World War II aircraft, their aviators and our heroes
Posted By RichC on March 1, 2010
While watching an aviation video online highlighting the P51 Mustang (30 min video below) and thinking about the ever dwindling number of WW II heroes from the greatest generation, I gave a bit more thought about an upcoming trip with my son. We’ll be spending a week with a World War II aviator from that era, my father-in-law … and Taylor‘s grandfather.
As an Air Force lieutenant, Frederick A. Howard flew nearly 40 missions as navigator in a Martin B-26 Marauder over Europe.
His stories have always been of interest to me and knowing that time is running short, want to trigger as many memories as possible for him to share with Taylor. Several years ago we were amazed the the emotion that was triggered in seeing a B-26 at the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, so to we planned a trip with him to the restoration area of MAPS Museum in Akron, Ohio. It was a chance for him to see (touch and climb though) one of the very few Martin B-26 Marauders, during a restoration. We then gave him a book that reviewed the history of this fast medium sized bomber during WW II and asked him to make notes in the margin detailing his memory of the missions — something he seemed to thoroughly enjoy.
Besides reviewing the book, I’m planning to archive the pages of B-26.com with Pagenest on my thumbdrive (questionable Internet) in order to share in with him via computer during our visit … and perhaps someday “soon” take him to the B-26 Marauder archives.
Watching this video has reminded me that time is short and the opportunities are disappearing for a grandfather to talk with his grandson about what he was doing at age 20. Simply amazing ‘young’ men.
Comments