Three Pilots...

June 7th, 75 years and a day after D Day...

My father was a WWII pilot, he went through the cadet program at Jamestown College, he was sworn in at Fort Snelling, traveled to Texas, where he earned his wings and his commission in 1943, he was trained to fly fighters, then the Army Air Corps decided they needed bomber pilots, he trained as a bomber pilot. Then the Army Air Corps decided they had enough bomber pilots and told his class of  fresh new pilots they could be Radio Operators, Navigators or bombardiers. Dad said no thanks and in the summer of 1944 he volunteered to fly gliders. The Army Air Corps sent him to Laurenberg Maxon in North Carolina to train. Dad arrived in England on the Queen Mary in late September of 1944. Dad was handy for the Air Corps, he was qualified in everything that had wings. That winter he flew supply missions, delivered gasoline to Patton's Army and dropped supplies for the Battle of the Bulge. His big show was flying the 2nd glider across the Rhine in Operation Varsity, the invasion of Germany in the spring of 45. After he landed his glider, the pilots formed up as an Infantry Company and fought the Nazis on their own soil.

My neighbor in Florida was a P51 Ace, he enlisted at 17 one day after he graduated from high school in 1942. Not long after his 18th birthday he was flaying bomber escorts over Getrmany. He was a 20 year old Captain when he came back in 1945, he started school on the GI Bill and couldn't buy a drink in a bar. I took him to a big Air Show, the final fly over was done by three planes, an F16, a F18A and a P51 Mustang. They  flew low over the crowd wing to wing, went into a vertical climb, still side by side, the two jets peeled off and the P51 continued the climb alone. I looked over at my neighbor, he had tears in his eyes.

I had the opportunity to introduce my neighbor to a Tuskegee Airman, another P51 pilot. This Red Tail escorted bombers on the other side of the European Theater of War. Their stories were similiar, they were the same age and they flew the same plane. They both went to college on the GI Bill,they both retired as Colonels in the Air National Guard. One thing was different, when the Tuskegee Airman wanted to take his prospective bride for an airplane ride in a Piper Cub while they were in school, he was told, "N****rs Can't Fly!" He had 1100 hours in high performance military aircraft.

All three pilots are gone, but never forgotten.