Naperville veteran to fly in vintage B-29 bomber
It's been more than 65 years since World War II veteran Joe Chovelak has occupied one particular seat.
For decades he never thought he would see it again.
But on Saturday morning, the 86-year-old Naperville resident will return to his wartime command post inside a vintage B-29 bomber.
"We're so grateful that it's coming to DuPage," daughter Cindy Chovelak said of the historic plane.
A member of the Air Force stationed in Guam, Joe never believed he would return to the radio operator's seat of the largest plane flown in World War II.
Joe and Cindy will take a ride in the last flying B-29 bomber as part of DuPage Airport's Community Days weekend, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, July 23 and 24, in West Chicago.
The pair originally arranged to go aboard the Commemorative Air Force's B-29 bomber FIFI in 2005, but engine problems grounded the plane until last August.
"We are just thrilled that this is finally happening," Cindy said.
<h3 class="breakHead">'We should have been dead'</h3>
A member of the 29th Bomb Group in the 20th Air Force Division, Joe is no stranger to B-29 engine problems.
On his first mission while in Guam, Joe and his crew experienced an engine fire, much like the blaze that brought down a vintage B-17 bomber near Oswego in mid-June.
"After that all hell broke loose because the propeller started to catch on fire itself," Joe said.
Less than 200 miles south of Tokyo, the mission's intended destination, the crew was forced to turn around to avoid a crash after the propeller flew off.
"We should have been dead," Joe said. "We should have been killed right there; didn't happen."
The crew's good fortune continued and Joe was able to complete all of his missions without "one single scratch."
Over a six-month assignment in the Pacific Theater, the 29th Bomb Squadron completed 35 missions.
"We had to stop because we made so many missions that we ran out of fuses," Joe said.
True to his memory, Joe's final mission was Aug. 6, 1945, the same day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima by a different B-29 crew.
"Years later, I went back to review that and said that day, August the sixth, that was the day I had my last mission," he said. "So that night, as we were coming home, they were going up."
<h3 class="breakHead">Remembering</h3>
By Sept. 1, 1945, Joe was back in the United States; one day later Japan officially signed its surrender.
He got married, had three "out of this world" daughters and worked at NBC in Chicago for 37 years.
In 1985, he retired. Two months later he attended his first Air Force reunion. It had been 40 years since he had last seen the other members of his crew.
Talking with his fellow veterans, Joe was surprised to learn no one had ever learned the fate of missing crews and friends lost in battle.
"To me, the whole thing has always been about every person that was killed, was lost," Joe said.
Of the 45 planes in his unit that left Pratt Army Air Field in Pratt, Kan., in February 1945, only 24 returned from Guam.
After the reunion, Joe began a 25-year project to collect documents, artifacts and answers about the men in his Air Force unit.
In 2008, the collection of documents was placed in the Library of Congress. An identical set is on display at the Pratt Army Air Field.
Joe, the historian of the now defunct 29th Bomb Group, is currently working with the Kansas museum to acquire a vintage B-29 to display alongside his extensive collection.
For the 86-year-old veteran, the long process has been a lasting tribute to the men he once knew.
"For me, the big thing is the people," Joe said.
<h3 class="breakHead">A date with FIFI</h3>
Six years ago, Cindy asked her father for a favor.
"What broke?" Joe wanted to know. "Is the refrigerator a problem again?"
But Cindy's request did not involve machinery, at least not of the household variety.
She wanted to take her father for a ride in a vintage B-29 bomber called FIFI, the same type of plane he flew in during World War II.
But due to problems with the B-29's engine, the plans never took off.
"I was supposed to be on one of them," Joe said. "It fell apart, it was terrible. They didn't have the money (to fix it) and it was a mess."
As time passed, the expensive ticket price deterred Joe from trying to relive his Air Force days.
Again, Cindy intervened.
"He's done everything for us," Cindy said. "He's never said no. Now this is a gift for him."
Joe finally agreed if, and only if, his daughter would accompany him on the flight.
So when the plane was repaired earlier this year and Cindy learned it was coming to DuPage, she immediately emailed Joe.
"Dad, you have a date with FIFI."
"He knew exactly what that meant," Cindy said.