Combat aviationaces—defined as those who havedestroyed five or more enemy aircraftin aerial combat—areliterally a dying breed. Regarding U.S. fighter pilots in particular, as of December 2022, there were only fourteen American air aces left alive out of the 1,447 U.S. fighter pilots officially recognized for having achieved such lofty status (a survival percentage of a mere nine-tenths of one percent). The majority of U.S. aces served inWorld War II, and moreover, there haven’t been any American aces since theVietnam War.
Sadly, the community of surviving aces has dwindled ever further, as we learned from a January 7, 2025, article by Jon Guttman of Military Times titled “Perry Dahl, one of the last living WWII fighter aces, dies at 101.” Colonel Dahl passed away at his home in Tampa, Florida, on December 2, 2024, at the age of 101; I have not been able to ascertain Dahl’s specific cause of death.
Perry Dahl’s Early Life
Perry John Dahl was born on February 18, 1923, inNorth Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada. Shortly after his birth, little Perry and his family emigrated to the United States, settling in Seattle, Washington.
Displaying a youthful eagerness for starting a military career sooner rather than later, the still-teenaged Perry only bothered with three years of high school attendance before enlisting in theWashington National Guardon June 17, 1940, and entering service as a private with the41st Infantry Divisionthree months later.
Luckily for Perry and his ambitions, back then, unlike now, a college degree wasn’t amandatory requirement to become a U.S. military pilot. Ergo, on September 26, 1942, Dahl was able to enroll in the Aviation Cadet Program, and on June 22, 1943, he qualified as a pilot and was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant. (As a side note, the late greatChuck Yeagerwas another beneficiary of the non-requirement of college degrees for WWII pilots.)
Now-2ndLt. Dahl received following training in theLockheed P-38 Lightning, which would also turn out to be the fighter plane flown by America’s top two aces of all time, Maj.Richard Ira “Dick” Bong(forty kills) and Maj.Thomas B. “Mickey” McGuire Jr.
The Making of a Double(?) Ace: Dahl’s WWII Career
After completing his advanced training on the P-38, Lt. Dahl ended up with the 432nd Squadron of the 475th Fighter Group, based at North Borio Airfield, Dobodura, in Papua New Guinea, where he nicknamed his Lightning “Skidoo.”
As Guttman states in hisMilitary Timesarticle:
“Dahl wasted little time getting underway … While escorting North American B-25s on a bombing mission to Alexishafen, he was credited with shooting down a Zeke, the Allied codename for theMitsubishi A6M3 Zero fighter… The Japanese navy was not active in New Guinea at that time, however, and Dahl’s victim was more likely aNakajima Ki-43 fighter, known as an Oscar. The same could be said of the Zeke credited to him over Wewak on Dec. 22; that discrepancy seems to have been resolved a month later when Dahl was credited with shooting an Oscar over Wewak … On April 3[1944],Dahl was credited with shooting down two Oscars of the 11 planes claimed by his group that day. The double victory made him an ace, and the month also saw him promoted to captain. On June 8, he downed another Oscar between Wakde airfield and Manokwari.”
Five months later, Capt. Dahl downed aKawasaki Ki-61Hien(“Flying Swallow;” Allied reporting name: “Tony”); however, during that engagement, he collided with his wingman, 2nd Lt. Grady Lasseter Jr., who was tragically killed in action. Dahl successfully bailed out, only to be captured by a Japanese patrol; luckily, he was rescued by Philippine resistance fighters before he could be subjected to the horror of the Japanese prisoner-of-war camps. He rejoined his squadron on January 15, 1945, and on March 5, he shot down aMitsubishi Ki-21 “Sally”bomber near Formosa, now Taiwan.
Interestingly, many sources only credit Dahl with nine aerial victories, leaving him one shy of double-ace status. However, the Guttman article credits him with eleven kills, attaining that eleventhkill on March 28, 1945, aMitsubishi A6M3 Model 32 (Allied reporting name: “Hamp”) downed off ofHon Tre Island, French Indochina (present-day Vietnam). Then-Capt. Dahl ended up receiving aSilver Starfor his actions that day.
Dahl’s Life After WWII
After the war ended, Dahl finally obtained that college degree, earning a bachelor of science degree from the University of South Colorado (now Colorado State University Pueblo). He parlayed that degree into a short stint with the SeattlePost-Intelligenceruntil the Korean War broke out, which spurred his recall to active duty on February 16, 1951, serving at Kelly AFB, Texas, to September of that year and Châteauroux Déols, France, until June 1954.
From then on, Dahl served in a succession of staff jobs and rose to the rank of colonel. He spent four years on the Air Force staff atthe Pentagon, did two tours of duty in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and did a stint as deputy commandant of cadets and vice commandant of cadets at theU.S Air Force Academy. He finished his distinguished career as deputy chief of staff for plans and programs inNorth American Aerospace Defense Commandfrom April 1975 until his retirement on June 30, 1978.
Besides that aforementioned Silver Star, Dahl’s awards and decoration included the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with three oak leaves,Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Congressional Gold Medal.
As noted by Guttman. “In his final years, Dahl was honored by the color scheme of his Skidoo being applied to the restored Lighting at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California. It currently flies at air shows with theAir Force Heritage Flight Foundation.” A fitting tribute indeed.
Memorial services are still TBDat this time of writing. R.I.P. and God bless, Col. Perry Dahl,‘til Valhalla.
About the Author: Christian D. Orr
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published inThe Daily Torch,The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security, andSimple Flying. Last but not least, he is a Companion of the Order of theNaval Order of the United States (NOUS). If you’d like to pick his brain further, you can ofttimes find him at theOld Virginia Tobacco Company (OVTC)lounge in Manassas, Virginia, partaking of fine stogies and good quality human camaraderie.
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