with the 334th, 335th and 336th Fighter Squadrons, exist today as F-15E Strike Eagle units at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina and are part of the Fifteenth Air Force. Individual pilots The first three members of the Eagle Squadrons were: Vernon Charles "Shorty" Keough, service number 81620 Andrew B. Mamedoff, service number 81621 Eugene Quimby "Red" Tobin, service number 81622 All three had served together in No. 609 Squadron RAF, at RAF Middle Wallop. They had joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) together (receiving consecutive service numbers), were posted to No. 609 Squadron RAF together, fought in the Battle of Britain together, and were transferred to 71 Squadron together in September 1940. The trio had also all been killed by the time of the transfer of the Eagle Squadrons to the USAAF in 1942 (from the database of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC): Pilot Officer Keough was killed in February 1941, age 29 Flight Lieutenant Mamedoff was killed in October 1941, age 29, after he had been transferred, with a promotion to be a flight commander, to another Eagle Squadron, No. 133 Squadron Flying Officer Tobin was killed in September 1941, age 24 Phillip Leckrone, service number 84653, was another Battle of Britain veteran. He was also killed before the USAAF took charge of the Eagle Squadrons. Pilot Officer Leckrone was killed in January 1941, age 28. The lives of these four pilots have been described in The Few by Alex Kershaw. It is reported that Pilot Officer Art Donahue DFC stayed with the Eagle Squadron only a short time before requesting a transfer back to his original RAF unit. He did not appreciate the unruly behavior of many of the American pilots. He was killed in action in 1942. Captain Don Gentile was a pilot with 133 Squadron, claiming two air victories, and by March 1944 had become the 4th Fighter Group's top ace in World War II, with 22 aerial kills. Colonel Chesley "Pete" Peterson had 130 sorties with the Eagle Squadrons and became the youngest squadron commander in the RAF. When the Eagle Squadrons were transferred to the 4th Fighter Group, Peterson became the group's executive officer, succeeding to command of the group in April 1943, and becoming at 23 the youngest (at the time) colonel in the USAAF. Colonel Donald Blakeslee was a pilot in 121 and 133 Squadrons during 1942,