WWII vintage airplanes make a stop in Aurora

The 30 to 50 people making up the crowd Wednesday afternoon at Aurora Municipal Airport in Sugar Grove kept their eyes to the sky - for much longer than they had planned.

When the vintage planes of World War II became visible against the clear blue skies, it was worth the wait for a chance to see the exhibits of the traveling Wings of Freedom tour, which was delayed by rain at its previous stop in Waterloo, Iowa.

"Isn't that a thing of beauty?" one onlooker asked as the B-17 Flying Fortress "Nine-O-Nine" made its landing at about 2:40 p.m.

It was followed by the B-24 Liberator "Witchcraft" about an hour later, and then finally, the P-51 Mustang "Betty Jane" coming in close to 5 p.m., about three hours later than expected.

The Wings of Freedom attracts veterans of all wars but serves its most meaningful purpose when someone who served on the historic aircraft as a young man is able to relive his memories.

Ray Moore of Aurora looked upon the B-17 and its 103-foot wingspan on the tarmac, saying, "I had some long days of battles in that thing."

Moore was a tail gunner on a B-17 and flew numerous missions over Germany, some taking as many as eight hours.

Frank Bernd of Naperville was a bombardier on a B-17 with the Eighth Air Force and smiled fondly when seeing this B-17 had demo bombs aboard with "To Hitler from the Mighty 8th" painted on.

"I flew 30 missions over Europe and came back alive," Bernd said. "And that's pretty good, because we lost a lot of them."

Bernd was focusing on the gunner turret at the bottom of the B-17, saying the lead plane he was on during a mission had radar equipment in that section, rather than a gunner.

"I know, because it caught on fire one time when we had to make a crash landing at an air base," Bernd said. "It was Christmas Eve, 1944."

Some viewed the planes as a reminder of sacrifice and a price paid.

Cyril Sherman of Maple Park lost three brothers during World War II on the B-17.

"I was the youngest brother, but when I enlisted they wouldn't let me go because I had so many brothers in already," Sherman said.

When the B-24 came in for its landing, Don Thompson of Oswego was asked by family members if he wanted to hop in it and take off. He flew the B-24 in the Air Force reserves in the late 1950s, training for the aircraft's specialty - attacking submarines.

"I think I could handle that plane again, but that was a long time ago," Thompson said with a smile. "I bet no one would trust me to take it up now."

Many in attendance were eager to see the P-51 Mustang fighter plane that changed the tide of the war when it came into service in late 1942.

"If they had made that plane two years earlier, it would have cut a year off the war," Sherman said.

Alex Miller of Aurora, a model plane enthusiast, said his favorite plane is the P-51 Mustang.

"I'm kind of partial to that plane," said Miller, a veteran of the Coast Guard. "Those won the war for us, actually, because they could outgun the Luftwaffe."

Moore agreed because he had seen the German pilots in action when they went after the B-17s.

"You have to remember that those German pilots had about 15 years of experience in war," Moore said. "In some cases, we were sending guys up there with only six weeks of training.

"Those Germans knew how to shoot down planes, but when we got the Mustangs, that changed everything."

So much so, it is said, that Hermann Goering, the second-in-command Nazi leader who headed the Luftwaffe, was quoted as saying, "The day I saw Mustangs over Berlin, I knew the jig was up."

Area residents can watch for the planes with much less anxiety than the German and Japanese soldiers of World War II, but the best opportunity for viewing remain at area airports.

The planes will be on display at Aurora Municipal Airport from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon Friday. They will visit DuPage Airport in West Chicago from July 31 to Aug. 2, and are scheduled to be at Palwaukee this weekend and in Kankakee Aug. 2-4. Visitors are asked for a $12 donation for adults and $6 for children.

The Collings Foundation, which organizes the tour as a "living history event," also was offering rides on the B-17 at $425 per person.

Land: Planes on display in Sugar Grove through Friday morning