Abner Aust was born in Scooba, Mississippi. He took civilian pilot training in college. When he finished he went to Jackson, Mississippi to get his license. He did not have a birth certificate but he got one on 23 June 1942. He went to Sunflower Junior College [Annotator's Note: now the Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead, Mississippi]. He grew up on a farm and knew how to pick cotton which he did to help pay his way through school. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer has him back up and repeat story.] He completed his secondary training with 80 hours and went to Greenville Army Air Base [Annotator's Note: now Donaldson Center Airport, Greenville, South Carolina] to take the exam. This was 15 June [Annotator's Note: 15 June 1942] and they would not let him enlist due to not having his birth certificate. He received it 23 June and immediately enlisted. Ten days later he was in Santa Ana, California for basic training. He went to Oxnard and then to Bakersfield [Annotator's Note: both in California] in December. The weather was bad. In January [Annotator's Note: January 1943], he got orders to go to Luke Air Force Base, Arizona for advanced training. He was one of the first to be trained as a fighter pilot in the P-40 [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. He did gunnery training there and got orders to Fort Myers, Florida. He spent some time at home and saw a friend who was in pilot training. He flew P-39s [Annotator's Note: Bell P-39 Airacobra fighter aircraft] in Florida. The mosquitos were really bad. He completed his combat training and then became a flight instructor flying P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft].

[Annotator's Note: Abner Aust was a flight instructor in Fort Myers, Florida in 1943.] They started flying the P-40N [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft], which was brand new and a nice airplane for dog fighting. He would practice dog fighting with his squadron operations officer. Aust considered himself to be the best fighter pilot in the outfit. In 1944, he moved to Lakeland [Annotator's Note: Lakeland, Florida] and got P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft]. He had become a flight commander then. He flew there until January 1945 and then went to Iwo [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. He flew missions from Tinian [Annotator's Note: Tinian, Mariana Islands] to Chichijima [Annotator's Note: Chichijima, Japan; formerly Peel Island]. This was where Bush [Annotator's Note: George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the United States] was shot down. Friends of his were flying B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] from Saipan [Annotator's Note: Saipan, Mariana Islands] and he would go see them. The tour for P-51s was 15 missions. On six or seven of them, he was to escort B-29s but never saw them. They would then do strafing missions. On Black Friday, 1 June [Annotator's Note: 1 June 1945] the flight leader had to escort B-29s. A B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber] and a PBY [Annotator's Note: Consolidated PBY Catalina flying boat] would be in the area. They ran into a squall north of Iwo. The number one B-29 should have said to abort but they did not. They lost 29 P-51s and 27 pilots that day. Aust had been able to climb out of the storm. He could hear the men crying out over the radio as they collided. One of the B-29s had been hit by bombs. All of the crew bailed out and the pilot put the plane on autopilot. It continued to circle Iwo and had to be shot down by a P-61 [Annotator's Note: Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter aircraft].

[Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Abner Aust to describe the mission where he shot down three Japanese Franks - Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate.] Aust spotted six coming head-on. He had seven other P-51s [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft] with him. Aust picked the leader and shot him down and then two more. When Aust was closing in on the last plane, he saw another P-51 from the 462nd [Annotator’s Note: 462nd Fighter Squadron] closing in. Aust followed the plane down but did not know how high the mountains were and he pulled out of the clouds. He was the only aircraft up there. This was 6 July 1945 in the area of Fujiyama [Annotator's Note: Mount Fuji, Japan]. He joined up with the B-29s [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-29 Superfortress very heavy bomber] and went back to Iwo [Annotator's Note: Iwo Jima, Japan]. None of his men got a shot at anything. Back at Iwo, the crew chief dug .50 caliber slugs out of the left wing. Aust went to the 462nd to see if anyone had gun camera film but they said they did not have any. [Annotator's Note: The interviewer asks Aust where he was when the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.] On 5 August, he had a mission escorting B-29s and he noticed a camouflaged air base. On his way back they attacked the base and destroyed aircraft on the ground. He was credited for destroying three and damaging three. He did not fly on the day the bomb was dropped [Annotator's Note: the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, 6 August 1945]. He does not recall what he did when he heard of the bomb being dropped. He flew his last mission on 10 August 1945 as a spare airplane. He spotted two Zeros [Annotator's Note: Japanese Mitsubishi A6M fighter aircraft, referred to as the Zeke or Zero] coming in. He did not like his squadron commander. He called out the Zeros and as they flew by, Aust broke away and shot one down. He saw another one leaving the area and shot it down. He had run out of film and did not get credit for that kill. Aust claims he shot the last airplane down in World War 2 as the Japanese surrendered the next day. In July 1963, the Secretary of the Air Force gave him credit for that last kill, making him an official ace.

