James Philo Hagerstrom (January 14, 1921June 25, 1994) was an American pilot and fighter ace who served with both the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in World War II and the U.S. Air Force (USAF) in the Korean War. With a career total of 14.5 victories, he is one of seven American pilots to have achieved ace status in two different wars.
Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, Hagerstrom became eager to fly at a young age. He left college in 1941 to join the USAAF, and participated in the New Guinea campaign of the South West Pacific theater of World War II. There, he mainly escorted bombers, flying P-40 Warhawks with the 8th Fighter Squadron. He shot down six Japanese aircraft during the war, including four in one morning. After the war, he continued flying, joining the Texas Air National Guard and participating in several air races. By 1950 he was in command of the 111th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, which was deployed to Korea following the outbreak of the Korean War. He later transferred to the USAF and flew F-86 Sabre fighter jets with the 18th Fighter-Bomber Wing in "MiG Alley", the nickname given to the area around the northern border of North Korea with China. During his service in Korea, he was credited with shooting down 8.5 Chinese, Soviet, and North Korean MiG-15s (the half coming from a shared credit).
Hagerstrom returned to the U.S. in 1953 and remained in the Air Force, also earning degrees in economics and law. In 1965, he served in command roles during the Vietnam War while flying 30 combat missions. After retiring in 1968, he traveled around the Pacific Ocean in a homemade boat with his family, living on several islands before returning to the U.S. and settling in Mansfield, Louisiana. Hagerstrom died in nearby Shreveport of stomach cancer in 1994.
Early life and education James Philo Hagerstrom was born on January 14, 1921, in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He was the third son of Edward and Hazel Hagerstrom. His father, the son of Swedish immigrants, worked as an electrician with the Iowa Public Service Company, and the family lived in Waterloo, Iowa. James' interest in aviation began at a young age: when he was five, he had the opportunity to sit in the cockpit of a Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" biplane at a family friend's farm. His fascination increased at thirteen when he took a short fifty-cent flight in a Ford Trimotor aircraft at an airshow.
Hagerstrom attended Waterloo West High School, where he joined the wrestling team and earned a varsity letter. He also built model airplanes as a hobby, and swam. After graduating in 1939, he began studying at the University of Iowa, where he joined the Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After a year he transferred to Iowa State Teachers College, where he helped start an aero club. While in college, he began flight training, accumulating several dozen hours of flying experience.
Military career
World War II Training and mobilization On December 6, 1941, the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hagerstrom went to Iowa City and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) Aviation Cadet program. He was sent to Fort Des Moines, and was inducted into the USAAF on January 15. He and other new inductees were then sent to Minter Field in Bakersfield, California, for paperwork and more physical examinations, and were sent north to Visalia for primary training on January 23. The class (which wore coveralls and other civilian attire owing to a lack of military uniforms) first trained in PT-22 Recruits. Hagerstrom's previous flying experience allowed him to undertake an accelerated program before moving back to Minter Field for basic flight training in BT-13 Valiants. His older brother Robert happened to be in basic flight training at the same time, and they were together for six weeks. After this phase, Hagerstrom and his classmates went to Luke Field near Phoenix, Arizona, where he underwent advanced flight training in the AT-6 Texan. On July 26, 1942, he graduated and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, receiving his wings from Brigadier General Ennis Whitehead.
Hagerstrom was posted to active duty with the 20th Pursuit Group and sent to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and then to Pinellas Army Air Field, near St. Petersburg, Florida, flying the P-39 Airacobra and P-40 Warhawk. In late September he was assigned to the 8th Fighter Squadron (8th FS) of the 49th Fighter Group (49th FG) and sent to San Francisco, California. Hagerstrom was temporarily given the duty of quarters officer, and he arranged for the group of forty second lieutenants to stay at the Mark Hopkins Hotel. After processing at Fort Mason, they sailed on the Norwegian troopship M/V Torrens to Hawaii along with 1,500 other personnel, including the headquarters of the Fifth Air Force (5th AF). They stayed for a short time at Hickam Field, near Pearl Harbor, before leaving again, this time as part of a naval task force. Near the end of October, they broke off from the task force and sailed with a destroyer escort to Suva, Fiji, for an overnight stop before heading towards Australia. A corvette from the Royal Australian Navy took over the escort until it arrived in Townsville, Queensland. Initially there was no one to greet the Americans and nowhere to house the 5th AF commanders besides some barracks at RAAF Base Garbutt. Eventually Brigadier General Paul Wurtsmith of the 5th AF organized a refresher session for the new pilots, and they learned from experienced combat aviators at Charters Towers Airfield.
New Guinea Hagerstrom joined the rest of the 8th FS at Kila Airfield, near Port Moresby, Territory of Papua, to fight in the New Guinea campaign. He flew several missions out of Kila in the P-40, all without seeing combat. The 8th FS then relocated in early April 1943 to Dobodura Airfield, near Popondetta, to rejoin the rest of the 49th FG. Shortly after, Hagerstrom was promoted to first lieutenant. His first combat experience—and aerial victory—came on April 11, when he joined a fight over Oro Bay with several Japanese A6M Zeros. His first attempt at taking a shot at a Zero failed because his guns were switched off, but he later shot down a Zero that was trailing two P-38 Lightning fighters. He returned to base with little fuel to spare.
