Laurence E. (Larry) Blumer, 80,died in Springfield, Oregon on 23 October 1997 of Leukemia.

A native of Walcott, North Dakota, he was born on 31 May 1917. After attending Concordia College in Moorhead, North Dakota, he joined the Army Air Forces and received his wings at Luke Field, Arizona in March 1943.

Assigned to the 393rd Fighter Squadron, 367th Fighter Group, he became one of the few fighter pilots to become an "ace-in-a-day" when he shot down five FW-190s in 15 minutes of aerial combat on 25 August 1944. He rose to command the 393rd and destroyed another FW-190 before returning to the States in January 1945. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, Air Medal with 22 Oak Leaf Clusters and the Belgian Croix de Guerre.

Larry Blumer left the service in 1946 and entered the contracting business on the West Coast. He later purchased a surplus P-38 from the Honduran Air Force, painted it in the wartime colors of his "Scrap Iron IV" and flew it in airshows around the country for the next 12 years.

He is survived by a son, Laurence B. Blumer, of Pahrump, Nevada. He was buried with military honors on 29 October in Puyallup, Washington.