Wagner completed flight training in June 1938 and was assigned to duty in the Philippines with the 24th Pursuit Group. He was soon given command of the 17th Pursuit Squadron. He was nicknamed "Buzz" because it was said he could buzz the camouflage off a hangar roof. Wagner was a first lieutenant commanding the 17th Pursuit Squadron stationed at Nichols Field on December 8, 1941, when the first Japanese air attacks struck the Philippines. On December 12, Wagner took off in a Curtiss P-40 on a solo reconnaissance mission over Aparri, where he was attacked by Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighters. He dove away from the attacking planes and then returned and shot down two of them. He was attacked by more Zeros as he strafed a nearby Japanese airfield and subsequently destroyed two of these planes as well before returning to Clark Field. On December 17, he led an attack on a Japanese airstrip near Vigan with Lieutenants Allison W. Strauss and Russell M. Church, Jr. Church was killed in the attack and posthumously received the Distinguished Service Cross. Wagner and Strauss continued the strafing attack on the airfield, damaging and destroying numerous Japanese planes. A sole Japanese Zero took off and attacked Wagner's plane, but he chopped his throttle and caused the Zero to overshoot his plane. Once in position behind the Zero, Wagner was able to shoot it down, becoming the first USAAF ace of World War II and earning a Distinguished Service Cross. At least one source states that Wagner's first five kills were not Zeros, but were IJAAFNakajima Ki-27 "Nate" fighter planes. This source does confirm his later kills were reported as Zeros, but were impossible to verify from Japanese records. It is confirmed that the Appari Japanese fighters Wagner shot down were not Navy "Zeros," but Army "Nates," by Wagner's own account: "Looking back, I saw two Japanese pursuit behind me and three more overhead, low-wing fixed landing gear single seaters, so I pulled nose-up and continued to climb directly into the sun at full throttle and low pitch. Now the two Nippos who fired on me lost me. I went into a half barrel roll onto their tails from my upper position and attacked them from the rear. They were in close formation and both burst into flames almost simultaneously, the fliers going down with their planes." This is as quoted in "Doomed From the Start"; William H. Bartsch; p. 157: Sorry if I proceeded incorrectly, but the information is accurate -- Jerry Kruth; researching Bataan; 7/5/2019 Attacking the Japanese again at Vigan on December 22, his plane was struck by enemy fire and he was wounded by glass splinters which struck his face and eyes. He returned to base safely and evacuated to Australia in January 1942. Wagner was promoted to lieutenant colonel and assigned in April to the 8th Fighter Group in New Guinea flying the Bell P-39. At the time, he was the youngest lieutenant colonel in the US Army. On April 30, 1942 he shot down three Zeros, bringing his air-to-air kill total to eight. It was decided that Wagner's experience and knowledge would be more valuable back in the U.S., training fighter pilots and as a liaison to the Curtiss P-40 plant in Buffalo, New York, to help engineers improve the P-40's combat performance. Despite his protests at being pulled out of combat, he was sent home to the United States.
Death
On a routine flight in a P-40K from Eglin Field, Florida to Maxwell Field, Alabama on November 29, 1942, Wagner's plane disappeared. After an extensive search, what was left of the P-40 and Wagner's remains were found almost six weeks later in January 1943, 25 miles east of Eglin. The cause of the crash, if known, was never revealed. Wagner's partial remains were returned to Johnstown for burial. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 mourners attended his funeral at Grandview Cemetery in January 1943. Both Time and Life covered the event. After five years of research, retired Air Force Colonel Jim Moschgat rediscovered what he believed to be the crash site of Wagner's plane in Florida and found artifacts that tentatively confirmed the crash site was the correct one. Human remains were found at the site in 2008. In 2010, the remains were confirmed as being Lieutenant Colonel Wagner’s. These additional remains were buried with full military honors, to include a fly over by the U.S. Air Force at the Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown.
