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Major Walker "Bud" Mahurin ~ Free Shipping

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11" x 14" Lithograph ~ Unlimited Print Edition

Col. Walker M. "Bud" Mahurin

56th FG/51st FIW • (24.25)

Walker Mahurin joined the 56th Fighter Group in July 1942 and arrived in the UK in January 1943. He was later promoted to Captain and Flight Leader of the 63rd Fighter Squadron. He claimed his first victories during the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission, when he shot down two FW 190s, one flown by Luftwaffe Ace, Major Wilhelm Galland. By November 1943 Mahurin had become the first American "Double Ace. Mahurin would claim 20 kills in the European Theatre of Operations. His final kill in the ETO (shared with 3 other pilots) on 27 March 1944 was a Do-17, which he shot down over France, on a Bomber escort mission. On that same day, his P-47 #42-8487 sustained heavy battle damage from enemy fighters and Mahurin was forced to bail out. He described the experience: "The next thing I know, I'm in the French countryside at high noon with 35 of my fellow fighter pilots circling around me like a beehive... I ran like hell." After hiding in a haystack, Mahurin was picked up by the French Resistance and successfully evaded capture for five weeks. He was evacuated on 6 May 1944 from a field 1km NW of Outarville, near Pithiviers, France by an RAF 161 Squadron Lysander aircraft (pilot F/Lt Alexander) along with 2 French secret agents returning to Great Britain. Like other Allied airmen who had been downed in German-occupied countries, Mahurin did not fly any more missions, for fear that his knowledge of the French Resistance and Helpers could put these people in jeopardy in case he was shot down again. After returning to his Unit, he was sent back to the US. In October 1944, Mahurin was shipped to the Pacific Theatre of Operations to command the 3rd Fighter Squadron. He claimed two more kills flying Mustangs from the Philippines. He finished the war as Lieutenant-Colonel with a promotion to Commander of the 3rd Air Commando Group. Following the War Mahurin stayed with the US Air Force. During the Korean War he commanded the 1st Fighter Group, training in F-86s Sabre; he then served as assistant to his old 56th Fighter Group comrade, Colonel Francis S. Gabreski, with the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing, before leading the 4th Fighter-Interceptor Wing in combat. Flying F-86 Sabres, Mahurin claimed another kill, becoming the only American pilot to score victories in the European and Pacific Theatres and the Korean War.
Mahurin's F-86 Sabre was shot down on 13 May 1952 by North Korean ground fire while strafing a truck and he had to bail out. He was taken Prisoner of War in North Korea, enduring psychological torture, intense questioning and solitary confinement whilst imprisoned before making a false confession that he undertook germ warfare tactics. He was released on 31 August 1953 and later promoted to Colonel after working to develop courses on interrogation survival. Walker Mahurin retired from the US Air Force Reserve in December 1978. He had published the book "Honest John: The Autobiography of Walker M. Mahurin" in 1962.
 
"Bud" Mahurin died on May 11, 2010, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

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