Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Colonel Dean E. Hess, a hero of the air war during the 6·25 Korean War and the father of a war orphan, passed away on March 3 at 1:00 AM (local time) in Ohio at the age of 98.

He was a fighter pilot who fought against the North Korean Army with making 250 sorties in a year following the outbreak of the Korean war. Also, he was the one who made the early Korean Air Force progress rapidly through F-51 Mustang flight training.

Colonel Hess was discharged from military service after he played an active part in the French front as a P-47 pilot during World War II; however, he returned to active duty for protection for freedom and world peace when the Korean War broke out.

He was deployed to the U.S. Far East Air Command in mid-June 1950. At the request of the Korean government, he was appointed to a commanding officer of the U.S. 6146 base unit that was established to deliver ten F-51 fighters to the Korean Air Force and led the early air operations, conducting the Bout One (Building a Republic of Korean Air Force) mission, Korean Air Force building project, and making approximately 250 sorties. 

Considering the situation at that time in which American pilots were transferred to non-combat areas in Japan or the U.S. when their number of sorties reached 100, we can weigh his great sacrifice for Korea.

There was a phrase, “By Faith I Fly”, imprinted on the 18th F-51D Mustang, his personal plane, and his motto has become a symbol of Korean Air Force’s spirit. 

Meanwhile, he also made a contribution to transferring around 1,000 war orphans from Seoul to Jeju island with Colonel Russel Blaisdell, a U.S. army chaplain, during the January–Fourth Retreat in 1951.

He convinced the Air Force command to deploy 15 C-54 transport planes to evacuate war orphans, and it has been dealt with in-depth in the American Air Force War history, introduced at the U.S. National Air Force Museum.

He often said that he was struck by the great courage the Korean Air Force showed to operate missions willingly for which the American forces would not come forward. His wish of being alive until he saw a united Korea didn’t come true, but he lives in the Korean Air Force history forever.

By Seung-Bok, Lee <yhs920@dema.mil.kr>

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