First 95th FS commander recalls WWII days Published May 19, 2014 By Ashley M. Wright h Fighter Wing Public Affairs TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. -- Much has changed in the 72 years since then-Maj. Bob Kirtley took the helm of 95th Fighter Squadron. The sands of Africa in World War II are replaced with Florida beaches, the F-22 Raptor takes the place of the twin-engine fighter his men flew. But, one thing remains: pride. "[I'm] very proud. Of course, I was very proud when we were flying the most advanced aircraft in the country," said Bob Kirtley, the first 95th FS commander, when asked how it feels to know the squadron is again taking to the skies. The 97-year-old founding father of the squadron recently sat down to recount his adventures in World War II and pass along a message to the newest "Boneheads." Kirtley finished flying school at Kelly Field in March of 1940 and transferred to the 27th Squadron 1st Pursuit Group, at Selfridge Field flying P-35s. "Then, we went on maneuvers down in Texas. When I came back from there, I was one of the first six test pilots on the P-38," he said. "Each one of them was a little different. We tried all kinds of things from altitude, speed runs, aerobatics and the whole bit to see what would happen when we did all these things." Lockheed Martin envisioned the P-38 Lightning I as twin-engine intercept and began major production of the aircraft began in September 1941. During World War II, the United States used the aircraft in a variety of roles including dive bombing, level bombing, strafing, photo reconnaissance and long-range escort, according the National Museum of the United States Air Force's factsheet. Nicknamed the "Der Gabelschwanz Teufel," or forked-tail devil, by the Germans, the P-38 flew bomber escorts from England to Germany in 1943, after being used in the North African Campaign in 1942. More than 10,000 of the fighters were built, and they carried four .50 caliber machine guns and one 20 mm cannon. Kirtley's experience on the P-38 would come in handy as he soon learned. The Army Air Corps named Kirtley as the commander of the 95th Pursuit Squadron on May 1, 1942. "I became commander of the new 95th FS, 82nd Fighter Group," he said. "I had four experienced pilots, 20 beat-up P-38s and we were manned by 25 new sergeant pilots and a flock of untrained ground crews." The idea of taking experienced enlisted sergeants and turning them into pilots proved fruitful. According to the National Museum of the Air Force, "2,576 enlisted men graduated as sergeant pilots. Half of the first graduating class of flying sergeants went overseas with the P-38-equipped 82nd Fighter Group. Members of this class shot down 130 enemy aircraft, and nine became aces. In all, former sergeant pilots destroyed 249.5 enemy aircraft and 18 became aces flying fighters." Besides providing much needed pilots, this program offered another benefit, Kirtley argued. "These pilots were offered training. If they were master sergeants, they would take a grade-down to a staff sergeant," Kirtley said. "About the time we left, they changed the rules, and they were promoted to second lieutenants. They were a pretty good bunch of people because most of them had a lot of experience as enlisted people and particular they were good on maintenance. That is one of the reasons we were so successful because we could not only fly the airplane, but we could maintain it in a pinch. These people were very successful, those that survived, and a couple of them were promoted all the way up to general." The squadron trained at Muroc, now Edwards AFB. Six month later, they boarded the Queen Mary for Europe, colliding with a British cruiser en route. More than 70 years later, Kirtley still possess the order sending the men of the 95th, 96th and 97th squadrons to combat in World War II. In December 1942, the 82nd Fighter Group left the British Isles for a French airfield in Algeria. What was supposed to be a non-combat mission turned to the most memorable mission for the commander. "The group commander ordered that we would not load our guns, that we had to take a lot of equipment and tools. But, I overruled that, and thank goodness. My people had guns," Kirtley said. Eight members of the 95th FS were flying their new P-38s on one side of the B-26 that was guiding the mission. The group commander was flying with three other members of the 82nd FG on the other side of the guide plane. The transfer proceeded smoothly for the first hour. "I was drinking tomato juice out of a canteen [when] I looked over and there was a Ju-88 shooting down a P-38 on the other side," Kirtley recalled. His training immediately kicked in once he spotted the Luftwaffe aircraft. "I turned into him, and he went up through the overcast. My wingman and I followed him," the then-major said. "I broke out on top ,and I was right on his tail. I shot him down hitting his right engine and it caught fire. I followed him down through the overcast and he crashed into the sea." Kirtley had scored the first aerial victory for the group. The rest of the flight proceeded onward toward Africa while Kirtley and his wingman had fought the German fighter. All and all, the mission took nine hours. "That was a long mission and pretty dicey," he said. The 95th FS performed a variety of missions from that point on, Kirtley said. "There were none that were really typical, but our three missions were normally bomber escorts, strafing and dive and skip bombing," he said. This missions cost the unit dearly. "We lost an awful lot of pilots. The hardest part was to see the young men get killed. In my time there, we lost about 20 pilots in three or four months," Kirtley relented. The commanding officer had several tried and true tactics to motivate his Airmen during these times. "Besides kicking them in the ass every now and then, the main thing I tried to motivate pilots on was to get out there and get their hands dirty on maintenance, arming guns and changing spark plugs and all that sort of thing. This really worked. That seemed to motivate them. The other thing that motivated them was telling them that I would not ask them to do anything I wouldn't do. I tried to abide by that." In his time in the 95th FS, he would account for a total of four aerial victories. His command tenure ended April 1, 1943. "After 25 exciting missions, I was assigned as commander for the P-38 section of Fighter Training Command near Casablanca," he said. "After a short stint at that, I completed my missions with the 27th Fighter Squadron, 1st Fighter Group. I then returned to the States and became Director of Operations at Dover. We had 80 P-47 Thunderbolts and completed final combat training of many eager young fighter pilots." Defining his favorite part of the missions he completed during his time in the 95th FS came easy for the almost 97 year old. "I reckon when I was flying, in particular, when I came home from a mission. I enjoyed that immensely. There were a lot of people who didn't," he said from his home office, which proudly displayed a unit patch with the infamous Mr. Bones on it. Kirtley retired in 1970 at the rank of colonel. He offered one last piece of advice for today's boneheads. "Stay out of trouble and fly as much as you can," Kirtley advised.