Yesterday I spent about an hour and a half at the pool one on one with "The Patriarch" of the family. At 87 he's sharp and full of memories. The ones I find most interesting are his stories about being a pilot trainer in WWII. He is one of those who Tom Brokow calls "The Greatest Generation." He moved the family from base to base and trained those who overcame Hitler's grip on Europe and answered Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor. He described flying his trainer plane directly into storms "for the practice" and flying under a highway overpass under construction in Texas!
In 1945 his orders took him to Denver where he was to learn to fly and put together a crew for a bombing mission into Japan in a B 29 pictured below..... On his first training flight in this massive stratobomber ...his starboard engine prop malfunctioned and "torqued out of control." The solution.....land the plane with three engines.....get into a new plane and get back into the air! He was poised to go to the South Pacific with his crew and drop a load on Japan when the Enola Gay beat them to it!
He finished his tour to come home and raise a family including Bob and my wives. .... Oh yeah....and fly his own Swift plane and build another when he was in his 70's. If he had his way he would be building another right now!
Vacation is a lot more to me than palm trees and beautiful seas......It is about learning more about the people I love.
1 comment:
He is an amazing man with an amazing life!!!
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