Col. Perry Dahl, an Army Air Forces fighter pilot who shot down nine enemy aircraft in the Pacific during World War II while surviving emergency landings, a runway crash, a midair bailout and two days in a life raft, died on Dec. 2 at his home in Tampa, Fla. He was 101.
From Wikipedia:
World War II
After he completed his training with the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Dahl was assigned to the 55th Fighter Group (FG) at Tumwater, Washington. In October 1943, he was sent to the South West Pacific theatre where he was assigned to the 432d Fighter Squadron of the 475th Fighter Group at Dobodura Airfield in New Guinea.
Flying in his first mission on 9 November 1943, and piloting a P-38 Lightning while escorting A-20 Havocs and B-25 Mitchells on a strike against a Japanese airfield in Alexishafen, Dahl scored his first aerial victory when he shot down a Mitsubishi A6M “Zero”. On 22 December 1943 and on 23 January 1944, he shot down Zeros over Wewak, his second and third aerial victories. On 24 February, Dahl took off from Nadzab on a mission against the Japanese-held Momote Airfield. Due to bad weather, he was forced to turn back from the mission and was diverted to an airfield in Cape Gloucester; while Dahl was landing his P-38, he collided with a B-24 Liberator on the runway.