Warbird Information Exchange

WWII, Korean and Vietnam veteran Charles Robert Bowen is dead at 88

By Rick Nathanson / Journal Staff Writer | Thu, Nov 7, 2013

Charles Robert Bowen, a decorated fighter pilot and veteran of World War II and the wars in Korea and Vietnam, died on Tuesday. He was 88.

“He died on my late mother’s birthday,” said daughter Lori Laiche. “It was as if she called him home that morning.”

A resident of Peralta, Bowen was born in Cairo, Ill., and spent much of his youth in South Fulton, Tenn. After serving in the Navy during World War II, he went to college on the GI Bill at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colo., earning undergraduate degrees in civil engineering, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. He subsequently received a commission in the Air Force and served during the Korean and Vietnam wars.

He logged more than 200 missions over Vietnam in the F4A Phantom jet, and has the distinction of “being the only pilot in his squadron to return from every mission with no aircraft damage – not even shrapnel,” said Laiche.

Among his medals are the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Silver Star, she said.

His Air Force service also includes training with a group of test pilots working with experimental supersonic and high altitude aircraft. Among the members of that team was famed test pilot Chuck Yeager. Bowen was the 419th pilot to break the sound barrier in the F-104 Starfighter jet, said Laiche.

In 1969 Bowen was stationed at Kirtland Air Force Base when he retired from the military with the rank of major. He then worked in a civilian capacity at the Naval Weapons Evaluation Facility at KAFB, where he helped in the engineering and integration of aircraft weapons systems. He retired from the civil service in 1989.

As a young man, Bowen had learned the craft of gunsmithing and later became a master gunsmith, a hobby that carried over into retirement, said Laiche. “He made beautiful custom rifle stocks that were just works of art, and he could make and repair every piece of a rifle.” In the process, he made a name for himself in the local gunsmithing community.

According to Ron Peterson, owner of Ron Peterson Firearms, “I came to New Mexico in 1960 and got involved in the gun business in 1963. Charles was making beautiful custom stocks even back then, and as he got older he would repair stocks for me. He was truly a craftsman who did quality work.”

Laiche said her father and mother, Doris Lee Bowen, a homemaker and watercolor landscape artist, were both avid hunting and fishing devotees. Their love of New Mexico’s scenery, skies and outdoor life is largely the reason they remained in the state, Laiche said. Doris Bowen died in June 2006 at age 72. The couple had been married 47 years.

In addition to Laiche of Albuquerque, Bowen is survived by daughter Ella Stoakes of Peralta, son Lyle Bowen of Albuquerque, and sister Elizabeth Beall of Lexington Park, Md.

A funeral service will be on Nov. 16, 11 a.m., at French Funerals-Cremations, 10500 Lomas NE. Burial will be held at the Santa Fe National Cemetery on Nov. 18, 1:30 p.m. For further information contact French Funerals-Cremations, 275-3500, or to sign the tribute wall go to www.frenchfunerals.com.

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