Lt. Col. Edwin Cottrell
US Army Air Corp
48th Fighter Group 493rd Fighter Squadron
St. Trond, Belgium
August ’42- July ‘45
US Army Air Corp
48th Fighter Group 493rd Fighter Squadron
St. Trond, Belgium
August ’42- July ‘45
Ed Cottrell was born in 1922 in Oklahoma and when he was six months old his family moved to Slippery Rock, PA where his father was a teacher. Ed remembers the Depression. There wasn’t much money, but his father had his teaching job. Ed would pick raspberries and cherries from the yard and sell them to the local grocery store. He remembers gas being 19 cents. In 1939 Ed graduated from high school and headed off to Slippery Rock Teachers College where he met Millie, who would later become his wife of 76 1/2 years.
In the summer of his sophomore year the government was offering students interested in flying, the opportunity to enroll in the college pilot training program. After 30 hours of flight time Ed received his pilot’s license. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December of ’41 and Ed was drafted in August of ’42. He wanted to be a pilot, so he joined the Army Air Corps. He attended flight school in Chico, CA and was then assigned to Luke Field in Arizona for advanced training. After graduation he went home and married Millie. They spent two weeks together and then he was sent to Wendover Field in Utah where he began flying the Army’s newest plane, the P-47 Thunderbolt. Training consisted of learning bombing runs and strafing.
Ed eventually deployed to England and then to Cambrai Airfield outside of Paris where his training continued. In September of ’44 his squadron moved to St. Trond, Belgium where he was under the command of Major Latiolais, who Ed held in the highest regard. Ed flew 65 missions over 9 months and recalled several memorable moments of the war.
On December 6, 1944 in the face of terrible weather with only 200 feet of visibility Ed and his team were called upon to attack a soccer field In Julich, Germany where the Germans were on one side and the Americans on the other and locked in a stalemate. The squadron came in over the US troops and skip-bombed the Germans troops and fortifications. They made 2 or 3 passes and were able to push the Germans back and break the stalemate despite taking heavy ground fire. When they landed, they saw that all of the planes were riddled with bullet holes. The squadron earned the Distinguished Unit Citation for that mission.
On December 17th they flew a mission to find German Tiger Tanks hiding in the woods near Cologne. The tanks were on their way to Bastogne. Ed’s squadron found the tanks and dive-bombed the tanks. After dropping his bombs Ed pulled his plane up to gain altitude and head back to base. As they pulled up they ran into a group of ME-109’s from the German Luftwaffe. He noticed an ME at one o’clock which then locked on Ed and suddenly there was an explosion. “There was oil all over the windshield and I couldn’t see anything.” Ed opened his canopy in case he needed to eject and radioed his commander that he was going to fly the plane back toward base for as long as it would fly.
Ed continued to fly the plane despite being unable to see and continuing to lose oil. Then two ME’s appeared behind him and began crisscrossing. Ed thought he was about to be shot down but to his complete surprise, one ME pulled up on each side of him and put their wings under his and escorted him back to the bomb line. The German pilots then made the “OK” sign with their fingers and peeled off. One danger averted, now Ed had to land his plane. Just as his plane began its approach to the runway the engines gave out and Ed had to perform a dead-stick landing. The plane touched down and rolled to a stop.
During the Battle of the Bulge the Germans surrounded Bastogne. The 493rd was located only 17 miles away. Fearing that the Germans would break through, the decision was made to leave only 12 planes and 12 pilots. The remaining pilots were the most inexperienced and they were told they would likely end up POWs. On New Year’s Eve they were ordered to burn all personal papers and pictures and remove their dog tags. The next morning, Ed was sitting in his plane on the runway with the engine idling on Runway Alert. Without any warning 8 German P-190’s came in at ground level and they headed toward a B-17 and a B-24 parked at the end of the runway. They were targeting the bombers because they were used to inflict tremendous damages on German factories. Unknown to the German’s, those two planes were inoperable and were waiting to be scrapped. They made several passes and most of the P-190’s were taken out by anti-aircraft fire. Two 190’s that were not hit made another pass and one plane that came under heavy fire didn’t pull out of his dive and crashed. When the Americans found the pilots body, they discovered the pilot could not have been more than 17 years old. That day the Germans attacked all of the American airfields along the bomb line and the Luftwaffe took tremendous casualties. “From that day forward the Luftwaffe was no longer a threat.”
Ed’s group later moved to Munich and then Nuremburg, where Ed flew his last mission. When the war in Europe ended, pilots with 65 missions or more had the option of returning home or going to Japan. Ed opted to go home because he had a daughter that he had never seen. He was discharged on July 24th but remained with the Air Force Reserves for 28 years before retiring.
Back home Ed pursued a career in teaching health and physical education and coaching football, basketball and baseball. Along the way he earned a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh and had a second daughter. He became the Director of Athletics at the Milton Hershey School and later taught and coached at West Chester State College. Ed eventually started his own golf school and had the opportunity to travel the US and abroad teaching golf and made friends with Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Greg Norman.
I asked Ed if he ever thought the US might not win. He quickly replied no. “The older German pilots were very good but by the end of the war they were using inexperienced teenagers.”
Ed now resides in Hendersonville, NC and if you didn’t know his age you might think he was 70. He and his wife have been married for 76 years and have two daughters.
