Checking off an item on his long-time bucket list put George Henry aboard a B-17 on June 1st. The plane was restored to its original wartime condition and known as the “Nine-O-Nine”. On its side you can see swastikas, each indicating a kill.
Five months after George’s flight, all seven people aboard the same plane in which he had taken his ride died in Connecticut in a devastating crash.
I asked him for the backstory and he told us about the experience he had on his flight, one sponsored by a long-established aviation non-profit, the Collings Foundation. Flying out of Mather Airport in Sacramento near George’s home for 30 minutes at 2,000 feet over the Sierra Foothills and Folsom Lake was “a chance to get a real feel for what life was like for airmen during WWII.” But George points out that the conditions for those airmen were far more grueling. “During the war these aircraft, and others like them, flew long-duration missions over the war zones as bombers and many did not return. Also, they were not insulated or pressurized and flew above 30,000 feet where the outside air is -55 centigrade and the crew must remain on oxygen. (Shorts and tee only works in the Sacramento summer.) No autopilot, little if any hydraulic assist for the flight surfaces, and complicated engines, propellers, and fuel management.”
The cockpit scenario for George’s flight was very different from ones in the 1940’s. The aircraft commander was in his mid-50’s and the co-pilot was a young, 20-something woman, in addition to a loadmaster. Vintage aircraft are notoriously difficult to fly. They take a lot of skill and experience. Back in the hold, it wasn’t much more comfortable. George, strapped in by a primitive seat belt and sitting on the floor with his back against the fuselage—with only one sheet of metal separating the inside from the outside—got a taste of the deafening noise inside a propeller-driven bomber.
George’s interest originated in his air navigation training at Mather (AFB then), where he was later an instructor navigator. After “Nav School” he flew C-130s in Vietnam (1970-1972) and later was an instructor nav with the Air Force Reserve in Michigan and Wisconsin. Looking back, he says, “We transported cargo, threw out paratroopers, dropped heavy equipment, refueled helicopters in-flight, and performed search and rescue missions.” George retired as a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve
in November 1994.
Comments