Ted Bullock began his 31-year Air Force career as a combat fighter pilot during World War II. He flew Many fighters during the war, including American and British aircraft such as the P-51 Mustang and the Supermarine Spitfire.

Following flight training in southern California, he became a frontline pilot at Paine Field in 1942, flying air defense missions in the P-39 Aircobra. He was then transferred to North Africa and flew Spitfires and, eventually, Mustangs.

Bullock was a member of the 52nd Fighter Group, 4th Fighter Squadron. He first flew the Spitfire Mark V in North Africa before his unit transitioned first to the P-51B and later the P-51D. During his combat service in North Africa, Sicily, Corsica, and Italy, he flew a total of 70 missions including fighter cover for B-17’s and B-24’s during the historic Ploesti oil field raids. He shot down three enemy fighters, two ME-109’s and an Italian aircraft in German markings flown by the Romanian Air Force.

From the Late 1940’s through the early1970’s, Bullock flew all of the first generation jets, from the P-80 to the super sonic F-100. He was a Fighter Squadron Commander, Group Operations Officer and held other key command roles before his retirement in 1973. He was awarded the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal and many other service decorations.

One of his final assignments before retiring was as Commander of Wheeler Air Force Base in Hawaii, where WWII had began nearly 30 years earlier with the attack of Pearl Harbor. He was also called upon as a Technical Advisor during the recreation of the infamous attack on Wheeler for the 1970 movie “Tora, Tora, Tora!”

A resident of Olympia, Bullock has two grown children and three grandchildren.