JACKSON — Howard Richardson flew 35 bombing missions during World War II in a B-17 named “The Mississippi Miss” and often returned to base with an airplane full of bullet holes.
In those days, climbing into a “Flying Fortress” was a sure way for a man to shorten his life expectancy. But this week, when the 87-year-old former pilot climbs into one of the historic bombers, he’ll do more reminiscing than praying to survive.
The “Aluminum Overcast,” one of about a dozen of the bombers still airworthy, will be in Jackson this week as part of the Experimental Aircraft Association’s “Salute to Veterans” tour. For a few dollars, anyone can climb aboard and look around. For a few hundred dollars, you can take a ride.
The B-17 became known as the Flying Fortress for its defensive weapons _ machine gun turrets that could fill the sky with lead when enemy fighter planes attacked.
Richardson, a career military pilot with bright white hair and an easygoing demeanor, thumbed through photographs and military documents at his Brandon home while discussing the bombing missions he flew, including two on D-Day.
“We had more fighters attack us than you could shake a stick at,” Richardson said. “When you came back (from a mission), the crew chief would have to work all night to get you ready to go again. It wasn’t just one bullet hole, it was a bunch of holes.”
Perhaps the most famous B-17 is the “Memphis Belle,” which became the subject of films and books after its crew was the first to complete 25 missions in World War II.
Later in the war, the number of missions required of B-17 crews increased from 25 to 30 and then to 35. Many never made it _ 4,735 of the bombers were lost in combat.
“The survival rate was pretty low,” Richardson said. “I was inducted into the Lucky Bastard Club.”
Hunter Gates, 86, also counts himself among the lucky ones. He spent two months as a prisoner after his B-17 was shot down over Germany late in the war.
Two of the 10 men aboard died when the airplane exploded.
Gates manned the chin turret, a machine gun in the nose of the plane.
“It was on my 10th mission … and our plane got three direct hits,” Gates said in a telephone interview from his Jackson home. “We bailed out pretty quick because the co-pilot saw a fire in the right wing and that’s where the gas tanks are.”
Today, Gates and the co-pilot on that mission are the only members of the 10-man crew still alive _ a stark reminder that the legions of World War II veterans are fading away.
Still, “the iconic message of this airplane and what the greatest generation did during World War II carries down through the generations,” said Sean Elliott, the EAA’s director of flight operations for the B-17.
“It’s living history,” Elliott said. “It was a very harsh environment and to actually fly in the airplane opens windows that people just can’t fathom when they read it in a book.”
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