Joseph C. Jenkins is owner-operator of Jenkins Airfield at Wyoming at the southwest edge of Dover. He learned to fly in 1933 at the now¬defunct Dover Airfield and joined the Rehoboth Beach Flying Club. His piloting skill led him in 1942 to the U.S. Army Air Corps where he trained in night fighting. He was assigned to Algiers, North Africa, and later to fields in Italy, Belgium and Germany.
Joe flew more than 100 missions, including 50 night fighter-bomber sorties in the British Beaufighter and 38 in the Northrup-built P-61 Black Widow. He flew the North American P-51 Mustang in daytime reconnaissance operations. Captain Jenkins earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and seven other medals.
He joined the Air Force Reserves in 1951, attached to Andrews AFB and later to New Castle County Airport and Dover Air Force Base. He retired as a lieutenant colonel.
Joe opened his airfield in 1948, operating a flight school and crop-dusting business throughout Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In 1950 he began aircraft restoration work and in 1956 started an aircraft salvage business, which he continues today He has donated several restorations to the National Air and Space Museum.
Joe's wife Ellen died in June. A nurse, she went ashore at Omaha Beach in Normandy in World War IL The Jenkinses raised a daughter, Jan D. Jenkins of Dover, and Joe, Jr., who works with his father in the airplane business.
