Baucom was ond of the most important founding members of the Carolinas Aviation Museum. He was easy going, but never accepted "average." He always strived to be the very best at any endeavor he undertook. Charlie epitomized our "greatest generation" - he never gave up.
1Lt. Charles W. Baucom
B-24 Pilot
10th Air Force / 7th Bombardment Group / 492nd Bombardment Squadron
Entered Service: 20 Jul 44
Departed for CBI: June, 1945
41 Combat Missions
Air Medal w/2 Oak Leaf Clusters
Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon w/2 Bronze Battle Stars American Campaign Medal
Baucom & Crew - Gowen Field, 1945
Back row, L-R: Charles E. Smith (B), Fred W. Bader (P)
Baucom (CP), Frank W. Knowlton (N)
Front row, L-R: Louis R. Spencer (WG), Joseph F. Ingram (BT), Harvey Blanchard (E-TT)
Elden W. Brandley (RO), Clarence E Casey (NG), Harry J. Renner(TG)
Biographical Information
He graduated from Central High School in 1943 and entered military service, receiving his pilots wings on August 9, 1944 at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. He had B-24 training at Gowen Field, Idaho, and shipped out to Tezpur, India in June 1945 and was assigned to the 492nd Bomb Squadron. Charlie served in the CBI as a B-24 pilot and completed 41 crossings of the Himalayas.
After WWII, Baucom served in Korea with the 21st Troop Carrier Squadron, flying C-47s and then for two years he flew B-50s out of Mather AFB, California. He served in VietNam on three occasions flying KC-135 air refueling tankers of the Strategic Air Command, servicing all types of aircraft from fighters to B-52s. During his 24-year career in the Army Air Corps and the US Air Force, he devoted 7-1/2 years of service to training air crews to fly B-29s adn KC-97s at Randolph AFB, Texas. His last five years of service were spent flying KC-135 refueling tankers out of Westover AFB, Maine. He retired from active duty there on June 30, 1967. He retired as a Lt. Colonel. Baucom passed away on July 30, 2011.