Brigadier General Robert L. Scott, Jr. Usaf, (Ret.)

Brigadier General Robert L. Scott, Jr., one of America’s most celebrated World War II fighter pilots and author of the best seller “God Is My Co-Pilot’ will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on June 5, 2006 at 3:00 p.m. He passed away on February 27, 2006 in Warner Robins, Georgia at the age of 97. His wife, Catharine Green Scott, (Kitty Rix), who died in 1972, will be buried with him.

Robert Lee Scott was born in Macon, Georgia in 1908. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1932, completed pilot training at Kelly Field, Texas in October 1933 and was assigned to Mitchell Field, New York. Scott flew the air mail in 1934, commanded a pursuit squadron in Panama and helped instruct other pilots at bases in Texas and California. After World War II began, he went to Task Force Aquila in February 1942 to the China-Burma-India Theater where he pioneered in air activities. Within a month he was executive and operations officer of the Assam-Burma-China Ferry Command, forerunner of the famous Air Transport Command and Hump efforts from India to China. At the request of General Issmo Chiang Kai-Shek he was named commander of the Flying Tigers, formed by General Claire Chennault, and also became fighter commanding officer of the China Air Task Force, later to become the 14th Air Force. He flew 388 combat missions in 925 hours from July 1942 to October 1943, shooting down 13 enemy aircraft to become one of the earliest aces of the war. For his combat record against the enemy, Scott received two Silver Stars, three Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Air Medals, and was ordered back to the U.S. in October 1943 as deputy for operations in the School of Applied Tactics at Orlando, Florida. He returned to China in 1944 to fly fighter aircraft equipped with experimental rockets directed against Japanese supply locomotives in eastern China. He then went to Okinawa to direct the same type of strikes against enemy shipping as the war ended. Scott then returned to the U.S. for staff duty in Washington and other stations until the period of 1947-49 when he commanded the jet Fighter School at Williams Air Force Base, Arizona. In late 1949 he went to Germany as commanding officer of the 36th Fighter Bomber Wing at Furstenfeldbruck. He graduated from the National War college in 1954 and was assigned to Plans at Headquarters U.S. Air Force, and then to the position of director of information under the secretary of the Air Force, and then to the position of director of information under the secretary of the Air Force. In October 1956 he went to Luke Air Force, Arizona as base commanding officer.

He chose the title for “God Is My Co-Pilot” when he was in Kunming, China. A bullet from a Japanese fighter had hit the armor behind his cockpit seat and sent five rivet heads into his back. A nurse had marveled at how he could fly the plane, drop his bombs, fire his guns with no one to help him. Dr. Fred Manget, a medical missionary, who was operating on him in a cave, told him, “Son, you’re not up there alone. You have the greatest co-pilot in the world even if there is just room for one in that fighter ship”.

During the last two decades, Scott served as the National Chairman of the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Georgia. His tireless work in support of a strong national defense and his personal impact on those he met helped raise millions of dollars to develop the Museum of Aviation into the second largest aviation museum in the Southeastern United States.

Survivors include his daughter, Robin Scott Fraser (Bruce), Bakersfield, California; grandchildren, Scott Simon Fraser, Rancho Santa Fe, California; Linda Mahan, Bakersfield, California; Laura Allen, Bakersfield, California; Susan Mulholland, Bakersfield, California; great grandchildren, John Mahan, Bryan Mahan, Heather Mahan, Michael Mulholland, Steven Mulholland, Bob Mulholland, Abigale Fraser, Lauren Fraser; great-great grandchildren, Jesse Moore and Steven Mulholland. . Scott’s wife of 38 years, Catharine Green Scott, of Fort Valley Georgia, died in 1972. His parents, Robert Lee Scott, Sr. and Ola Burckhalter Scott, also preceded him in death.



Funeral Home:
McCullough Funeral Home
417 S. Houston Lake Rd.
Warner Robins, GA
US 31088