Flying WWII Bombers!
I am one of the lucky people who was allowed to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator WWII bombers operated by the Collings Foundation. I flew with them for about 2 years as pilot in the B-24 and as a co-pilot in the B-17.
I like what the Foundation does with the airplanes, getting them out where people can touch, feel, smell and even ride in the airplanes. It is much better than having them sitting in a museum with a rope around them to keep the people back. I've watched veterans come out to see their airplanes again and seen the years melt away from these wonderful men. Family members of bomber veterans get a chance to see where their father,grandfather, uncle or other family member served, or perhaps where that person died. It was something my wife and I decided to support by doing a sponsorship on the B-17.
One of the greastest joys of traveling with the bombers is the people we get to meet, especially the veterans from WWII. I have been fortunate enough to have met an SBD Dauntless rear-gunner from the Yorktown at the Battle of Midway, a civilian contract worker who was captured on Wake Island at the beginning of the war and survived all that time as a POW of the Japanese, men who were on the Doolittle raid, men who were POWs in Germany and many, many more who all have incredible tales to tell. These veterans all seem to have one thing in common, they are very humble about what they did. A common response is; "I was just doing my job." We should be very thankful that these men were there "doing their job" during that time. Now when I meet veterans I remember to thank them for their service to our country. Here are a few of the veterans I have met. These aren't guys you'll read about in the history books, these are just the guys that were "doing their job" and making the history we read about.
During the year we visited an average of 130 stops in 35 states. Naturally we took a few pictures along the way.
This page updated 01-24-04
email:dfalk@ak.net
Back to main page
