While his first assignment was with the U.S. Army signal corps, Connecticut native Jimmy Elsner was determined to fly. And did he ever. Assigned to the 18th Fighter Squadron in 1944, Elsner flew the Curtis P40 Warhawk, and later went on to fly the P47 in what eventually became the Connecticut Air National Guard. For a candid look at how he climbed the ranks (and ended up flying a halfdozen fighter aircraft), EAA Chapter 166's Larry Anglisano, along with Paul Hoar and Steve Socolosky, sat down with Elsner at the New England Air Museum in late 2021, where Elsner talked candidly about his most memorable adventures as a newly branded fighter pilot in the 1940s, while putting his hands and eyes on the museum's Republic P47 Thunderbolt for the first time in many years.