From the desk of Jan Hommel, Museum Director:

Q: Which president was one of the youngest pilots in U.S. Navy history?

A: George H.W. Bush. George Bush is a hero, not just for being a chief executive, but for being a brave nineteen-year-old who was a fearless TBM Avenger (Torpedo Bomber) aviator in the Pacific during World War II. On September 2, 1944, George Herbert Walker Bush, one of the youngest pilots then serving in the U.S. Navy, climbed into a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, catapulted off the deck of the carrier San Jacinto, and headed toward Chichi Jima, a Japanese island 600 miles south of Tokyo. With him rode two crewman, radioman Jack Delaney and gunnery officer Ted White. Their target: a Japanese radio installation.

As Bush dove toward the station, black splotches of antiaircraft fire exploded around the Avenger. “Suddenly there was a jolt, as if a massive fist had crunched into the belly of the plane,” he later wrote. “Smoke poured into the cockpit, and I could see flames rippling across the crease of the wing, edging towards the fuel tanks.” He managed to unload his bombs on the target and head the Avenger to sea, yelling for his crewmates to bail out. As the aircraft lost altitude, Bush jumped as well, colliding with the plane’s tail on the way down. He landed bleeding but alive in the water. Delaney and White did not survive – one’s parachute failed to open, and the other never made it out of the plane.

Bush climbed into a life raft as Japanese boats sped towards him. U.S. fighter planes drove them back, but currents pushed the raft toward Chichi Jima, where (unbeknownst to Bush) the Japanese had executed and cannibalized American POW’s. Using his hands, Bush paddled furiously against the tide.

A few hours later, he saw a periscope break the water’s surface, followed by the hull of the USS Finback. Within minutes, the downed pilot was safely aboard.

The Navy sent Bush to Hawaii for rest and recovery, but he couldn’t sit still while the war raged on, especially when he thought of his lost comrades. The future president cut his leave short and headed back to the San Jacinto to finish his tour of duty. (The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia, American Patriot’s Daily Almanac)

George H.W. Bush as a member of the U.S. Navy during World War II. Handout George H.W. Bush Presidential Library

From the desk of Jan Hommel, Museum Director:

Q: Which president was one of the youngest pilots in U.S. Navy history?

A: George H.W. Bush. George Bush is a hero, not just for being a chief executive, but for being a brave nineteen-year-old who was a fearless TBM Avenger (Torpedo Bomber) aviator in the Pacific during World War II. On September 2, 1944, George Herbert Walker Bush, one of the youngest pilots then serving in the U.S. Navy, climbed into a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, catapulted off the deck of the carrier San Jacinto, and headed toward Chichi Jima, a Japanese island 600 miles south of Tokyo. With him rode two crewman, radioman Jack Delaney and gunnery officer Ted White. Their target: a Japanese radio installation.

As Bush dove toward the station, black splotches of antiaircraft fire exploded around the Avenger. “Suddenly there was a jolt, as if a massive fist had crunched into the belly of the plane,” he later wrote. “Smoke poured into the cockpit, and I could see flames rippling across the crease of the wing, edging towards the fuel tanks.” He managed to unload his bombs on the target and head the Avenger to sea, yelling for his crewmates to bail out. As the aircraft lost altitude, Bush jumped as well, colliding with the plane’s tail on the way down. He landed bleeding but alive in the water. Delaney and White did not survive – one’s parachute failed to open, and the other never made it out of the plane.

Bush climbed into a life raft as Japanese boats sped towards him. U.S. fighter planes drove them back, but currents pushed the raft toward Chichi Jima, where (unbeknownst to Bush) the Japanese had executed and cannibalized American POW’s. Using his hands, Bush paddled furiously against the tide.

A few hours later, he saw a periscope break the water’s surface, followed by the hull of the USS Finback. Within minutes, the downed pilot was safely aboard.

The Navy sent Bush to Hawaii for rest and recovery, but he couldn’t sit still while the war raged on, especially when he thought of his lost comrades. The future president cut his leave short and headed back to the San Jacinto to finish his tour of duty. (The Essential Book of Presidential Trivia, American Patriot’s Daily Almanac)

George H.W. Bush as a member of the U.S. Navy during World War II. Handout George H.W. Bush Presidential Library