Jack Milton Ilfrey (July 31, 1920 – October 15, 2004) was a United States Army Air Forces fighter ace who was credited with shooting down seven and a half enemy aircraft during World War II and evading capture twice.

He joined the United States Army Air Corps in April 1941 as an aviation cadet, and graduated on December 12, 1941, in Class 41-I at Luke Field, Arizona, being commissioned as a second lieutenant.

On November 15, 1942, he was on a ferry flight from England to North Africa when one of the drop tanks on his P-38 malfunctioned and he ran low on fuel.

Ilfrey was seated in the cockpit showing him the controls when he suddenly pushed the throttles forward, knocking the major off the wing and roaring down the runway.

He scored five and a half aerial victories and damaged two enemy aircraft, becoming what many believe to be one of the first, if not the first, pilot to reach "ace" status while flying a P-38.

He was taken in by a friendly French family, who gave him shelter, food, a bicycle, and false identity papers as a deaf-mute farmer named "Jacques Robert".

He later lived in San Antonio, Texas, working for the Alamo National Bank, where he retired after 30 years.

[5] In 2008, Midwest Aero Restorations Ltd. finished work on P-51D-30-NA serial number 44-74452, returning it to airworthy status and marking it as Ilfrey's "Happy Jack's Go Buggy".