M.568 Acting First Officer  Emmett 'Kenneth' Chaffin 
 flag usa   b. 24 Nov 1921 **, Forth Worth TX 24 Feb 1941 to Feb-42 

 

ata kenneth chaffin

Fort Myers News-Press Apr 41

     

 

** On his registration forms, Kenneth gave his date of birth as 2 Feb 1920 - thus making him 21. However, he admitted that he was only 20 when he returned to the US in 1942. Obviously, he had lied about his age in order to join the ATA!

prev. Gulf Airways, Fort Myers, Florida (newspaper delivery by plane) 2 yrs.

He was a member of the Fort Myers high school boxing team!

Address in 1941: Beach Rd, Fort Myers, Florida


 Arrived in the UK 22 Apr 1941 on the SS Mercier with fellow American ferry pilots James Emor O'Halloran, John Cleveland Davis (M.416), Gilman Benedict Warne, Marvin Harrison Dunlavy (M.408), Harold Lindsey Price.

Off sick for all of May 1941 with acute appendicitis.

kenneth chaffin and ruth

m. 29 Sep 41 to Ruth Alice Maud Morgan, from Abergevenny, in London (divorced 1946);

Sailed back to the US on the SS Vibran on 20 Mar 1942 with fellow American ferry pilots James Bruce Warren, Jack Edison Jenkins, Homer Edward Anderson (M.496), Robert Leonard Hamilton, John Cleveland Davis (M.416), James Emor O'Halloran, John R Scribbens, Paul Bleecker Makepeace, Raymond Sylvester Allen, George H Robertson, Frank C Hoffman, William Raymond Cooper (M.531)


Later, 2 years in the US Army Air Force as a Flight Officer - he force-landed in a pea patch near Brownsville, Texas in Aug 1944.

m. Martha Blackburn in 1947

In 1947, a pilot for C Adrianza, Venezuela; from 1949, a pilot for Delta Airlines.

His father (also Emmett Kenneth) owned a grocery store, once had a pilot's licence, filed a patent for aircraft carburettors, became mayor of Medley, Florida in the mid-60s, and finally committed suicide by shooting himself in the head (having tried to shoot his second wife in the head just beforehand, but only grazing her temple).

Kenneth became a police lieutenant in Medley.

d. 11 Mar 1992 - Deland, Florida


 Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file):download grey

 

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