ROY MORTENSEN
Age: 89
Born: Sept. 9, 1921
Hometown: Oakland
Residence: La Quinta
Military branch: U.S. Army Air Corps; 1st Fighter Group; 94th (Hat in the Ring) Fighter Squadron
Years served: 1942-45
Rank: First lieutenant
Family: Wife Mara; three children, Roy Mortensen Jr. of Oakdale, Narcissus Mortensen of Walnut Creek and July Avery of Mission Viejo; nephew Tom Fenyoe of San Antonio, Texas; 5 grandchildren; 1 great-granddaughter.
About this series
Since Veterans Day 2009, staff writer Denise Goolsby has profiled 323 desert veterans from World War II. Contact her at (760) 778-4587 or via e-mail at denise.goolsby@thedesertsun.com
More
Roy Mortensen, a P-38 fighter pilot, flew top cover for bombing missions over Europe during World War II.
Mortensen, a member of the 94th Fighter Squadron — World War I Ace Eddie Rickenbacker's old squadron — also flew numerous dive-bombing and strafing missions during his overseas tour of duty.
“It was a beautiful airplane,” Mortensen said of the twin engine, long-range Lockheed P-38 Lightning. “Very stable. You can come back on one engine if you blow an engine.”
Mortensen and two buddies all went together to enlist in the military, but physical issues kept his friends out of the service.
“I was the only guy to get in,” Mortensen said.
His brother, Robert Mortensen, of Palm Desert, also wound up being a pilot in World War II.
Robert Mortensen, he said, served as a B-24 bomber pilot, stationed in England.
Roy Mortensen, who had his heart set on flying, had to fudge a little to pass the eye test.
Mortensen had an eye condition called esophoria that affected his depth perception.
“The doctor said, ‘You really want to fly? I'll show you how to cheat the machine.'”
Mortensen began his U.S. Army Air Corps career at Thunderbird Field in Arizona, where he learned to fly Stearman biplanes.
After another stop in Arizona — at Williams Field, where he trained in AT-6s — he was assigned to Ephrata, Wash., to learn to fly the old single-engine P-39s.
Finally, he was sent to Van Nuys where he received training in the P-38 — the aircraft he'd soon be piloting in combat.
On the first day of his overseas deployment, “I left New York Harbor with a group of about six big ships,” Mortensen said. “When we woke up the next morning, we were all by ourselves in the middle of the ocean.”
Mortensen said he never found out what happened to the other ships in the convoy. He wasn't sure if they even made it across the Atlantic.
The lone ship eventually docked at Marseilles, France. A group of about 18 pilots disembarked and were provided lodging at a nearby hotel.
“We stayed at the hotel for about a month before they figured out what to do with us. (Then) we took a small boat from Marseilles to Naples. We were stationed at the heel of the boot in Italy in a very small airfield.
“We flew top cover for B-24s out of England sometimes we were dive bombing” bridges, oil fields or other enemy installations, he said.
“The most harrowing experience was when I lost an engine at about 12,000 feet,” Mortensen said. “The supercharger didn't work.”
The supercharger was supposed to turn on when the plane reached a certain altitude.
Flying on only one engine, Mortensen called his captain, who told him to return to the airfield. The captain assigned another fighter to accompany Mortensen back to the base.
“We were on our way back and we see a train going down the track. We went down and looked at it. There were red crosses on the top. All of a sudden, these boxcars open up on top and they started shooting at us like crazy. We thought, ‘Why don't we shoot the engine off?' So we got right along side,” and blew up the engine.
The heavily armed aircraft could carry “four 200-pound bombs and a belly tank full of gas,” he said.
His wife, Mara, grew up in Hungary. Mortensen figures he dropped empty belly tanks very near to where she was living.
Mara Mortensen, who was about 6 years old at the time her husband was in World War II, lived on a farm with her family.
She recalls the fear and anxiety they experienced during that time.
“It was a very sad time for us,” she said. “I remember being scared all the time.”
Although they lived out in the country, “We saw Budapest burning,” she added.
The 94th Fighter Squadron was credited with more than 100 kills during World War II, and produced at least five aces — fighter pilots credited with shooting down at least five enemy aircraft.
Mortensen frequently “mixed it up” with the with enemy pilots, but doesn't know whether or not if he scored any direct hits.
“You focus on flying the plane. You're flying in formation all the time. You have to be careful what you're doing.”
Enemy aircraft were a nuisance and a constant threat.
“That was kind of scary, but there wasn't that many of them, so we had the advantage.”
The distinguished 94th was assigned to escort President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill from England to Yalta in Crimea, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) in February 1945, for a wartime meeting of U.S., U.K. and Soviet heads of government.
“(We flew) top cover for the Yalta Conference,” he said. “From the entrance to the end of the Mediterranean.”
Enemy aircraft didn't pose a threat during the journey.
“One time a plane approached. As soon as he saw all of us there, he took off,” Mortensen said.
Back home after the war in Europe was over, Mortensen was offered a chance to get back into the action.
“We were told we could stay in and fight the Japanese or get out,” he said. “So I got out.”
When Mortensen hopped out of the cockpit of his P-38 after his final mission, it was the last time he piloted an aircraft.
“I never flew a plane since. I was too busy raising a family and making a living.”
