Lost Black Sheep: the search for WWII Ace Chris Magee - Professional Reading - Book Review

0 Comments | Naval Aviation News, March-April, 2004 | by Peter B. Mersky

Reed, Robert T. Lost Black Sheep: The Search for WWII Ace Chris Magee. Hellgate Press/PSI Research, Central Point, OR 97502. 2001. 246 pp. Ill. $24.95.

Chris Magee flew Corsairs with Pappy Boyington's "Black Sheep" of VMF-214 and, with nine kills, was second only to Pappy as the squadron's top ace. In a well-known photo, Magee is shown posing with Boyington on the CO's F4U while trading playing cards stamped with the Rising Sun insignia for several baseball caps. The setup was to publicize the St. Louis Cardinals' offer of a cap for every Japanese plane shot down.

The author is the son of Chris Magee, a fact that he discovered later in life. This well-done biography takes Magee's life from the beginning in Chicago and his desire to fly combat before the United States entered WW II and beyond. He was so anxious that he went to Canada and trained with the Royal Canadian Air Force, only to come home after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and join the Marine Corps. His wartime service, for which he received the Navy Cross, is well chronicled.

Magee left the Corps in October 1945. Three years later, he was in Israel fighting for that new country's independence as one of its first fighter pilots. He flew the Avia S-199, a bastardized Messerschmitt 109 with a bomber engine that produced massive torque and an unforgiving nature.

Chris Magee had trouble finding himself after his military service, and he ended up on the wrong side of the law, eventually going to prison after a series of bank robberies--a huge downfall for such a colorful hero.

How the author discovered his father and joined the "Black Sheep" family is an important part of this book. This small volume is a good source of information about VMF-214 as Reed had help from many of the surviving members.

By Cdr. Peter B. Mersky, USNR (Ret.)