Joseph Peterburs had plans to become a Catholic Priest, but with the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the outbreak of World War II he instead joined the US Army Air Corps and began an aviation career that would span three wars and make him an 'ace' pilot.

During WWII Joe would join the 20th Fighter Group, 55th Fighter Squadron, flying P-51s, escorting B-17 bombers on their missions and defending against German fighter attacks. He flew 49 missions and logged 269 combat hours.

On his 49th mission, 10 April 1945 the Group was escorting 450+ B-17s to targets near Berlin. Just as the bombers were unloading, a swarm of Me 262 turbojets hit the formation. Lt. Peterburs was flying high cover and saw a 262 slicing through the B-17s. Peterburs had considerable altitude advantage and pulled into the 262s 6 0’clock with his six .50 calibers blazing. Sixty years later he learned the damage he inflicted on the Me 262 resulted in the engine disintegrating and the pilot bailing out; the pilot was Walter Schuck, a top German Ace with 206 victories. Shortly after Peterburs started strafing an airfield before being hit by ground fire. Unfortunately he was unable to make it back to friendly lines and had to bail out over Germany, was captured and became a POW. He escaped, linked up with the advancing Russians, and fought with them to the battle of Wittenberg on the Elbe.

In December 1951 he was assigned to the 12th Fighter Bomber Squadron of the 18th Fighter Bomber Group flying the P-51D in Korea. He flew 76 missions over North Korea sustaining battle damage on several of those missions including a .50 caliber round through the prop of his P-51.

In the fall of 1967, Lt. Colonel Peterburs was assigned to Vietnam as Staff Operations Officer responsible for Command and Control in the war zone.

Interview recorded on November 2, 2023

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Video Credits:
Interviewer - Greg Corombos
Director of Photography - Jon Hambacker