Lee Cook concludes his study of Harry ‘Dirty Eddie’ March in the Pacific, where the aviator became an ace, joined the renowned VF-17 ‘Skull and Crossbones’ Corsair squadron and endured fierce combat over the Japanese stronghold at Rabaul

‘Fighting 17’ boss and Harry’s CO, LCDR John ‘Tommy’ Blackburn, at the controls of Lemuel Doty Cooke’s F4U-1A Corsair ‘29’ (BuNo 17684) circa spring 1943. Inset: Elsa and Harry March.
TOM BLACKBURN COLLECTION / MARCH FAMILY
Former university pentathlon champion Harry March earned his fighter pilot ‘wings’ with the US Navy in 1941 and was soon sent to the Pacific theatre of operations (see March FlyPast).