November 29, 1942,  Lt. Boyd D. "Buzz" Wagner, Commanding Officer of the 17th Pursuit Squadron in the Philippines, was the first AAF ace of WWII. Flying against overwhelming odds, he was one of the handful of American fighter pilots who engaged vastly superior numbers of Japanese aircraft as the enemy overran the Philippines. Flying a Curtiss P-40, he scored his first two victories on Dec. 12, 1941 and six days later, he shot down three more enemy fighters. In April 1942, Wagner shot down three additional Japanese planes over New Guinea while flying a P-39 from Port Moresby. Although he wished to remain in combat, he was sent back to the U.S. where it was believed he would be of greater value in training new pilots. However, on November 29, 1942, he crashed to his death on a routine flight from Eglin Field, Florida to Maxwell Field, Alabama.