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Steven Loomis (SaigonShipyard), IC3
to remember
PERRY, John Francis (aka Edwin Stanley Conant), LCDR.
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Contact Info
Home Town San Diego
Date of Passing Sep 01, 1966
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Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
LCdr. John Francis PERRY aka Edwin Stanley Conant
WWII Flying Tiger and Navy Pilot ACE
San Diego, Calif. Sep 6, 1965:
Lt. Cmdr. John Francis Perry, who became a Glying Tiger and a decorated navy polot while using an assumed name, died at his San Diego Home on September 1, 1965. Death was attributed to a heart attack.
Perry, who was aquitted in 1954 on charges growing out of a deception, served in the Navy for 14 years under the name of Lt. Cmdr. Edwin Stanley Conant.
His career began in 1939 as an Air-Force cadet at Randolph Field, Tex. he was dropped over what he called a "difference of opinion with an instructor".
"I was real hot to be a pilot. There was nothing else for me," Perry said at his court-martial. So he took the name of Conant, a school friend, and enlisted in the navy as a flying cadet in 1940 and trained as a PBY (flying boat) pilot.
After winning his wings, he resigned from the Navy and joined the Flying Tigers in China in the war against Japan. Friends said he was one of the 14 original Flying Tigers.
He rejoined the Navy in 1944 and was credited with shooting down seven enemy planes.
Perry, still using Conant's name, served as a helicopter pilot in Korea.
Listed on the HONORED ALUMNI of SDSU, (San Diego State University).
Supreme Sacrifice, Extraordinary Service: Profiles of SDSU Military Alumni includes World War II ace fighter pilot John Francis Perry (a.ka. Edwin S. Conant) 7 enemy planes in the Pacific Theater (ACE).
Also awarded the Chinese Air Force (wings), the Order of the White Cloud Banner, the Hans Schwei (Madam Chiang Kai-shek's award), and the Chinese Silver Star. John Perry served with the AVG (American Volunteer Group, Flying Tigers) from their conception until the unit was disbanded.
Other Comments:
LCdr. John Francis PERRY aka Edwin Stanley Conant
SECOND VA-106 Chronology of Significant Events
March 18 & 19, 1945: Major strikes were conducted by VFB-17 aircraft against Kanoya, the largest airfield on Kyushu and against the Japanese Fleet anchored at Kure Naval Base. On March 19, Lieutenant Edwin S. Conant was awarded the Silver Star for his action as flight leader on a fighter sweep over Kure Bay. He shot down three planes during an engagement with the enemy and his flight group accounted for a total of 24 enemy planes downed and probably eight or more damaged.
April 12 1945: Lieutenant Edwin S. Conant became an Ace when he shot down a Mitsubishi A6M Zeke (Zero) and a Japanese Army Nakajima Tojo Fighter and brought his tally to six aircraft downed.
HU-1 Activity Report for 1950. On 8 December 1950, the reins of command passed from the capable hands of Commander Easton. B. NOBLE, 0070377/1310, USN to hls Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Dudley S. BILLETT Jr., 0083985/1310, USN. To assist Lieutenant Commander BILLETT in his duties as Commandlng Officer, Lieutenant Commander Edwin S. CONANT, 0084084/1310, USN, became Executive Officer.
Other Memories Of all the recruits, the strangest case was that of a navy pilot who?d begun life with the name of John Perry. After dropping out of San Diego State, he joined the army as an aviation cadet, but was washed out for buzzing his girlfriend?s house. Perry then borrowed a friend?s name and academic record and started again as a navy cadet. In time he earned his wings as a flying-boat pilot, skippering a stately Consolidated PBY Catalina off the coast of California. Under the nom de guerre of Edwin Conant, he offered to go to China, and was accepted, though he?d never flown a fighter. For more than a year, in fact, he hadn?t landed on a hard-surface runway.
