Clarence T . " Curly " Edwinson Brig . Gen . Clarence Theodore Edwinson ( July 1 , 1912 – June 10 , 1985 ) was a highly decorated World War II fighter pilot , collegiate football star and world champion skeet shooter . He is alternatively referred to as " C . T . Edwinson " in many sources as he disliked the name " Clarence . " His superiors and peers referred to him as " Curly " and he was also known to his subordinates as " Big Ed . " Early life . Edwinson was born in 1912 and attended school in Topeka , Kansas graduating from Topeka High School in 1929 . He next attended Washburn College where he was a member of the Kansas Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta . Athletic Prowess . Throughout his life Edwinson was an accomplished athlete . At Washburn University he was a four - year letterman in football and in 1932 was named to the All Central Conference team as running back and was an honorable mention for the AP All American team . He also lettered in basketball in 1929 . " The 1933 Washburn yearbook described him as ' probably the greatest halfback ever to play for Washburn . ' " Washburn coach Ernest Bearg said that Edwinson is " one of the best back in the United States . He is exceptional as a ball carrier , blocker , passer and defensive safety or halfback . In my 17 years of coaching I have had only two backs that could compare with those were Red Grange of Illinois and Glen Presnell of Nebraska . " As an Air Force colonel in 1952 , Edwinson won a gold medal in skeet shooting at the ISSF World Shooting Championships in Oslo , Norway scoring a perfect 150 / 150 . In 1970 , Washburn inducted him into its Athletics Hall of Fame . Topeka High School inducted the general into its hall of fame in 1988 - 89 labeling him " a colorful figure on the gridiron and in the air . " Early Military Career . Enlisting as a flying cadet in February 1934 , Edwinson took his flying training and continued as a flying cadet until February 29 , 1936 , when he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserve , and assigned to Barksdale Field , Louisiana . From July 1937 to December 1940 he served as an instructor and flight commander at Randolph Field , Texas and then went to Pursuit School at Craig Field , Alabama . Going to England as a military observer with the Fighter Command of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain , Edwinson returned to the United States in March 1942 , to become group operations officer at Dale Mabry Field , Florida . In December of that year he enrolled as a student at the Command and General Staff School , Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , and graduated the following February . World War II . Immediately thereafter , Edwinson assumed command of a fighter wing at Drew Army Air Field , Florida , and in May 1943 , went to Alaska as executive officer of the Eleventh Air Force . That October he was appointed wing executive officer to the San Francisco Fighter Wing in California , and in April 1944 assumed command of the 412th Base Unit at Seattle , Washington , moving the unit to Portland , Oregon . Moving to Italy in August 1944 , General Edwinson was designated commander of the 82nd Fighter Group . According to one source , Edwinson led the first all - fighter shuttle mission to Russia . Air Force records , however , show this first shuttle mission did not occur until July 22 , 1944 . Edwinson was in command during a controversial incident in November 1944 when American pilots shot down four Soviet Yaks . The incident is described in " Combat Aircraft of World War II " by Glenn B . Bavousett : “ The first engagement occurred in early November 1944 , over Yugoslavia . Russian ground forces had the Germans in retreat . The 15th Air Force was requested to provide close air support . Colonel C . T . " Curly " Edwinson ' s ( now General ; Ret . ) 82nd Fighter Group operating from Foggia Italy , caught the mission . The Husky P - 38 ' s performance was so good that the Russians asked for a repeat support mission to be flown by the same group the following day . Again Edwinson led his three squadrons of P - 38s across the Adriatic and down into the valleys of mountainous Yugoslavia . Unknown to Edwinson a crisis was in the making . The Russians had failed to advise Foggia that during the interval between the previous day ' s support mission and now , Russian Ground forces had advanced the battle line by 100 kilometers . Edwinson led the P - 38 ' s into the strafing attack that ripped first into the Germans then immediately into the Russians . The resulting devastation was both massive and effective . Caught in the strafing was a Russian staff car . Its occupant , a three - star general [ Lt . Gen . G . P . Kotov , commander of XI Guards Rifle Corps ] , was killed , a victim of lack of communications and a close similarity between German and Russian Uniforms and vehicle color schemes . And with the P - 38 ' s speed these differences went unnoticed . A flight of Yaks were in the vicinity and the call went out for them to attack the P - 38s still busy making strafing runs . Caught totally by surprise , Edwinson saw two of his aircraft being shot down . Instantly he signaled the squadron to disengage from ground attack and fight their way out of the valley . During a brief air battle that ensued Edwinson ' s P - 38 pilots knocked down four of the Yaks and sent the remainder scurrying away into the haze . One of the four Yaks that really got it was the unlucky fellow whose course took him directly over the guns of a P - 38 piloted by Bill Blurock who was in a stall condition and but a few yards under the Russian . A touch of the button and the Yak was literally ripped to shreds . This incident over Yugoslavia gave the United States a 4 - to - 2 edge in the only known aerial combat between the two powers ( the 1950 engagement involved North Korean Pilots ) . When advised that the situation was one of those unfortunate happening the bad communications sometimes foster , and after all if was the Russian who attacked the P - 38 ' s , the Russians promptly shot all those involved on their end and demanded the same to be done to Edwinson , the leader of the P - 38 ' s . " Curly " Edwinson was quietly and hastily re - assigned to a base out of Europe ” . Lee K . Carr in " Air Classics " ( Volume 38 , Number 8 ) has a different take on the incident blaming Edwinson for poor planning and communication though this seems to be a minority opinion . Indeed , the fact that Edwinson eventually became a brigadier general and was appointed to command on three subsequent occasions seems to underscore how much Carr ' s opinion seems to be in the minority . The following January he went to Bluethenthal Army Air Field , North Carolina , as deputy base commanding officer , and on March 13 , 1945 , assumed command of the base . On October 21 , 1945 he became deputy base commanding officer of Shaw AAF , South Carolina . By the end of the war he had flown 30 combat missions and 13 , 000 hours . Post War Service . The following May , Edwinson assumed command of the 366th Fighter Group at Fritzlar Air Base , Germany , and that November was named commander of Lechfeld Air Base . In February 1947 , he returned to Fritzlar AB as commanding officer of the 27th Fighter Group , and on July 21 of that year assumed command of the 86th Composite Group ( 1948 : 86th Fighter Group ) at Bad Kissengen Air Base , Germany . At that time the 86th was the only combat - capable fighter group of the USAF in Europe . General Curtis LeMay regarded Edwinson as his best combat commander during this period . LeMay planned to use Edwinson ' s P - 47 ' s if he needed to take offensive actions to keep Berlin supplied . On July 1 , 1948 , the group became part of the newly activated 86th Fighter Wing , and Edwinson moved up to command the wing . Returning to the United States in June 1949 , Edwinson became base and wing commanding officer of the 3902nd Air Base Wing , Strategic Air Command , at Offutt Air Force Base , Nebraska . On April 6 , 1951 , he assumed command of the 42d Air Division , SAC , at Bergstrom Air Force Base , Texas . The general became special assistant to the commander , Second Air Force , SAC , at Bergstrom AFB , on June 30 , 1957 . He was promoted to brigadier general on December 15 , 1953 . Joining the Air Defense Command , on August 15 , 1957 Edwinson was assigned duty as commander of the 30th Air Division ( Defense ) , Eastern Air Defense Force , with station at Willow Run Air Force Station , Michigan , with additional duty on August 17 as commander , 30th Continental Air Defense Division . On June 10 , 1958 , he was relieved from additional duty as commander , 30th CONAD Division and assigned additional duty as commander , 30th NORAD ( CONAD ) Division , Belleville , Mich . His last duty assignment was as commander of the Air Force ' s Squadron Officer School . He retired from active duty in 1961 to Austin , Texas . The general is buried in the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery . Edwinson ’ s decorations include the Distinguished Flying Cross , Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters and the French Croix de Guerre with Palm . He was rated a command pilot .