautiful young secretary named Tracy Waters, Beeson had met the love of his life, the war was over and a bright future lay in front of him. Every thing he touched turned to gold, he learned he was promoted to Lt. Col. In January Tracy and Duane were married in Baltimore. He was excited about the peace time Air Forces and advocated a new, stand alone Air Force on a trip to Boise. He was excited about marriage his new duties in the Air Force when out of the blue he was violently ill. Doctors diagnosed him with a brain tumor and advised an immediate operation. The sudden illness shocked his family, friends, his wife. He was flown to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC. Just as the plane touched down, Duane Beeson, just 26 years old died. In November 1993 the city of Boise honored her native son by naming the Duane W. Beeson Air Terminal building after Idaho's top WW II Ace.--by Jake Putnam

References

Air Force Magazine December 1944, "Portrait of a Crew Chief, Sgt. Samuel W. Taylor"
*Fry, Garry; The Duane Beeson Story, American Aviation Historical Society, Winter, 1978
* Duane Beeson Gun Camera Films

Other Sources

*The Warhawk Museum, Nampa, Idaho, John and Sue Paul
*Joe Goicoechea, Classmate, Wake Island Veteran, POW, Boise High Classmate
Idaho Daily Statesman
*Office of Air Force History