Huie Lamb, Jr., followed his curiosity and call to serve into the cockpit, and his journey unfolded to include a decorated career as a wartime fighter pilot in the Army Air Forces.
Lamb grew up in Abilene, Texas, and said as a boy he was naturally interested in reading about pilots and their exploits, but mostly he was involved in raising and riding family horses. He even considered pursuing competitive polo.
“My desire turned to be flying,” Lamb said.
Lamb was a member of Texas A&M’s Corps of Cadets in fall 1942, but he felt becoming a fighter pilot was the best thing he could do to serve his country’s war effort. He withdrew from A&M, applied for flight training and joined the Army Air Corps in early 1943. After graduating from flight school a year later, Lamb was deployed to England and stationed at Duxford Air Base as a pilot in the 8th Air Force, 78th Fighter Group, 82nd Fighter Squadron.
In all, Lamb flew 61 combat missions in the P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang, and he was responsible for the destruction of multiple German enemy aircraft. Lamb’s mindset and fearlessness seemed to make him a natural for dogfighting.
Flight training exposed Lamb to formation flying, dive bombing and gunnery work, as well as experience handling aircraft and understanding how they react to different types of fuel or weather conditions. Once his squadron got to England, they got more “serious” about the unpredictable and unfriendly conditions of battle.
“As fighter pilots, we’re looking to find the enemy and engage,” Lamb said. “That is part of our training and make-up. (During combat) you learn pretty quickly what you need to do and what works.”
Lamb and his P-47 group were out on mission to seek and destroy enemy trains. Flying at about 15,000 feet, Lamb spotted a bogey aircraft. He told his element leader it was positioned at 12 o’clock, low, and Lamb’s element leader said, “Check it out. I’ll cover you.”
“That’s all he had to say,” Lamb said. “I dove down.”
The air chase ensued after the German jet. Lamb was one of the first pilots to engage the new German ME-262 jet fighter; Lamb fired multiple rounds and the enemy jet eventually went down, but not before Lamb was led over a German air base. “Then they opened up on me,” Lamb said.
Despite losing part of the plane’s tail section in the firefight, Lamb was able to navigate back to base and safely land. Indeed, resourcefulness and reliance on the team flying system characterized Lamb’s career.
In his first mission flying a P-51, Lamb answered a support call to retrieve a squad member whose radio stopped working. Lamb was ushering him back to base when the coolant in Lamb’s aircraft unexpectedly started to heat and caught fire. Still several miles short of land, Lamb had the idea to bail out, but his canopy malfunctioned. And by this point, Lamb had lost too much altitude to do anything other than ditch, or emergency land, in the North Sea, where he floated in the freezing waters until his wingman led a search and rescue crew back out to find Lamb, who survived with only hypothermia and a cut lip.
“Without all the help, I would not have made it,” Lamb said.
Lamb was discharged in 1945 and then recalled during the Korean War for 21 months and stationed at Bergstrom Air Base, where he flew the F-84 Thunder Jet, yet was not deployed into combat. He also remained with the Air Force Reserves for nearly 30 years. Lamb said he also got enjoyment out of training younger pilots in simulated combat scenarios, such as formations, air races and mock dogfights.
Lamb graduated in 1950 with a business degree from the University of Texas, where he also met his wife. He said during that era the only industries in Austin were government, education or cars.
“I chose the car business,” Lamb said.
Lamb developed multiple business partnerships through the years and operated San Jacinto Motors at Second Street and San Jacinto Boulevard in downtown Austin. Lamb’s business model was unique because they were among the first to offer in-house financing. Thus he also made car buying more accessible to more people and families.
“It’s important to do what you like to do,” Lamb said. “Do the best you can and stay with it. For anybody, that’s the main thing – do what you enjoy and do it well.”
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