Thomas Jefferson Estes
Military"Iowans of the Mighty Eighth", Chapter 22 "Biographies", by Charles D Taylor.
Estes originally joined the Royal Canadian Air Force where he trained as a fighter pilot. After Pearl Harbour he enlisted in the AAF and was commissioned October 9 1942. In May 1943 he joined the 384th BG at Grafton Underwood where combat missions began the following month. Shot down 25 July 1943 in a massive raid over Hamburg he managed a landing on the North Sea in 'Weary Wiley'. The crew of ten spent two days in life rafts before being picked up by a passing Danish trawler and then transferred to an Air/Sea rescue plane.
His final assignment was training pilots on the B-29.
2 DFCs, 4 Air Medals
Connections
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Units served with
People
Aircraft
Missions
- Date: 8 October 1943
- Date: 4 October 1943
- Date: 23 September 1943
- Date: 16 September 1943
- Date: 9 September 1943
Places
Revisions
Added a "-" to the A/C serial number in the "Summary biography" to aid clarity & consistency.
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / Roll of Honor, Losses of the 8th & 9th AFs Vol. I by Bishop & Hey, p.190 Grafton Underwood 106, http://384thbombgroup.com/_content/_pages/PersonnelSearch.php?LastName=…