World War II pilots went, flew and never complained

To The Daily Sun,

On Thursday, Sept. 24, I signed up for a plane ride on a WWII B-17 that was visiting Laconia Airport as part of the Wings of Freedom Tour. The planes available were the B-17, B-24, P-40, and the P-51.

I chose the B-17 because of my age (87) and it was big enough to move around in. This was the workhorse of the war in Europe, with hundreds of flights almost every day over Germany. There are no amenities on the planes including toilet facilities. The pilots, bombardiers, radiomen  and navigators were mostly 18-22 years of age.

According to some of the WWII veterans I have talked to, they went, they flew and never complained. I wanted to experience a little of what it was like to fly in a B-17 since I never experienced battle because I was a 10 to 13-year-old during WWII. I served in the USAF during the Korean War period and I have the greatest admiration for all pilots of the plane that carried us through 1943, D Day and April 1945, VE Day Europe.

Prior to our takeoff I was joined by one of my fellow Taylor Community residents, Joe Picard, who is a WWII veteran. I would like to thank Collings Foundation for preserving these planes and making them available to the public. I also want to thank all the military that served during that time and thankful for the freedoms we have now because of them.

James J. Doherty

Laconia