Manuel J. Fernandez - Military Career

Military Career

In June 1943, at the height of World War II, Fernandez enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an eighteen-year-old private. Though small in stature and just a high school graduate, he became a flying officer through talent, determination and the enormous manpower needs of total war. In the first of many aerial teaching jobs, Fernandez served for the duration as a flight instructor in Texas and saw no action in the conflict. However, he served the next time a European war threatened during the 1948-1949 Berlin Airlift. His wing,part of the 36th Fighter Group was sent to Germany to provide fighter cover for the slow transport aircraft that were the aerial supply operation's backbone. The group was conveyed to Europe by the carrier USS Sicily to the port of Glasgow, Scotland. The Lockheed F-80's were assembled at Renfrew Airport and then flown to Europe. It was only after nearly a decade in uniform that Captain Fernandez finally experienced battle. His turn came in the Korean War, where during a nine-month tour in 1952-1953, he proved to be one of the best combat aviators of his generation.

Fernandez was a crack marksman, one the best in the Air Force at that time in the art of deflection shooting. Fernandez used stealth and cunning to stalk MiGs rather than attacking impetuously. His modus operandi in combat was to maneuver skillfully and trigger his guns only when he had attained an optimum firing position. Like all top aces in Korea, Fernandez routinely violated Chinese air space by crossing the Yalu River into northeast China to hunt his elusive MiG quarry. He had a reputation for taking care of his comrades and not being reckless with his wingman's safety in pursuit of air victories.