"Uncle Fester"...aka Jackie Coogan??
Nicely done Patches
Did the light bulb help?
Coogan enlisted in the US Army in March 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he requested a transfer to US Army Air Forces as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. After graduating from glider school, he was made a Flight Officer and he volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. In December 1943, the unit was sent to India. He flew British troops, the Chindits, under General Orde Wingate on 5 March 1944, landing them at night in a small jungle clearing 100 miles behind Japanese lines in the Burma campaign.
Check out this article from TIME magazine, dated March 27, 1944:"The airborne operation was commanded by Colonel Philip G. Cochran of Erie, Pa., who won five medals as a fighter pilot in North Africa, even wider acclaim as the model for "Flip Corkin," Cartoonist Milton Caniff's hero of Terry and the Pirates. First glider pilot to land was handsome Flight Officer Jackie ("The Kid") Coogan, first husband of blond Pin-Up Girl Betty Grable (her second: Jive Bandsman Harry James). Said Flight Officer Coogan: "I sure feel confident riding with Indian troops as passengers." One of Cochran's transport pilots: Lieut. John ("Buddy") Lewis, lanky, hard-hitting third baseman for the Washington Senators."
"The Kid" w/ Charlie Chaplin
You believe this guy
was married to her
I have a documentary DVD about wartime glider pilots that tells a pretty funny story. After landing his glider back at their base in Burma, Coogan was forced to wait his turn for a tractor to tow his plane back to it's assigned parking spot. Being in a hurry to drink beer with his fellow pilots, Coogan said "screw that" and commandeered a Burmese farmer and his elephant to tow his glider for him.
With Coogan at the controls, a rope was connected, and the elephant began to pull the glider over to it's parking spot. Now remember, work elephants usually drag logs and such, never anything as big as a military glider. Well everything is going fine, until the elephant happens to look over it's shoulder and sees the big glider "chasing" him. The elephant freaks out, and starts running as fast as he can for what he considers safety; the nearby forest. By the time the farmer gets the beast stopped, Coogan has been thrown all over the cabin, the glider's wings are missing, and the glider is a total write-off. All Coogan can do is dust himself off, pay the farmer for his help, then report to his C.O. for a royal bellybutton chewing.
