Emil Kochlefl was born on December 13, 1920 in Sesser, Illinois. Emil was the third child of James and Josephine (Pechar), who both came to Glen Carbon, Illinois from Bohemia in 1912 and 1913 respectively. James was a coal miner who later became a carpenter. Josephine was a homemaker who died in 1922 leaving James to care for Joseph (born 1914), Sophie (born 1919) and eighteen month old Emil. Josephine’s sisters Theresa and Regina helped care for Emil until James remarried in 1925 and they moved to Northfield, Illinois.
Emil developed an early love of airplanes from watching aviators fly through the Midwest. He became an excellent model builder and decorated his room with the airplane models he built. He was an excellent student and graduated from New Trier High School 1939. He attended diesel engineering school at night for one year while he worked during the day as a draftsman until the start of World War II.
Emil enlisted on September 4, 1942 in the US Army Air Forces and went on active duty in March 1943. He attended ground school in Wichita Falls, Texas and was a cadet at San Antonio, Texas. From Texas he was sent to radio school and was a cadet at San Antonio, Texas. From Texas he was sent to radio school in Chicago, Illinois and then to radar school at Truax Field, Wisconsin. He was stationed in Boca Raton, Florida, then Langley Field, Virginia. In early 1944 he was assigned to the 482nd Bomb Group (Pathfinder) of the 8th Air Force in Alconbury, Huntingdonshire, England. From September 1943 until March 1944 the 482nd was the only pathfinder group to lead combat missions to Germany using B-17 bombers equipped with radar and radio beacons. After March 1944 the 482nd was the only pathfinder group to lead combat missions to Germany using B-17 bombers equipped with radar and radio beacons. After March 1944 the 482nd became a full time radar training base for navigators, bombardiers, and technicians. The 482nd did fly special single aircraft night missions for radar mapping and testing of radar systems. After VE day, Emil returned to the US via Greenland aboard a B-17. That was the only time he flew on a B-17. He trained for Pacific duty at Sioux Falls, South Dakota and then Yuma, Arizona until the war ended in August 1945. He was discharged on October 16, 1945 at San Bernardino, California. He visited his sister Sophie in San Francisco before getting a ride to Northfield, Illinois. He was an active member of the St. Charles, Illinois Veterans of Foreign Wars.
The drafting job had moved to the south side of Chicago, so he looked for another job in the area. Majestic Radio in St. Charles was converting from wartime to civilian radio. The factory moved to Elgin before Majestic folded in 1950. He married Mary Ann Steffens on February 4, 1950 in Winnetka, Illinois. He worked in Geneva in an appliance store doing radio and television repair before joining Burgess Norton in August 1951. He started in the Maintenance Department as an Electrician at Plant 1. He retired in 1987 as the Foreman for Maintenance after 35 years of service. He also took a heating and air conditioning course while at Burgess Norton.
Retirement from Burgess Norton meant that he stopped fixing things for them, but continued to fix cars, washing machines, televisions, blow dryers, curling irons and just about everything else for family and friends. Emil liked to travel, and he and Mary Ann visited every museum he could find that displayed a B-17 and other World War II aircraft. He especially enjoyed the National Air and Space Museum, the US Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio and the American Air Museum in Britain in Duxford, Cambridge, Great Britain.
Emil was a member of BOYS Club, St. John Neuman Catholic Church, and the Silver Foxes. Emil and Mary Ann Kochlefl raised nine children: Robert (Michele) Kochlefl of Grand Haven, Michigan, Donna (Glenn) Boutilier of Cincinnati, Ohio, Nancy (Randy) Pauli of Elburn, Illinois, Kimberly O’Neal of St. Charles, Illinois, John (Sharon) Kochlefl of St. Charles, Illinois, William (Rhonda) Kochlefl of Winnetka, Illinois, Sue Kochlefl (Mike Siebenhaar) of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, Molly (Randy) Forester of Evanston, Illinois and Mary Kochlefl (Mark Visconti) of Cincinnati, Ohio. Emil and Mary Ann Kochlefl also have seventeen grandchildren: Jamie (Matt) Riley, Scott Kochlefl, Sara Clark, Emily and Joanna Boutilier, Stacy Pauli, Kristen, Katie, and Stephanie O’Neal, Heather and Eric Thompson, Laura and Joseph Kochlefl, and Adam, Grace, Audrey, and Ryan Forester.
Emil Kochlefl died unexpectedly on his 82nd birthday, December 13, 2002 in Geneva, Illinois. The Funeral Mass was Tuesday, December 17, 2002 at St. John Neuman Church. He was buried at River Hills Memorial Park in Batavia, Illinois exactly ninety-nine years after Wilbur and Orville Wright flew into history with the first powered heavier-than-air flight and was saluted by the flying of paper airplanes of the design he taught to his children and grandchildren.