Christopher Magee

Christopher Lyman Magee (June 12, 1917 – December 27, 1995) was a United States Marine Corps aviator who became a fighter ace in World War II and was one of the more colorful members of the famous "Black Sheep" squadron, VMF-214. Known as a fearless and aggressive pilot he was credited with nine victories during the war, and for his heroic actions in September and October 1943 during the Solomon Islands campaign he was awarded the Navy Cross. After the war, he dabbled in bootlegging, went to Israel and flew with the Haganah during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War and later served 8 years in federal prison for bank robberies in the Chicago area. Upon his return from prison, he lived quietly on the North Side of Chicago working as a columnist and reporter for a community newspaper. He died of surgical complications while having stomach cancer tumors removed on December 27, 1995. Early life Magee was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1917 to Fred Magee and Marie nee Considine. Magee was given the same name as his great uncle Christopher Magee who was a powerful political boss in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania who helped run the Republican Party machine that controlled the city for the last twenty years of the 19th century. In 1918, the family moved to the South Side of Chicago and his father took a job with the grain market exchange. He attended grade school at Saint Ambrose Parish and high school at Mount Carmel High School graduating in 1935. World War II With the outbreak of war in 1939 Magee wanted to get involved as soon as he could. His cousin John Gillespie Magee, Jr., author of the famous poem "High Flight", was a pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) at the time so he went to Canada in mid-1941 to join him in the RCAF. His training lasted well into 1942 by which time the United States had since entered the war after the Attack on Pearl Harbor. Pretty soon American recruiters were scouring the RCAF camps looking for Americans volunteers to come back home. Chris signed on to become a Marine aviator and from July through November 1942, he continued training, flying the T-6 Texan trainer. Upon receiving his gold wings in November, he joined the Marine Corps, flying F4F Wildcats out of Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. On June 5, 1943, Magee boarded the , a French liner converted to a troopship, for the journey to the South Pacific. His first assignment in the summer of 1943 was with VMF-124 where he would learn to fly the F4U Corsair.