While at Dobodura, the 8th FS mainly escorted C-47 Skytrains airdropping supplies to ground troops below, and Hagerstrom was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his work during this period. At the end of August 1943, the squadron was moved to Tsili Tsili Airfield in the Territory of New Guinea, hastily and covertly constructed in July on recently captured territory. Although it was not known whether the surrounding area was clear of Japanese forces, the airstrip was not attacked after two raids on August 15 and 16 that did little damage. The 8th FS switched to escorting B-25 Mitchell and A-20 Havoc bombers but saw little action themselves. The pilots saw more combat when they began escorting the high-altitude B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers; the unit was often low on fuel and other supplies as a result of being at the end of a long supply chain.
On October 5, Hagerstrom led one of two formations to intercept an approaching Ki-46 "Dinah" reconnaissance aircraft over Finschhafen. He chased the plane for twelve minutes, climbing at full throttle to before getting within firing range. He was able to damage the Dinah's left engine, wing root, and fuselage. The engine exploded and sprayed what Hagerstrom guessed to be hydraulic fluid onto his plane, causing him eye irritation. He pursued the crippled aircraft until it hit the water. After a malfunction with his navigational instruments, he had to find his way back to the airfield by following the Markham River. The plane was running low on fuel, night had fallen, and Tsili Tsili was in blackout due to another enemy reconnaissance plane in the area, so Hagerstrom had to estimate the airstrip's location but landed safely. Later that month, heavy rainfall made the airstrip too muddy to allow the co-located P-38s to take off, and the 8th FS was relocated north to Gusap Airfield. Soon after, Hagerstrom contracted malaria and was sent to Australia for three weeks to recover.
On January 23, 1944, Hagerstrom was leading a flight of four aircraft assisting P-38 Lightnings to escort bombers near Wewak. They encountered 10–15 enemy aircraft, and he and his wingman, John Bodak, dove on a group of Zeros that were pursuing four P-38s; Hagerstrom shot down one of the aircraft. He took a shot at another Zero but missed, and was in turn targeted by a Zero on his tail. Bodak destroyed this plane, and Hagerstrom shot down a Zero that was tailing his wingman. He got a third Zero and then went to the assistance of several P-38s who had started a Lufbery circle defensive maneuver. Hagerstrom fired a short burst at one of the pursuing Japanese planes, a Ki-61 "Hien". He followed the damaged aircraft and gave it another burst at short range, causing it to catch fire and crash. Hagerstrom and Bodak damaged several more Zeros before running out of ammunition. Hagerstrom returned home with four victories for a total of six, making him an ace. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his "extraordinary heroism" during the engagement. By this time in the war, much of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service's small, elite pilot corps had been killed in battle, and the Japanese lacked the time and resources to properly train enough replacement airmen. By the end of 1943 most of the surviving Japanese pilots were poorly trained and equipped, while the U.S. had all along concentrated on training a large pool of pilots to an adequate standard. In early February, Hagerstrom received orders to return home from New Guinea, which he called a "terrible place" due to the poor conditions. He had flown 170 combat missions comprising 350 hours and destroyed six enemy aircraft.
Between wars
After a period of rest back home in Iowa, Hagerstrom went to Miami, Florida, to be reassigned. He requested a unit that flew jet aircraft, but jets had not reached widespread production, so he was instead made an instructor in the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics flying P-47 Thunderbolts at a base near Orlando. There, he met Virginia Lee Jowell, a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), and they were married on July 25, 1944. Shortly after, Virginia was transferred to Brownsville, Texas, to train in fighter aircraft, while he was assigned to Evansville, Indiana, to be a test pilot for the P-47s being produced at the Republic Aviation plant there. The couple were reunited when Virginia finished her training and moved to Evansville to serve as a ferry pilot for the P-47s, delivering them to coastal air bases to be shipped overseas. James was promoted to the rank of captain in January 1945, and he remained in Evansville until September 6 of that year, when he left the USAAF.
Hagerstrom and his now-pregnant wife returned to Waterloo, and he re-applied to Iowa State Teachers College to complete his studies, the president of the college personally re-enrolling him. In October, the first of the Hagerstroms' eight children was born. Hagerstrom graduated in June 1946 with a bachelor's degree in economics and subsequently went to Houston, Texas, to work in the municipal bonds business. He grew bored of the bonds industry and wanted to keep flying, so he joined the 111th Fighter-Bomber Squadron (111th FBS) of the Texas Air National Guard, which he and his fellow pilots viewed as the "bottom of the heap". He enjoyed his tenure with the P-51 Mustang–equipped squadron and was successful, becoming operations officer for the 111th FBS within six months. He flew the P-38 Lightning and P-51 (redesignated as F-51) in the National Air Races in September 1949; he took sixth place in the Thompson Trophy race and won a $1,500 prize, flying his F-51 at an average speed of .