My late father was born on this day, 10/14, in 1923. Among other things, he went on to become a navigator on a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber during World War II. He was stationed in Sudbury, England, and, with the crew of the Chief Osh Kosh, completed 32 bombing missions over Germany. Once, upon return, the wheels didn’t open and they had to land without them. Another time, while in flight, the gear that released the bomb failed, so members of the crew had to hold the bombardier by his feet and lower him down into the bomb bay, thousands of feet in the air, while he disengaged the bomb manually. My father had wanted desperately to be a pilot, but came down with the flu at some point of the training and, as they said back in the day, “washed out.” I have always found it incredibly interesting that also on this day, but in 1947, Gen. Chuck Yeager became the first pilot to break the sound barrier. Coincidence? I think not. But all I really have to say is, “Hey Ridley? You got any Beeman’s?...Loan me some, will you? I’ll pay you back later.”
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 16:56:34 +0000