Portrait of an Ace

What makes a good jet-fighter pilot? During the Korean war, U.S. Air Force commanders kept wondering why some jet pilots, with the same educational backgrounds and physical qualifications as others, were so outstandingly successful. The brass had good cause to wonder: of the 823 MIG-158 shot down by the Fifth Air Force, well over a third were bagged by an elite handful of 38 jet aces, representing only 5% of all the Air Force fighter pilots who saw combat.

Last week, after a six-month study of 31 jet aces and 62 of their less successful contemporaries, the Air Force's Psychologist E. Paul Torrance shed some light on the top MIG killers. The jet ace's outstanding characteristics: aggressiveness, self-confidence, an almost fanatic devotion to flying. The typical ace was born into a large family, had to cooperate and vie for parental attention with his brothers & sisters, was seldom coddled. As a youngster he played hookey from school or drove cars just to see if it could be done, strove to win at such rough contact sports as football and boxing. Says Torrance: "The jet ace. when a boy, was all boy. He had no time for girls. When he got to a certain age. and felt like going out with girls, he was all man. These guys . . . have a singleness of purpose."

Why did the aggressive youngsters get into flying instead of business or the professions? One typical answer: "Ever since I was a boy. I wanted to be a fighter pilot. It's more than a job; it's a sport." Having won his wings, the ace strove to test his plane and himself, flying faster and higher than was ordered, often bewildering fellow pilots by his single-minded zeal. He repeatedly badgered his superiors to send him to Korea. Once there, he looked for extra tours of duty, unlike his comrades had little fear of being killed in combat. A mission was a personal challenge. Functioning best when allowed some leeway from standard procedure, the ace often spotted MIGs long before his squadron-mates, was always willing to take risks for a shot at the opponent.

Asked what he would do if his wife told him to stop flying, one ace promptly replied: "I would tell her to go to hell." Dedicated as they are the aces are solid family men, many have large families, spend their leisure time playing golf and fishing. Psychologist Torrance sums up: "I have nothing but great admiration for them . . . The jet ace is a man who goes out into life and meets it head on."

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