Colonel Walker Melville "Bud" Mahurin (December 5, 1918 – May 11, 2010) was a United States Air Force officer and aviator. During World War II, while serving in the United States Army Air Forces, he was a flying ace. Mahurin was the first American pilot to become a double ace in the European Theater. He was the only United States Air Force pilot to shoot down enemy planes in both the European and Pacific Theaters and the Korean War. During World War II he was credited with 20.75 aerial victories, making him the sixth-highest American P-47 ace. He was credited with shooting down 3.5 MiG-15s in Korea, giving him a total of 24.25 aircraft destroyed in aerial combat. Early life Born in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Mahurin joined the United States Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet on September 29, 1941, after several years as an engineering student at Purdue University. He graduated from pilot training on April 29, 1942. World War II Mahurin was assigned to the 63d Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, and deployed to England with them in January 1943. Based at Halesworth, England, then-Captain Mahurin became a flight leader in the 63rd FS and began flying missions in May 1943. His first plane was P-47C-5-RE serial number 41-6334, that bore the squadron code UN:M. The first aircraft he downed was unfortunately his own P-47 fighter. On a mission on August 12, 1943, he decided to inch closer and closer to within feet of a B-24 bomber that was nearby. He was caught in the B-24's prop wash and sucked under its wing, and when he tried to pull away, the tail and fuselage of his airplane was shredded by one of the B-24's propellers, forcing him to bail out. The B-24 had to crash-land. On August 17, 1943, he scored his first aerial victories while flying a temporary replacement plane, P-47C-2-RE 41-6259, coded UN:V (normally assigned to Capt. Glen Schiltz) by shooting down a pair of German Focke-Wulf Fw 190s while escorting B-17 bombers as part of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission. One of these fighters was flown by Major Wilhelm "Wutz" Galland, Gruppenkommandeur of II/JG 26, and an ace with some 55 claims to his credit. The next plane that Mahurin received was the third P-47 of his career, and one that would become his primary aircraft; P-47D-5-RE 42-8487. It again bore the squadron codes UN:M and