Lucky Bag Yearbook

From the 1950 Lucky Bag:

DONALD SHIELDS KOBEY

Don studied under both the Army and Navy Air Corps training programs before coming to the Academy. He attended the U. of California, Gonzaga, and the U. of Utah. Always active in athletics, besides being a member of the championship 150 Pound Football Team, Don was a seasonal member of both the Track Squad and the Pistol Team. Somehow his appetite always seemed to be a little ahead of his training schedule and almost any afternoon during football season he sharpened it working out in the steam room to make the weight for a coming game. Don is characterized by his continual good spirits and by his uncanny ability to win an argument. He never allowed anything to interfere with his plans for enjoying life.

Loss

From Find A Grave:

First Lieutenant Donald Kobey was living in Warren, AZ when he entered the service and was the pilot of a F-80C Shooting Star fighter interceptor with the 80th Fighter Bomber Squadron, 8th Fighter Bomber Group.

On March 6, 1952, while on a gunnery range, his aircraft crashed into the water at high speed.

He was awarded the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.

Donald was flying above South Korea when he was lost. He is buried in California.

Biography

From researcher Kathy Franz:

He graduated from Bisbee High School in 1945.

Although commissioned an engineer in the Navy, he asked to be transferred to the Air Force. He took basic training at Waco, Texas, and earned his wings at Williams Air Field in Arizona in August 1951.

In December he was stationed for several weeks in the Philippine Islands before moving into Korea.

Survived by his mother, Mae (nee Shields) Kobey. For many years, the Shields family home was in Yatesville, Pennsylvania. Donald’s grandfather William Shields was an early Yatesville settler who later engaged in copper mining around Bisbee, Arizona. His father Albert died in Coronado in September 1951.

Donald was also survived by his wife, the former Rita Wharton, two sisters, Mrs. Fred Nelson and Mrs. William House, and a brother Bud.

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