“Our country was in trouble and whatever people were asked to do, that’s what they did. If you weren’t able to join the fighting, you worked in the factories. You took care of helping each other out. You did rationing, whatever was needed, to make sure the United States survived. That’s what this country needs to do now.”
“If Hitler had been successful, he wouldn’t have stopped at anything. Thank the Lord we stopped him.”
Thank you Ed for helping to save the world from true evil.
In the summer of his sophomore year the government was offering students interested in flying, the opportunity to enroll in the college pilot training program. After 30 hours of flight time Ed received his pilot’s license. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December of ’41 and Ed was drafted in August of ’42. He wanted to be a pilot, so he joined the Army Air Corps. He attended flight school in Chico, CA and was then assigned to Luke Field in Arizona for advanced training. After graduation he went home and married Millie. They spent two weeks together and then he was sent to Wendover Field in Utah where he began flying the Army’s newest plane, the P-47 Thunderbolt. Training consisted of learning bombing runs and strafing.
Ed eventually deployed to England and then to Cambrai Airfield outside of Paris where his training continued. In September of ’44 his squadron moved to St. Trond, Belgium where he was under the command of Major Latiolais, who Ed held in the highest regard. Ed flew 65 missions over 9 months and recalled several memorable moments of the war.
On December 6, 1944 in the face of terrible weather with only 200 feet of visibility Ed and his team were called upon to attack a soccer field In Julich, Germany where the Germans were on one side and the Americans on the other and locked in a stalemate. The squadron came in over the US troops and skip-bombed the Germans troops and fortifications. They made 2 or 3 passes and were able to push the Germans back and break the stalemate despite taking heavy ground fire. When they landed, they saw that all of the planes were riddled with bullet holes. The squadron earned the Distinguished Unit Citation for that mission.
On December 17th they flew a mission to find German Tiger Tanks hiding in the woods near Cologne. The tanks were on their way to Bastogne. Ed’s squadron found the tanks and dive-bombed the tanks. After dropping his bombs Ed pulled his plane up to gain altitude and head back to base. As they pulled up they ran into a group of ME-109’s from the German Luftwaffe. He noticed an ME at one o’clock which then locked on Ed and suddenly there was an explosion. “There was oil all over the windshield and I couldn’t see anything.” Ed opened his canopy in case he needed to eject and radioed his commander that he was going to fly the plane back toward base for as long as it would fly.
Ed continued to fly the plane despite being unable to see and continuing to lose oil. Then two ME’s appeared behind him and began crisscrossing. Ed thought he was about to be shot down but to his complete surprise, one ME pulled up on each side of him and put their wings under his and escorted him back to the bomb line. The German pilots then made the “OK” sign with their fingers and peeled off. One danger averted, now Ed had to land his plane. Just as his plane began its approach to the runway the engines gave out and Ed had to perform a dead-stick landing. The plane touched down and rolled to a stop.
During the Battle of the Bulge the Germans surrounded Bastogne. The 493rd was located only 17 miles away. Fearing that the Germans would break through, the decision was made to leave only 12 planes and 12 pilots. The remaining pilots were the most inexperienced and they were told they would likely end up POWs. On New Year’s Eve they were ordered to burn all personal papers and pictures and remove their dog tags. The next morning, Ed was sitting in his plane on the runway with the engine idling on Runway Alert. Without any warning 8 German P-190’s came in at ground level and they headed toward a B-17 and a B-24 parked at the end of the runway. They were targeting the bombers because they were used to inflict tremendous damages on German factories. Unknown to the German’s, those two planes were inoperable and were waiting to be scrapped. They made several passes and most of the P-190’s were taken out by anti-aircraft fire. Two 190’s that were not hit made another pass and one plane that came under heavy fire didn’t pull out of his dive and crashed. When the Americans found the pilots body, they discovered the pilot could not have been more than 17 years old. That day the Germans attacked all of the American airfields along the bomb line and the Luftwaffe took tremendous casualties. “From that day forward the Luftwaffe was no longer a threat.”
Ed’s group later moved to Munich and then Nuremburg, where Ed flew his last mission. When the war in Europe ended, pilots with 65 missions or more had the option of returning home or going to Japan. Ed opted to go home because he had a daughter that he had never seen. He was discharged on July 24th but remained with the Air Force Reserves for 28 years before retiring.
Back home Ed pursued a career in teaching health and physical education and coaching football, basketball and baseball. Along the way he earned a master’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh and had a second daughter. He became the Director of Athletics at the Milton Hershey School and later taught and coached at West Chester State College. Ed eventually started his own golf school and had the opportunity to travel the US and abroad teaching golf and made friends with Jack Nicklaus, Johnny Miller and Greg Norman.
I asked Ed if he ever thought the US might not win. He quickly replied no. “The older German pilots were very good but by the end of the war they were using inexperienced teenagers.”
Ed now resides in Hendersonville, NC and if you didn’t know his age you might think he was 70. He and his wife have been married for 76 years and have two daughters.
“Our country was in trouble and whatever people were asked to do, that’s what they did. If you weren’t able to join the fighting, you worked in the factories. You took care of helping each other out. You did rationing, whatever was needed, to make sure the United States survived. That’s what this country needs to do now.”
“If Hitler had been successful, he wouldn’t have stopped at anything. Thank the Lord we stopped him.”
Thank you Ed for helping to save the world from true evil.