Encyclopedia Dubuque
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JUNGWIRTH, John A. Jr.
Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/46978046:60525
JUNGWIRTH, John Jr. (Dubuque, IA, Aug. 23, 1923--Dubuque, IA, Dec. 5, 1948). As a fighter pilot with the Ninth Air Force in France and Germany, Captain Jungwirth earned the coveted honor of "ace" during WORLD WAR II. He destroyed five Nazi aircraft in the air and three planes on the ground by strafing. His squadron was assigned to France fifteen days after D-Day and took over the first allied air strip on the continent.
Jungwirth destroyed three of the five enemy planes within one-four minute encounter which he stated was the usual length of a "dogfight." Separated with five other planes from his squadron, Jungwirth came upon fifty enemy planes flying in two levels--30 above and 20 below. "There wasn't much chance of me missing," he stated. (1)
Jungwirth was a member of the Pioneer Thunder Group of pilots. (2) He flew 103 missions and 149 sorties and had over 303 combat hours to his credit. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with twelve oak leaf clusters. (2)
He returned to Dubuque after the war and went into business with his father who had opened the Morocco Inn on Rockdale Road. John reopened the renovated Inn in October 1946. (3)
Jungwirth along with three passengers were killed in a plane crash a quarter of a mile off Highway 61 south outside of Dubuque. The Stinson Voyager had just taken off from the Dubuque AIRPORT. (4) At the time of his death the commander of the local AMVETS post.
Source:
1. "Dubuque Flyer Earns Title of Ace in Europe," Telegraph Herald, July 9, 1945, p. 13. Online: http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bCdiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OXYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=3909,4544175&dq=germans+dubuque&hl=en
2. 3. "Flying Team is Broken Up by Loss of Man," Carroll (Iowa) Times Herald, March 22, 1945, p. 16
3. "Moracco Supper Club," The Tri-States' Supper Clubs (supplement to the Telegraph Herald) October 17, 2024, p. 4
4. "Ship Crashes, Burns Not Far From Airport," Telegraph-Herald, December 6, 1948m p. 1A
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