having a Japanese bomber in his gunsight and the cannon rounds from the P-39 falling short. “The malaria took me from a normal weight of 165 pounds down to 124,” he said.

Hot Pilot

Born in 1919, Stephens was in the 40th Fighter Squadron, the “Red Devils,” as one of the squadron’s first dozen officers who went to Selfridge Field, Mich. in July 1941, six months before Pearl Harbor. The squadron flew in the pre-war Louisiana war games and carried out a demonstration for Air Corps leaders at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.

Within months, Stephens and his squadron were on New Guinea in the south Pacific, where he fought malaria and the Japanese. He remembers having a Japanese bomber in his gunsight and the cannon rounds from the P-39 falling short.of the 8th Fighter Group at Seven Mile airfield, near Port Moresby, New Guinea, in July 1942,” the aircraft in the foreground, at least, appears to be a P-400. Australian War Memorial photo

In February 1943, twenty-two Japanese destroyers sped down the “slot” near Guadalcanal with 25 Zeros flying cover. The plan was to evacuate exhausted Japanese troops from Guadalcanal. Led by Capt. James Robinson, the 70th squadron intercepted the Japanese in late afternoon, 200 miles north of Kolombangara. Fielder shot down a Zero in the fight. It was his second kill.

Transferred to the 68th Fighter Squadron, Fiedler was in the air again on June 12, 1943, when 50 Zeros made a sweep toward the Russell Islands and the Americans managed to get an impressive 90 fighters into the