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Donald Bryan (b. 1921)

Donald "Bush" Bryan, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, is a decorated veteran of World War II (1941-45) and a

Donald Bryan

former member of the famed Eighth Army Air Force, or "Mighty Eighth." Bryan flew for the 352d Fighter Group and is described by one of his fellow P-51 pilots as the 352d's "leading living ace." Officially credited with 13.3 downed enemy aircraft—including five in one day during a harrowing fifteen-minute dogfight—Bryan was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.

Born on August 15, 1921, in Hollister, California, Donald S. Bryan was raised on a farm near Paicines, California. Retiring from the air force in December 1964, he moved to Georgia in 1981. Today Bryan and his wife, Frances, with whom he has four children, live in Adel .

One of the

P-51

primary missions of the 352d was to escort bombers on their dangerous missions over German territory during World War II. Bombing missions over Germany were some of the most dangerous assignments of the war. Before longer range escorts arrived, the Eighth Air Force lost approximately 70 percent of its heavy bombers in such missions. With the arrival of the 352d unit and others, the tide of the air war in the European theater turned dramatically. Eighth Army Air Force bombers now had the cover of such well-trained pilots as Bryan and, eventually, the technologically advanced P-51 Mustang planes, which had long range, good air speed, and maneuverability. Pilots like Bryan, with his Mustang, trimmed heavy bomber losses by as much as 70 percent.

Bryan and his fellow 352d pilots were so effective as bomber escorts that their German counterparts begin to call them "those blue-nosed bastards of Bodney." Flying out of Bodney, England, and later out of Chievres and Asch, Belgium, Bryan and other pilots of the 352d officially were credited with the destruction of 806.5 enemy aircraft. In addition to Bryan, the 352d produced twenty-eight other aces and won the Army Air Force's highest unit citation twice. The 352d was the top-scoring fighter squadron in the European theater.

The

Bryan and Noyes

skill of the 352d's pilots and the performance of their Mustangs is difficult to exaggerate, as illustrated by Bryan's personal record. In addition to the five downed aircraft in one day on November 2, 1944, Bryan is credited with three downed enemy aircraft in one day on a previous mission (September 27, 1944). He later downed one of Adolf Hitler's new jet fighters, which Germany introduced toward the end of the war.

Bryan also led the ultimately successful mission to find a fellow fighter pilot, Fremont Miller, who was forced to ditch in the very cold waters of the North Sea on April 15, 1944. Miller survived on a dinghy for three days, during which time Bryan attempted two rescue missions in foggy, dangerous conditions. Finally, leading a group of sixteen Mustangs after another mission on April 18, Bryan decided to search one more time for the lost pilot—a successful search that led to Miller's rescue and saved his life.

Bryan's personal exploits, as well as those of his fellow P-51 pilots, are well documented in the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum, located just outside Savannah. A replica of Bryan's third P-51 (Little One III) is on display, and visitors can watch combat film from the archives of the Eighth Army Air Force.

Roger A. Freeman, The Mighty Eighth: A History of the Units, Men, and Machines of the US 8th Air Force (New York: Orion, 1989).

William N. Hess, The American Aces of World War II and Korea (New York: Arco, 1968).

Robert H. Powell Jr. and Thomas Ivie, The "Blue-nosed Bastards" of Bodney: A Commemorative History (n.p.: 352d Fighter Group Association, 1990).

 The Last Reunion: A Gathering of Heroes, dir. Brent Wilson (Winter Park, Fla.: Split S Productions, 2003), video.

John T. Hiers, Aucilla Pines, LLC

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