Joseph C. McConnell
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Joseph Christopher "Mac" McConnell, Jr. (died August 25, 1954) was an American navigator during World War II, and then fighter and test pilot for the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. McConnell was the first triple jet fighter ace in history and is still the top-scoring American jet ace.
A native of Dover, New Hampshire, Captain McConnell shot down 16 MiG-15s during the Korean War while flying F-86 Sabre jets for the U.S. Air Force.
McConnell was a B-24 navigator during World War II. He remained in the Air Force and became a pilot in 1948. He was assigned to the 39th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron of the 51st Fighter-Interceptor Wing in Korea in late 1952. Flying a Sabre named "Beauteous Butch" (serial number 51-2910, buzz number FU-910; named after the nickname of his wife, Pearl "Butch" Brown), McConnell scored all of his kills over a four month period, from January 14th to May 18th 1953. On his last day flying in combat, May 18th, he shot down 3 MiGs alone.
After returning to the United States, McConnell continued flying Sabres at George Air Force Base and lived in Apple Valley, California. On August 25, 1954, while testing an F-86H (serial number 52-1981), the fifth production H-model, at Edwards Air Force Base, he was killed in a crash following a control malfunction. The crash's cause was attributed to a missing bolt. Then-Major Chuck Yeager was assigned to investigate the crash and replicated the malfunction at a much higher altitude, recovering before he hit the desert floor.
The 1955 film The McConnell Story chronicles his life story, starring Alan Ladd and June Allyson. In 1961, a book entitled "Sabre Jet Ace" by Charles Ira Coombs chronicled his amazing experience as a fighter pilot in Korea.
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[edit] External links
- The Crash of McConnell's F-86H
- Photograh of McConnell's Sabre showing the name "Beauteous Butch II", Sabres and Aces: These rare color images present some of the pilots and aircraft that made history in the Korean War, Air Force Magazine, Sept. 2006, p. 85.
- Capt. Joseph McConnell Account of McConnell's Korean War experiences, with photographs.
