Archie Donahue: WWII Ace Pilot

By Jon Guttman | Aviation History  | one comment  |  Print This Post  |  Email This Post

Now retired with his wife Mary in Texas, Donahue still keeps in touch with his old squadron mates, both from VMF-112 and VMF-451. The culmination of his aviation career came at Galveston on October 9, 2003, when he was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame. He is also being honored by the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison, Texas, which after repairing its damaged FG-1D Corsair refinished it in the markings of the VMF-112 F4U-1 that Donahue flew in May 1943.

On October 14, 2004, Archie Donahue penned a few words of wisdom for future generations in his University of Texas engineering book: “The more you learn about mankind the more you marvel at the patience of God. The fighter pilot’s last resort: Hope.

“What we have learned in our time is history. It must be passed on so that it will not be relived.”

Aviation History research director Jon Guttman wishes to thank Archie and Mary Donahue, VMF-112 ace John B. Maas Jr. and VMF-451 veterans Charles H. Hodson and Philip S. Wilmot for their help in researching this story. For further reading, try: The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign, by John B. Lundstrom; and Corsairs and Flattops: Marine Carrier Air Warfare, 1944-1945, by John Pomeroy Condon.

This article by Jon Guttman was originally published in the July 2007 issue of Aviation History Magazine. For more great articles, subscribe to Aviation History magazine today!

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Tags: Aerial Combat, Air Sea, Aviation History, Historical Figures, World War II

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