21 Facts About Jack Newkirk

One year later his family moved to Scarsdale, New York, where his father, Louis Hasbrouck Jack Newkirk, worked as an attorney.

At age ten, Jack Newkirk was awarded a vocal scholarship to the Cathedral of St John the Divine where he sang in the boys choir and attended the Cathedral School until age 14.

Thereafter, Jack Newkirk attended Scarsdale High School from which he graduated in 1932.

Jack Newkirk subsequently worked odd jobs in New York City and served a brief stint in the New York National Guard until the fall of 1937, when he returned to Rensselaer to continue his studies.

Jack Newkirk learned to fly while a student at Rennselaer, eventually accumulating two years of study which gave him the qualifications to become a cadet aviator in the US Navy.

Jack Newkirk joined the Navy in 1938 and after initial screening at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, he was transferred to Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida where his classmates included David Lee "Tex" Hill and Bert Christman.

Jack Newkirk took a trip to the beach at Galveston where he met his wife to be, Virginia Jane Dunham.

Already incensed by reports of Japanese atrocities against the Chinese people, Jack Newkirk accepted the offer.

On 15 June 1941 Jack Newkirk told his sister that he had accepted an offer from the Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company, for a year, at $600 a month plus bonuses.

Jack Newkirk delivered a new Wildcat from the factory at Long Island to Norfolk, Virginia, where he signed his navy discharge papers.

Jack Newkirk was the squadron leader of the 2nd "Panda Bears" Squadron by September 1941.

Jack Newkirk led his squadron on the AVG's first combat mission, on 20 December 1941, southeast of Kunming, but ordered his flight to break off before contact.

Jack Newkirk, who had engaged and destroyed one airborne Nate by then, was credited with the third that Hill had been engaging.

Jack Newkirk was credited with a Nate on 8 January 1942.

Jack Newkirk's aircraft crashed in a ball of flame and he was killed instantly close to Lamphun.

Jack Newkirk's body was thrown clear of the wreckage and landed in a paddy field.

Jack Newkirk was credited with seven air-to-air victories, during his time with the Flying Tigers, and 10.5 kills overall by CAMCO.

In 1942, the "Scarsdale Jack Newkirk Unit" was named in his memory at the US Navy pre-training camp in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Jack Newkirk was awarded the British Distinguished Flying Cross, posthumously, in August 1943.

Jack Newkirk died on 16 July 1982 in Naples, Florida; leaving no children.

Jack Newkirk was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, posthumously, in 2007, following the 1991 official recognition of the Flying Tigers as veterans of World War II.