WWII PILOT LANDS AT LAST

Posted by Gordon on September 28, 2009 at 7:30am
From my home state.


WWII PILOT LANDS AT LAST
90-year-old gets ride in rare aircraft
By NORMA LOVE
Associated Press
Updated: 09/26/2009 01:35:35 AM PDT

JIM COLE/Associated Press;MANCHESTER, N.H. -

World War II pilot Bernerd Harding feels he finally has completed his mission - 65
years after his B-24 airplane was shot down over Germany.
Harding, now 90 and being treated for prostate cancer, was a passenger Friday
in the Witchcraft - the last B-24 still flying. He sat in the cockpit behind
the pilots. The skies were clear during the 30-minute flight from Laconia to
Manchester that ended with a safe, smooth landing.

"It was fun. It was worth it. It's history," he said after the flight.

As the four engines rumbled to life, Harding was taken back to another time -
when he was a 25-year-old first lieutenant piloting a bombing run to
Bernburgh, Germany. On the way back to his base in England, fighters crippled
his plane, forcing him and his crew to bail out with their parachutes.

Harding waited for the others to jump, then turned and saluted a German
fighter pilot for not blowing up the plane with the men inside.

"He flew alongside to make sure I jumped out," Harding said.

Harding said he felt that mission - his 14th - was incomplete without one
more landing. Friday's was "close enough," he said.

Harding's B-24, nicknamed Georgette, was shot down a month after the D-Day
invasion of Normandy, on July 7, 1944. One member of Harding's crew was
killed. The others - including Harding - were taken prisoner.

Harding landed in a freshly cut wheat field, barely missing a barbed wire
fence. Three farmers, two with pitchforks and one with a gun, captured him
and herded him into a cellar in Klein Quenstedt, a village southwest of
Berlin. Fearing reprisals from villagers for being a bomber pilot, Harding
buried his pilot's wings in the cellar floor.

Two weeks ago, Harding returned to Klein Quenstedt to search for the wings
with villagers' help. He didn't find his wings, but a resident gave him a
silver bracelet recovered from the body of a dead American airman that day.
The bracelet belonged to Jack H. Glenn and is being returned to his sister in
Anchorage, Alaska. She plans to send it to a museum in Texas where Glenn grew
up.

The Collings Foundation, which owns the Witchcraft, presented Harding with a
new set of pilot's wings after Friday's flight.

That wasn't Harding's first time inside the Witchcraft. He toured the bomber
about 10 years ago with his grandchildren but didn't fly in it, so this time
it was a treat.

"He says, 'I'm making my last landing.' In light of the cancer, what a gift,"
said his wife, Ruth, 84, who rode in the B-24 on Friday.

Harding's only complaint about the flight is that he couldn't see outside the
plane much.

"I was watching them in the cockpit," he said.

It took a friendship, bonded across a generation, and a mutual interest in
the war to pull off Friday's special flight.

Two years ago, Harding met Bob Korkuc, who was writing a book about his
uncle's death aboard a B-17. Korkuc had noticed Harding's POW license plate
and asked if Harding was a ball turret gunner, since Harding was short enough
to fit into that part of the plane. Harding told Korkuc his story and Korkuc
asked if he could research it for another book. Their talks cemented a
friendship.

Last October, Korkuc decided to help Harding travel to Germany find his wings
and land in a B-24 again. Korkuc called the Collings Foundation and arranged
for Friday's flight. Korkuc, 47, of Amherst, also helped arrange Harding's
trip to Germany.

Harding of Milford, N.H., was also accompanied on the Friday flight by his
son Brian Harding, 53, of Milford, and Korkuc. The Associated Press also was
on the flight.

The Witchcraft is in New Hampshire as part of the Collings Foundation's Wings
of Freedom Tour. The foundation, based in Stow, Mass., offers tours of
military planes as well as flights aboard the aircraft.
---------------------------------------------------------

Comment by Gordon on September 28, 2009 at 9:21pm Do you remember the "Thresha?" That was made at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The results of that tragedy are still kept secret. I saw it when it was in dry dock, never did get to go inside.

If you like four seasons, mountains in the fall prettier then you could ever imagine, country fairs with horse pulling, men competing with axes, etc, great fishing, swimming and food to die for you would like N. H.

I have been here so many years that I have settled into a comfort zone and that can be bad, so we are going to see if we can brake free and make a new beginning.


Comment by Josie on September 28, 2009 at 7:46pm I was wondering how you got here, & that's TRUE about how the government thinks about their people.......they're expendable. I am also grateful that you're ok after dealing with asbestos.

Thanks for sharing your story with us! As for me, it's pretty easy: born here at Memorial hospital, been here all my life. I would like to move to Montana or some other FREE place than this state!

Now come on Gordon, once you get to NH you'll love it.....Salinas isn't as great as it used to be!

Speaking of Navy, my dad in law served some time with them......he cracked his knee on the Midway! We got to see the Midway in San Diego last year. WOW, such cramped quarters!

Comment by Gordon on September 28, 2009 at 6:27pm We are planing, God willing, to take a trip back home this coming May and stay for awhile. We will look at different properties to see what we like, property is cheaper back there if you know where to look. If we should find something, I mean something that stands out and barks "Here I Am" then we will return to Salinas and sell everything here and return back to New Hampshire. We will be checking out doctors, hospitals, etc. before making a final decision.


Comment by Gordon on September 28, 2009 at 6:19pm I was born and raised in New Hampshire, graduated, took a civil service test and went to work for the government. This is when I found out what the government thinks about those in its employ. I was working for the Naval Facility repairing submarines that come in from maneuvers and also the building of new subs.

When they came in for overhaul we often had to remove the insulation and lagging from the steam pipes running from the SSTG's (Ship Steam Turbine Generators). These pipes ran above head and the insulation had to be cut away allowing it to fall at our feet to be cleaned up later. After inspection of the piping and making any necessary repairs, new insulation had to be applied with fresh lagging and mud. It was of course done in a very confined area and of course dusty, We had to hacksaw through some of it, the rest we just ripped away. In case you haven't guessed what I have been dancing around, the insulation and lagging materials and mud used to go over the new lagging was asbestos.

You see back then there were no laws governing its use, no education. I found out later that although the workers were in the dark concerning it the administration and government doctors were not, they knew what they were doing. I found out that we were expendable, workers could be replaced.

So far so good, I pray everyday that it will remain that way. I'm not saying I haven't been affected, my lungs naturally came into contact with it.

Around 1969 the government started handing out pink slips to all those with five years or less and those that could retire had to. I received a pink slip. The city lived off the Navy Yard, almost everyone worked there, the city, Portsmouth, almost became a ghost town, everyone was leaving. My wife, kids and I came to Salinas because she had family here and it only seemed like the natural thing to do. So off we went with my wife watching the map so we wouldn't get lost.

We were in Salinas two weeks when I went to work for Monterey County. The rest is history, after a lot of hard work I became a Public Works Investigator and remain that till my retirement.

Comment by Josie on September 28, 2009 at 4:58pm You're from New Hampshire? How is it there? How did you wind up here in Salinas? Did I tell you that I really don't care for Salinas, but we're stuck here? Ok, enough questions.

Still think this story's awesome though........I mean, how many vets get to ride in a plane LIKE THIS?!


Comment by Josie on September 28, 2009 at 1:09pm That is an amazing story. I can't imagine Bernerd's feelings during wartime, & back sitting in a B-24. Bet his feelings were indescribable.

Excellent post, Gordon!