Albert Edward Hainey was born October 16th, 1924 in Chicago, Ill. The son of Albert and Emily, oldest brother to Dot and Ray, he graduated Lindblom High School June 26, 1942. He enlisted in the army air corps training program Nov 16, 1942.

 

Following his graduation from basic flight training, class 1944-B at 63rd AAFTTD in Douglas, GA, he moved on to the Advanced AAF single engine flight school in Marianna, FL. There he met some of his closest friends. Following graduation Feb 8, 1944 as a flight officer, the newly minted fighter pilots had to wait for assignment while learning combat flying with P-51s ata Fighter Replacement Training Unit (RTU) in Bartow FL. After a brief stay in the Grand Floridian Hotel in Miami, FL where Al said goodbye to his Mom and girlfriend, he and his fellow fighter pilots were on a C-54 flight to Karachi, India on Aug 2, 1944.

 

Once in India the fighter pilots continued to wait for assignment in a replacement pool. An officer from the 1st Air Commando Group came looking for replacement volunteers as many of the original ACG pilots from 1943 had just rotated home. Seven men stepped forward, including Al Hainey, and started making their way to Asansol in eastern India, HQ of the 1st ACG.

 

The “7 volunteers,” as they became known, originally trained as fighter pilots, were now assigned as UC-64 Norseman pilots. The Norseman was a workhorse bush plane, filling the gap between L-5s and C-47 transports. When asked why they recruited them to fly “the ugliest airplanes known to man?’, Lt. Col. Boebel replied, “because we like the spirit of fighter pilots.”

 

FO Al Hainey, now assigned to 164th Liaison Squadron, went on to fly hundreds of missions in Burma during Operation Capital and Operation Extended Capital: Recon, rescue, glider tow, medical evac, cargo and replacement delivery. He literally landed on dozens of temporary landing strips in support of the British XIV army and their successful push to retake Burma from the Japanese. For this he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 OLCs and the Air Medal with 3 OLCs on June 9, 1945.

 

Finally, Hainey, now a 2nd Lt, got his chance to fly the P-51s he trained for with a transfer to the 6th fighter squadron ACG in June 1945. The unit was breaking in the latest model P-51s that had just arrived as replacements for their war-weary but trustworthy P-47s. On July 18, 1945, Hainey was putting a P-51K through dive bombing trials when the wing spar broke and he tragically augured in. After this, P-51s were prohibited from dive bombing and moved to skip bombing methods. Lt. Al Hainey was due to rotate home only one week after his fatal accident.

 

Albert E. Hainey was posthumously promoted to 1st Lieutenant and is buried in his hometown of Chicago, IL.

This might be one of the most amazing and touching groups I have seen. 

Outstanding group Tod