Robert Lee Scott , Jr . Robert Lee Scott Jr . ( 12 April 1908 – 27 February 2006 ) was a brigadier general in the United States Air Force . Scott is best known for his autobiography " God is My Co - Pilot " about his exploits in World War II with the Flying Tigers and the United States Army Air Forces in China and Burma . The book was eventually made into a film of the same name . Early years . Scott was born in Waynesboro , near Macon , Georgia , the oldest of three children born to Ola and Robert Scott Sr . As a youth , Scott was educated in Macon and became an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award . Also in Macon as a youth of five , he witnessed the fatal aircraft crash of pioneer aviator Eugene Ely . Military career . Upon graduation from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1932 , Scott completed pilot training at Kelly Field , Texas . In October 1933 , he was assigned to Mitchel Field , New York . Scott flew air mail in 1934 , commanded a pursuit squadron in Panama and helped instruct other pilots at bases in Texas and California . World War II . After World War II began , he joined Task Force Aquila in February 1942 to fly a group of Boeing B - 17 Flying Fortress bombers to the China Burma India Theater . Anxious to join the mission , which was to bomb Japan from China , he professed to be an experienced B - 17 pilot . He actually learned to fly it en route to Africa . Upon arrival in India , he found the mission had been scrubbed so he became stuck in India when he really wanted to be on the frontline in a cockpit flying combat . Within a month , he was executive and operations officer of the Assam - Burma - China ( Ferry ) Command , forerunner of the famous Air Transport Command , flying the Hump from India to China to supply the Kuomintang government . When the commanding officer left for China on 17 June , Scott was left in command of the operation for several days . Still anxious to get into combat and wishing to learn the Flying Tigers ' tactics , he obtained the use of a Republic P - 43 Lancer , actually assigned to the Flying Tigers from Claire Chennault , with which he flew at least one high altitude mission over Mount Everest , as described in the opening pages of his autobiography " God Is My Co - Pilot " . Scott began flying missions with the Flying Tigers , piloting a P - 40 as a single ship escort for the transports and on ground attack missions . During this period , he frequently repainted the propeller spinner in different colors to create the illusion of a much larger fighter force in the area than a single aircraft , becoming in effect a " one - man air force " . In July 1942 , at the request of Generalissimo Chiang Kai - Shek , Scott was named commander of the 23rd Fighter Group , newly formed by General Claire Chennault when the Flying Tigers were incorporated into the USAAF . Popular accounts stated that Scott inherited command of the Flying Tigers which actually disbanded that same month . The 23rd later become part of the 14th Air Force . Colonel Scott flew 388 combat missions in 925 hours from July 1942 to October 1943 , shooting down 13 Japanese aircraft to become one of America ' s earliest flying ace s of the war . Scott was ordered back to the U . S . in October 1943 to become deputy for operations at the Army Air Force School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Air Base , Florida . He returned to China in 1944 to fly fighter aircraft equipped with experimental rockets directed against Japanese supply locomotives in eastern China . He then went to Okinawa to direct the same type of strikes against enemy shipping as the war ended . Postwar . Scott then returned to the U . S . for staff duty in Washington , D . C . and other stations until the period from 1947 to 1949 , when he commanded the Jet Fighter School at Williams Air Force Base , Arizona . In 1951 , he was reassigned to West Germany as commander of the 36th Fighter - Bomber Wing at Fürstenfeldbruck Air Base . Scott graduated from the National War College in 1954 and was assigned to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans at Headquarters U . S . Air Force , and then to the position of Director of Information under the Secretary of the Air Force . In October 1956 , he was assigned to Luke Air Force Base , Arizona , as base commander . Retirement . Scott retired from the United States Air Force as a brigadier general on 30 September 1957 , and remained in Arizona until the 1980s . He then lived in Warner Robins , Georgia , until his death in 2006 . General Scott wrote about a dozen books including " God Is My Copilot " and " The Day I Owned the Sky " . Scott continued to be active well into his retirement . In 1984 , he flew an General Dynamics F - 16 Fighting Falcon jet fighter , and in 1995 , an McDonnell Douglas F - 15 Eagle . On his 89th birthday , in 1997 , Scott flew in a B - 1B Lancer bomber . Awards and honors . For his combat record in World War II , Scott received two Silver Star s , three Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medal s . During the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta , Georgia , Scott carried the Olympic Flame along a section of Georgia Highway 247 named in his honor .