Abner Aust was at Iwo Jima, Japan when the Japanese formally surrendered. He was the first pilot to go home on 11 September [Annotator's Note: 11 September 1945]. He went to Belzoni, Mississippi to stay with his mother and father. His wife and daughter were in Sarasota, Florida. Aust became a Reserve Officer. Pete Everest [Annotator's Note: US Air Force Brigadier General Frank Kendall "Pete" Everest Jr.] was a back-up for Chuck Yeager [Annotator's Note: US Air Force Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager] on the rocket flights and had been an instructor with Aust in Venice [Annotator's Note: Venice, Florida]. They both were assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and then Aust was sent to Panama with the 23rd Fighter Squadron, 36th Tactical Fighter Wing. He was a maintenance officer on P-47s [Annotator's Note: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircraft] and F-80s [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-80 then F-80 Shooting Star jet fighter aircraft]. Aust would test fly P-47s that were being given to other countries. On 31 July 1947, he took one out over the Pacific and the engine quit. He was not high enough to get out of the plane so he crashed landed in a swamp, injuring his head.

[Annotator's Note: Abner Aust stayed in the military after the end of World War 2.] The 36th Tactical Fighter Wing was moved from Panama to Germany to support the Berlin Airlift [Annotator's Note: Western Allies' operation to supply the blockaded city of West Berlin, Germany from 26 June 1948 to 30 September 1949]. Aust did not take part in the Korean War. He went to Shaw Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: South Carolina] flying F-84s [Annotator's Note: Republic F-84 Thunderjet jet fighter aircraft]. In July 1950, he flew across the Atlantic and stayed six months. He went to Denmark as an advisor to the Danish Air Force and then to Montgomery, Alabama. [Annotator's Note: Aust tells a story of Bud Anderson, US Air Force Colonel Clarence Emil “Bud” Anderson, who he knew.] Aust went to Edwards Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: California] and flew his first supersonic flight in the plane that became the F-100 [Annotator's Note: North American F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft]. He ended up at Bergstrom Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: Texas] in the 12th Strategic Fighter Wing flying F-84s. He then went to Eglin Air Force Base [Annotator's Note: Florida] in an F-4 [Annotator's Note: McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II jet fighter aircraft] wing. He went to Operations and Training in Hawaii and went to Vietnam and Thailand May 1963. He flew 11 missions. He went to Okinawa [Annotator's Note: Okinawa, Japan] after that for two years. He then joined the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing at Eglin. He became the Wing Commander for about three months. He was ordered to Vietnam January 1969. He flew missions in F-4s until May. He then got command of the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing. He flew 300 combat missions overall. He returned home February 1969. He retired in 1972 with 30 years and eight days total service time.

Abner Aust was determined to get 30 years in the service. He had good jobs and he did good jobs. He had good crews who worked hard for him. He retired as a full Colonel. [Annotator's Note: Aust tells a story of an airman he told to get a haircut.] He feels that the museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana] is good, but he did not like that there were not pictures of American fighter aces. He keeps pushing for that. He does not feel that young people today understand the war.