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COLONEL EDWARD F. RECTOR, USAF (RET) Former naval aviator and AVG "Flying Tiger" Vice Squadron Leader and fighter ace: Following AVG service Colonel Rector stayed on in China to be the first commander of the 76th Fighter Squadron of the USAAF's newly formed 23rd Fighter Group. On December 20, 1941, Colonel Rector became the first AVG "Flying Tiger" pilot to be credited with a confirmed air-to-air victory, then on the morning of July 4, 1942, on what was both the last official mission of the AVG "Flying Tigers" and the first official mission of the USAAF's 23rd Fighter Group, Colonel Rector scored a confirmed air-to-air victory when he destroyed a Japanese Ki-27 fighter over the city of Hengyang. This was arguably the last confirmed victory of the AVG or the first confirmed victory of the 23rd Fighter Group. Rector would become the last war-time commander of the 23rd Fighter Group when he returned to China in late December 1944 to fly his third and final war-time combat tour. On April 2, 1945, while leading a strike on Japanese airfields in the Shanghai area, Colonel Rector shot down a twin engine bomber. This aircraft and a Japanese Ki-44 fighter shot down by one of Rector's pilots would be the last two confirmed aerial victories credited to the 23rd Fighter Group during the Second World War. These three particular aerial combats give Colonel Rector a very unique and special place in the shared history of the United States and China during the Second World War. |
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