Fighter Pilot
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File Name: Brad
J.
Armbruster
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Birthplace: Providence,
RI |
Rank: Colonel
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Primary Military
Specialty:
Fixed Wing Pilot,
Single and Multiple Engine
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Secondary
Military Specialty:
Intelligence Operations
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Status: Reserve
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First Appearance:
G.I. JOE #14
(August
1983)
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"...in
Armbruster's case you can hardly call it gambling since he never loses."
— Army peer profile
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As a high school student in
Providence, Rhode Island, Ace
worked after school and on weekends to
pay
for flying lessons. He became an excellent pilot and had various jobs,
including stunt flying for movies. At age 22, Ace joined the Air Force.
During his time in the Air Force, Ace became the senior instructor for
the USAF Fighter Weapons Squadron known as "The Aggressors" just before
his assignment to the G.I. Joe team. Ace is
a qualified expert pilot of
various fighter jets: F-5E, F-15, F-16, XP-14/F, X-16. The real reason
for Ace's nickname is that he is a great poker player who never loses.
Ace joined the Joes in 1983
and flew many missions for the team in both his XP-14F Skystriker and
in
the team's C-130 Hercules transport plane. On a mission to test out new
system upgrades for the Skystriker with Lady
Jaye as co-pilot, Ace
encountered
the Cobra pilot Wild Weasel in his Rattler
with the Baroness as
co-pilot.
The two pilots fought to a stalemate, ending the dogfight when their
weapons
were spent. Ace was the leader of the fighter squadron that destroyed a
Cobra underwater bunker that was killing marine life in the Gulf of
Mexico.
Cobra expected the Joes to blow up the bunker, which aggravated a
faultline
and caused the creation of Cobra Island. The Joes then attempted to
push
Cobra off of the newly-formed island before Cobra could claim it as a
free
territory. A tidal wave triggered by the destruction of the bunker
caused
the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Flagg's deck to tilt 30 degrees. Ace risked
his life by attempting to take off from the carrier and nearly failed.
He gave the Joes the air cover they needed to win the battle, but Cobra
gained the status of a sovereign state, forcing the Joes to retreat.
Later, Ace flew
a recon
mission
over Cobra Island with Ripcord as co-pilot.
Ripcord unexpectedly
ejected
from their Skystriker and parachuted onto the island to search for his
girlfriend, Candy, who had been kidnapped by the Dreadnok known as
Buzzer.
After Ripcord was rescued, Ace and Lady Jaye flew the Joes' C-130 to
the
island to transport two Devilfish fast attack boats used in a mission
to
rescue Snake-Eyes, who had recently landed
on the island. The C-130
then
brought a wounded Ripcord to McGuire Air Force Base near G.I. Joe
headquarters.
When the Joe team invaded the Cobra-controlled town of Springfield, Ace
flew one of the two C-130s that transported the Joes and their vehicles
to the town.
While he and
Slip-Stream
fought
a Cobra Night Raven piloted by a Strato-Viper, Ace was shot down but he
ejected and survived to be rescued by a G.I. Joe Tomahawk helicopter.
Ace
returned to stunt flying when he, Slip-Stream and Maverick participated
in an Airshow at Orange County Airport in New York State. Later, Ace
flew
a C-130 to Cobra Island during the Cobra Civil War in which the Joes
participated
on the side of Serpentor. Just after the
invasion, Ace and co-pilot
Lift-Ticket
along with several other G.I. Joe pilots flew a diversionary mission to
allow the Stealth Fighter to fly a recon mission over Cobra Island. Ace
was part of the crew of the space shuttle Defiant on an observation
mission.
Payload ended the mission and entered Earth's atmosphere, attacking a
group
of Python Conquest jets attacking the U.S.S. Flagg.
Ace's Skystriker sustained
heavy damage during a night recon mission in Benzheen in the aftermath
of the Battle of Benzheen. He and his co-pilot Dogfight barely survived
a crash-landing on the deck of the U.S.S. Flagg in the Gulf of
Benzheen.
Later, Ace and Wild Bill flew the Joes Duke, Lady Jaye, Roadblock
and
Snake-Eyes
in a C-130 to Cobra Island for a spy mission. One of Ace's final
missions
before the Joe team was disbanded was to fly General Joseph "G.I. Joe"
Colton
from McGuire A.F.B. to Washington, DC in the Ghoststriker
X-16
for
a Top Secret meeting with high-ranking army officials. After the Joe
team
was disbanded in 1994, Ace returned to stunt flying for movies. He
returned
to duty in 2001 to fly for the reinstated G.I. Joe team, and led a
squadron
of Skystrikers against the forces of a revived Serpentor on Cobra
Island.
After another year of deactivation, the G.I. Joe team was again
reformed. Ace began working with the smaller team at their new headquarters,
The Rock, as a reserve member. During the global conflict known as World War III, Ace took part in a number of missions launched from the U.S.S. Flagg, engaging Cobra fighters over the United Kingdom.
Artwork: G.I. JOE #47(interior)
by Rod
Whigham
and Andy Mushynsky; G.I. JOE #34 (interior) by Rod Whigham and Andy
Mushynsky; G.I. Joe: Battle Files #1.
Appearances:
- G.I. JOE: #14, 17, 18, 19, 24,
30, 31, 34,
40, 41, 45, 47,
49, 54,
115, 132, 152, 154
- G.I. JOE Special Missions: #3,
5, 12, 16,
27, 28
-
G.I.
JOE: Order of Battle: #1
- G.I. JOE vol. 2: #25, 26
- G.I. JOE: Battle Files: #1
- G.I. JOE: America's Elite: #14, 32, 36
- G.I. JOE: Declassified: #1
(compiled with help from Bryon Hake)
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Action
figure/filecard links at YoJoe.com :
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