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Hub Zemke was born in 1914, he joined the Army Air Corps as a cadet in 1936 graduating in 1937. He was sent to England during the early stages of World War II, from England he was then sent to Russia where he taught Russian pilots to fly the P-40. Zemke was know as a very aggressive pilot and a very hard nosed disciplinarian, all the right ingredients for a successful flight leader. He was promoted quickly, by the time Zemke was assigned to the 56th Fighter Group he was already a Major and then promoted again to Lieutenant Colonel. In 1943 Zemke and his men had trained tirelessly flying the P-47,joining the Eighth Air Force with these new machines they where ready for combat. They flew there first combat mission on the 13th April 1943. People didn't know it then but the 56th Fighter Group was about to become legendry. Scoring the highest number of victories of any of the Eighth Air Force. Zemke left the 56th in 1944 and took up command of the 479th Fighter Group. While flying a sortie on the 30th October 1944 Zemke was forced to bail out, over Germany he was quickly captured and spent the rest of the War at Stalag I. Zemke is said to have helped in the negotiations of his fellow prisoners in that they returned to England rather than Russia. Zemke remained in the Air Force until 1966 commanding fighter units. Hubert Zemke finished the War with 17 Victories.
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