1st Lt. Al Rigby - Pilot / Ace |
487th Fighter Squadron, 352nd Fighter Group |
A Distinguished Veteran |
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| Born on January 4, 1923, in Fairview, Utah, Alden Rigby graduated from Cadets at Spence Field, Georgia, in December, 1943. He graduated from P-51 (specifications) fighter training at Bartow, Florida in April, 1944, then served as an instructor for two months before he was assigned to the 352nd Fighter Group, based at Bodney, England. He traveled across the Atlantic on the transport ship USS Mt. Vernon with no escorts. “We turned the motors off on three separate occasions due to the ship’s captain being concerned about German U-boats in the area.” In December, 1944, he was given P-51D 44-15629, HO-R, which he called “Eleen and Jerry” after his wife and baby daughter. On November 27, 1944, while flying with his friend Lt. Robert Draftz, they got separated after strafing a train. Soon thereafter, he shot down his first enemy fighter, a ME-109. |
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| Al Rigby signing "Full House - Aces High" |
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| On January 1, 1945, he was one of twelve pilots who flew combat during the famous “Legend of Y-29 Mission”, in which he shot down two Me-109s and two FW-190s, becoming an Ace. In September, 2000, the American Fighter Aces Association – Aces Victory Confirmation Board, awarded him the 4th victory at Y-29. This brought his total to five air-to-air and six total victories. He destroyed a JU-52 on a strafing run, which he recalls “burned really well as it was made out of wood”, plus destroyed many trains and barges. “In air-to-air combat you could defend yourself, air-to-ground strafing was murderous.” He flew 76 combat missions, with a total of 272 combat hours. He was decorated with the Silver Star, the Air Medal with seven oak leaf clusters, and the Distinguished Unit Citation. He served three years active duty during the Korean conflict with the 33rd Air Division in the Air Defense Command, 25 years in the Utah National Guard, and 25 years with the FAA. He has over 150 flight hours in the F4U Corsair. In addition to the Corsair, he flew the F8F Bearcat, the FJ-1 Fury, plus many other Navy and Air Force combat aircraft. He retired in 1979 with the rank of Major. He is the cousin of 91st Bomb Group B-17 pilot Andy Anderson, and they had lost contact with each other for over 60 years before the signing of the “Full House – Aces High” lithograph brought them back together. The following is his account of some combat missions with the 487th Fighter Squadron. |
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| Flying with Colonel Meyers |
 “December 26th was a busy, and exciting day. The weather was good over the ‘Bulge’ area, so there was a lot of action. The morning mission brought up a few German fighters. I was flying Col. Meyers wing, which on this day was not the best position for me to be in. The oil leak problem of two days earlier came back again, and at the wrong time. My windshield became covered with a film of oil from the prop seal, which severely limited my forward visibility. In the wild dogfight, I lost the Colonel for a short time. I knew he would be un-happy, but I did have what I thought to be a legitimate excuse. He did shoot down an ME-109, and may not have missed me until the action was over. The fight lasted less than five minutes, and I could not see well enough to tell friend from enemy. That would have been one of the more frustrating moments of my combat tour. Col. Meyers understood the problem, but was disturbed about not having the protection. His orders were to ‘get the thing fixed, and we’ll go out again this afternoon.’ The landing after the three-hour mission in the Cologne, St. Vith, and Liege areas was a little touchy. With the forward visibility very limited, I was looking out the canopy sides for the runway. My crew chief knew the problem, and the plane was supposedly ready to go in two hours. The afternoon mission was to the same areas in support of the ground forces. We did get in one small fight with three ME-109s. I was Col. Meyers’ wingman, and was not about to lose him again. We were chasing a 109, which made a turn in my direction; I fired a short burst at a very high deflection angle, which had little chance of hitting the 109, but did turn the bird into Meyers’ sights again. In less than a minute he had another victory, and would now be the leading Ace in the European Theatre.” |
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| Becoming an Ace at Y-29 |
 “My last fight was with the best German pilot I had seen at any time. He could well have been their Group Commander. I would be the second or third P-51 pilot to try for a reasonable shot. He put the 109 through maneuvers that had us mostly watching, i.e. a “split-S” from about 1,000 feet. I recall seeing the aircraft shudder, then pull wing tip streamers as his prop wash shook the treetops. He was then back in the fight and very aggressive. I was glad to have another P-51 in the vicinity, since my firepower could only be a bluff as far as I knew. I recall being very impressed by the way the 109 was being flown, and hoped that I could in some way get in a reasonable firing position. I knew that I would only have one chance, if any, because of his ability, and my limited ammo. After about five minutes, I did not see any more firing from the German. It could have been that his situation was as bad as mine. His maneuvers now seemed to be on the defensive side. It was what seemed like 10 minutes, but was probably less, before the other P-51 turned the 109 in my direction, where he turned broad side to me from something less than 30 to 40 yards. It was close enough for me to see the pilot clearly, and what proved to be the last of my ammunition scored a few hits on the left wing, the engine, and then shattered the canopy and cockpit. I had again guessed right for a very close proximity, high deflection angle firing without a gun sight. Some might think in terms of being ‘lucky’. That could well have been, but I am convinced of other factors being involved, help ‘from above’ for one. For our Squadron’s part on this day, we were awarded the ‘Distinguished Unit Citation’. We were the only Squadron to receive this award in the 8th Air Force during WW II. For my part, I was awarded the ‘Silver Star’, the third highest service medal.” |
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| Writing Home |
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“I began the news part of my evening letter to Eleen; ‘Well, darling, it is New Year’s night, and I may have started out the year right as far as flying and Uncle Sam are concerned. I’ve had quite a lot of action today, but there isn’t much I can say about it right now. I feel I could write a book about it, but tonight I can’t even write a long letter. You might hear, or read about the day’s action before this letter arrives. I will give you the details later, but for now I share only that I am an Ace.’ I knew she would know exactly what that meant, since that was the dream of every fighter pilot.” |
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| Al Rigby is one of our Rogue's Gallery members. |
| (Thanks are due Al for providing photos and stories) |
