BRIGADIER GENERAL ROBERT L. SCOTT JR.

Robert Lee Scott was born in Macon, Ga., in 1908. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1932, completed pilot training at Kelly Field, Texas, in October 1933 and was assigned to Mitchel Field, N.Y. Like other air officers, Scott flew the air mail in 1934, commanded a pursuit squadron in Panama and helped instruct other pilots at bases in Texas and California.

After World War II began, he went to Task Force Aquila in February 1942 to the China-Burma-India Theater where he pioneered in air activities. Within a month he was executive and operations officer of the Assam-Burma-China Ferry Command, forerunner of the famous Air Transport Command and Hump efforts from India to China.

At the request of Generalissmo Chiang Kai-Shek he was named commander of the Flying Tigers, formed by General Claire Chennault, and also became fighter commanding officer of the China Air Task Force, later to become the 14th Air Force.

He flew 388 combat missions in 925 hours from July 1942 to October 1943, shooting down 13 enemy aircraft to become one of the earliest aces of the war.

For his combat record against the enemy, Scott received two Silver Stars, three Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals, and was ordered back to the U.S. in October 1943 as deputy for operations in the School of Applied Tactics at Orlando, Fla.

He returned to China in 1944 to fly fighter aircraft equipped with experimental rockets directed against Japanese supply locomotives in eastern China. He then went to Okinawa to direct the same type of strikes against enemy shipping as the war ended.

Scott then returned to the U.S. for staff duty in Washington and other stations until the period of 1947-49 when he commanded the Jet Fighter School at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz. In late 1949 he went to Germany as commanding officer of the 36th Fighter Bomber Wing at Furstenfeldbruck.

He graduated from the National War College in 1954 and was assigned to Plans at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, and then to the position of director of information under the secretary of the Air Force. In October 1956 he went to Luke Air Force, Ariz., as base commanding officer.

General Scott has written several books including God Is My Copilot and Boring a Hole in the Sky.