WWII fighter pilot and POW dies. Lt. Col. Arthur K. "Art" Alexander passed 11 April, having never recovered from a bad fall the previous year. He flew P-51's in WWII and ended up as a prisoner of war when his engine caught fire over Germany. After the war Art stayed in the service, and retired after twenty years, having flown a variety of planes from the PBY to the B-47. He moved around on the West Coast, eventually settling in the San Diego area. His memorial service will be at 1:00 pm on 6 June, at Glen Abby Cemetery, Bonita, Cal. He is survived by four stepsons, numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Born in Helena, Montana, Art grew up in Kauai, Hawaii. He went to high school in Los Angeles and Portland. He briefly attended Tri-State University in Angola, Indiana and the University of New Mexico. He joined the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in March 1941, learned to fly the Tiger Moth airplane and then the T-6 Texan. Once the US entered the war, Art returned and became a Flying Instructor at Merced, primarily using the BT-13 "Vultee Vibrator." Later he flew the P-40 and then straight into the P-51 Mustang.
Art was assigned to the 358th Squadron, 355th Fighter Group, 8th Air Force at Steeple Morden, England (sixty miles north of London). He had flown a total of twenty-five missions when a coolant line broke in his P-51 and he bailed out near Kloppenburg, Germany. Of the Luftwaffe personnel sent to pick him up, one was ordered to shoot him, but another (possibly Luftwaffe ace Peter Crump) talked him out of it. He eventually arrived in late December at Stalag Luft One. Suddenly one day in late April 1945, the guards were gone. The Russians had liberated their camp. Art eventually returned to the US and a career in the USAF.
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