page_title: Henry Buttelmann
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Henry Buttelmann / Later life
caption_attribution_description: English: (From left to right) Henry Buttelmann, Cecil G. Foster, and Charles G. Cleveland, retired Air Force Korean War flying aces, pose in front of an F-22 Raptor April 9, 2013, during a Sabre Society tour at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada
context_page_description: Henry "Hank" Buttelmann was a fighter pilot of the United States Air Force in the Korean War and Vietnam War. He achieved seven victories over enemy aircraft in Korea, making him a flying ace. He gained his fifth kill on June 30, 1953, just after his 24th birthday, which made him the youngest ace of the war.
  Buttelmann was born in Corona, Queens, New York City, and attended the University of Bridgeport for two years. He was sent to Korea in December 1952, flying as a wingman in the F-86 Sabre jet against MiG-15s in "MiG Alley", the area around the border between North Korea and China. He shot down his first plane on June 19 of the next year, and he scored his fifth victory eleven days later. He added two more in July, days before the end of hostilities. He served two tours during the Vietnam War, flying the F-105 Thunderchief and F-100 Super Sabre. He retired from the Air Force in 1979 after a career total of 286 combat missions.
context_section_description: In May 2015, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by Nevada Senator Dean Heller for "his role as an American Fighter Ace during the Korean and Vietnam Wars".
  Buttelmann died on September 16, 2019, at the age of 90. He died in Frankfort, Illinois, where he and his wife, Audrey Buttelmann, moved in 2018. Buttelmann was one of two surviving Korean War aces when he died; the other is Charles G. Cleveland
caption: Buttelmann (left), along with fellow aces Cecil G. Foster and Charles G. Cleveland, at Nellis Air Force Base in 2013
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