Philip Pendleton Ardery
Militaryphoto upload
Partial List of Col. Philip Ardery's Service and Combat Medals : - Silver Star - DFC with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters - Air Medal with 3 OLCs - Croix de Guerre.
Col. Ardery was a command pilot on the bombing raid to Ploesti flying the B-24D, #42-40773.
He was given a reserve commission of 1st Lt in the Infantry in July 1940, and entered active duty in September, 1940. He applied for pilot flight training with the Army Air Corps in April,1941, and was qualified and assigned to fly B-24 aircraft in late 1941. Early in his service he flew anti submarine patrols between California and Hawaii and served as an instructor pilot in Texas.
By August of 1942 he was promoted to Captain and Squadron Commander of the 564th Bomb Squadron. By November of 1943 he was promoted to Major. And by the end of the war he was a Lt. Col. He completed 30 combat missions including 4 on D Day and returned to the US.
In 1946 he helped form the Kentucky Air National Guard and was its first commander, with the rank of Colonel. During his time with the Air Guard he flew a number of aircraft including F-51 fighter planes and F-86s. His unit, the 123rd Fighter Group, was deployed to England during the Korean War, and was subsequently promoted to the rank of Brigadier General USAAFR in 1955 and served as Air Force Liason to the National Air Guard. He was, then, promoted to Major General in the USAAFR in April 1962 at the same time Barry Goldwater received his Major General rank.
General Ardery retired from the Air Force in 1974. His last assignment was in the office of Air Force Information at the Pentagon. He was also the author of several books including his fascinating story, "Bomber Pilot A Memoir of World War ll ", by Philip Ardery".
Connections
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Units served with
- Unit Hierarchy: Group
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
- Unit Hierarchy: Squadron
- Air Force: Eighth Air Force
- Type Category: Bombardment
People
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 2nd Air Division 389th Bomb Group
- Service Numbers: O-18465
- Highest Rank: Brigadier General
- Role/Job: Wing Commander
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 355th Fighter Group 389th Bomb Group 2nd Scouting Force 567th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-23828
- Highest Rank: Brigadier General
- Role/Job: Bomber Pilot / Fighter Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 567th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
- Role/Job: Pilot / Mission Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 565th Bomb Squadron
- Service Numbers: O-1699045
- Highest Rank: Major
- Role/Job: Co-Pilot / Pilot
- Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
- Nationality: American
- Unit: 389th Bomb Group 567th Bomb Squadron
- Highest Rank: Lieutenant Colonel
- Role/Job: Pilot
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 8 March 1944
- Date: 1 August 1943
- Official Description:
Places
- Site type: Airfield
- Known as: Berka, al Birkah
Events
Event | Location | Date | Description |
---|---|---|---|
Born |
6 March 1914 | ||
Other Biography |
6 March 1914 - 26 July 2012 | From the "Richmond Register": "Maj. Gen. Philip Pendleton Ardery was a man of many talents, a combat hero of World War II, a lawyer, citizen-soldier, author and humanitarian.He was the first wing commander of the Kentucky Air National Guard when it was formed in 1947. Ardery’s devotion to service, integrity and persistence established the foundation for the contemporary Kentucky Air National GuardHe was born March 6, 1914, in Lexington and grew up on a Bourbon County farm.After earning a degree in English literature from the University of Kentucky in 1935, Ardery obtained a law degree from Harvard.He returned to Kentucky and began practicing law in Frankfort, but the venture was short-lived. In 1940, when Europe was engulfed in war, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a private. Ardery graduated as 1st Captain of the Flying Cadet Corps at Kelley Field in San Antonio, Texas, in April 1941 and was assigned as a flight instructor at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Texas.He later commanded the 564th Bomb Squadron (H) beginning in February 1943, joining the 389th Bomb Group (H) based in Norwich, England, that June.From airfields in North Africa, he flew B-24s on many missions across the Mediterranean, including the first low level bombing raid on the German held oil refineries at Ploesti, Romania. The Ploesti oilfields were among the most heavily defended targets in Europe. Of a total force of 178 B-24s in the raid, only 88 managed to return to Benghazi, Libya. Personnel losses included 310 airmen killed, 108 captured and 78 interned in Turkey. For his actions on the mission, Col. Ardery was awarded the Silver Star and an Oak Leaf Cluster to those he already had on his DFCFrom England and North Africa, Ardery flew raids during the winter of 1943-44, leading up to the invasion of Normandy. He also led the 2nd Combat Bomb Wing on the first daylight bombing of Berlin in March 1944 and flew on the first mission of D-Day, June 6, 1944. His memoir of the war, “Bomber Pilot,” was published in 1978.Discharged from active duty in 1945, Ardery was given command of the 123rd Fighter Wing of the newly formed Kentucky Air National Guard. He and his unit were called to active duty during the Korean War. The 123rd was relocated to England, where he served as wing-base commander of the NATO Air Force, Royal Air Force Station Manston, 1951-52.After being decommissioned, Ardery continued to command the 123rd, which sometimes included air groups in other states, as well as Kentucky’s, and was based at Louisville’s Standiford Field. He was promoted to brigadier general in April 1962 and retired from the military as a major general in 1965.After Ardery left the military, he co-founded the law firm of Brown, Ardery, Todd & Dudley in June 1959. It merged with Brown, Eldred & Bonnie, and Marshall, Cochran, Heyburn & Wells in 1972 to form Brown, Todd & Heyburn, then Kentucky’s largest law firm.Ardery retired from legal practice in 1979 but remained active in his community. In the early 1980s, he became an advocate for mental health. With Barry Bingham Sr., publisher of the Courier-Journal, Bosworth Todd and Dr. Herb Wagemaker, Ardery founded the Schizophrenia Foundation of Kentucky in 1981.This foundation gave rise to Wellspring, which now provides housing, care and rehabilitation for people with mental illness at 19 sites throughout Jefferson and neighboring counties.Philip Ardery died July 26, 2012, at his Louisville home. He was 98 years old. | |
Enlisted |
7 September 1940 | Enlisted as Aviation Cadet Fort Knox, Kentucky. | |
Died |
26 July 2012 |
Revisions
Corrected a typo in the "Summary biography" - “World” was misspelled.
Removed extra info in the "Role/job" field.
" Bomber Pilot A Memoir of World War ll " by Philip Ardery ---- " The Great Ground-Air Battle of 1 Aug 1943. " by James Dugan & Carrol Stewart
NARA files verified SS, DFC w/1 oak leaf clusters, AM w/3 oak leaf clusters. His official photo shows his awards during World War II and after.
Corrected a typo in the "Summary biography" - “commission ” was misspelled.
Philip Ardery, Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky: 1978) passim.
Philip Ardery, Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky: 1978) passim.
Philip Ardery, Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky: 1978) Chapter 4.
Paul Foote, "Philip Ardery of Kentucky was an Aviation Hero of WWII," Richmond Register, Oct 28, 2013.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia