Boyd Wagner escaped from the Philippines, and if I remember correctly, added a couple of more kills. Unfortunately, like a number of pilots, he was killed in a flying accident in late 1942.
Another outstanding pilot was William E. Dyess, commander of the 21st PS I talked to a number of veterans and without any dissent, they called him the best leader in the Philippines. He also died in a plane crash in November, 1943. He wrote "The Dyess Story" one of the most graphic telling of the Bataan Death March and prison life.
During the writing of this and other articles on this subject, it was my pleasure to chat and write with a number of former pilots and ground crewmen.
I still remember one old gentleman, a former pilot with the 17th, who
hand wrote his experiences in about
30 pages!! Another pilot, who came from my hometown of Spokane WA, was a friend of Ed Dyess', flew with him on Bataan, went through the Death March and a year later, escaped with nine others (Dyess included - he planned the escape) from the Davao Penal Colony on Mindanao. They served with the guerrillas and were evacuated out (except for one who was recaptured and killed). Stuff that Hollywood wouldn't even believe!
I know a lot of you focus on the P-51, the F4U and other planes which were in their heyday when the Allies ruled the skies. My two favorite planes are the P-40 and the F4F, flown when the skies and indeed the course of the war was in considerable doubt. I will count it one of the greatest thrills of my life to have a chance to meet these men and write about them!
I can also recommend William Bartsch's "Doomed at the Start" as the most complete book on American fighters in the Philippines during this period. Bill and I were writing about this at about the same time and we even corresponded for a while.
A couple of more pictures:
1) It was customary for U.S. Army aircraft to meet incoming ships. This photo was taken from the USAT "Washington" in May, 1941. It is my favorite picture from an "artistic" standpoint:
The first page from my article in "Airpower":
I'll try to include some more pictures and stories from time to time.