I will never forget when I was a kid and my uncle came home with a VHS tape of William Wyler’s 1944 documentary titled Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress. He gave it to me as a gift, as I had recently seen the 1990 film Memphis Belle, and said, “You will like this one. It has the real heroes in it.” He was right. Little did I know that watching this tape over and over again would help shape my future career. I had never seen men as brave as they appeared in that film. I knew then I wanted my future to involve people like that, and, of course, a B-17.
After seeing the film, I became a B-17 nut. I remember building models and reading books about them. Then one day my father came home with a newspaper and showed me that a B-17 was being rebuilt out at the local airport. My parents and grandparents went out with me to see it. I couldn’t believe it was a real B-17, and after the tour guide told us it was maintained by volunteers, I asked how I could get involved. I was only 12 at the time, but luckily for me, people who would become great friends took me under their wings.
After a few months of volunteering, the movie version of the Memphis Belle came to be temporarily displayed at our museum. I was asked if I could sit in the airplane and give tours to folks walking through. I spent hours in the cockpit of that B-17, and I was happy to do it. The whole time I was volunteering, I was also reading about and following progress on the real Memphis Belle’s restoration in Memphis, Tennessee. As a kid, my heroes were people like the Belle’s pilot, Robert Morgan, as well as one of the men driving the restoration force Harry Friedman.
Years went by and I was more of a B-17 nut than ever. I bought a ride in EAA’s B-17 Aluminum Overcast and it was the best purchase I’ve ever made. When I became an air traffic controller in Indiana, every day I would drive past Grissom Air Force Base, which had a B-17 on outdoor display at its museum. My friend Rob and I decided to volunteer to clean it up, but we needed advice on how. We contacted the B-17 co-op, and I was shocked when Harry Friedman himself not only responded to my e-mail, but came to the museum to pay us a visit. He helped us check for corrosion and gave ideas on getting press for the aircraft.
I started working at EAA in 2013 and have been very fortunate to work with the B-17 program and the veterans who once crewed this magnificent machine. Last year, I received a call from the Air Force Museum Foundation that I will never forget.
“Would you be able to give your B-17 presentation here at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in May? We are going to dedicate the Memphis Belle,” the woman from the museum asked. After the shock set in, I accepted. I couldn’t believe I was going to get to be a small part of the celebration of this wonderful aircraft and the veterans who flew it.
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and the museum foundation are prestigious organizations. Their 13-year restoration to preserve the Memphis Belle culminated in an event that was historic for any lover of the Flying Fortress or of World War II history. Three days of flyovers by three other B-17s, including EAA’s own Aluminum Overcast, as well as WWII-era fighters and trainers, living history reenactors, screenings of the documentary and feature films, as well as the families of the Belle’s crewmembers all made for an amazing time. I had the privilege of speaking alongside Catherine Wyler, the daughter or William Wyler who directed the documentary and producer of the feature film, about the films and then gave my own presentation about what life was like aboard a B-17 in WWII.
It felt like my own life was coming full circle. A movie about this famous plane is one of the things that sparked my interest in WWII history, and there I was speaking at the dedication of the restored Belle alongside so many amazing people. The Memphis Belle will continue to be on permanent static display in the WWII hangar of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. It is a memorial to all of those who flew, crewed, maintained, designed, built, and restored these amazing machines. One of the most inspiring things to see while I attended its grand unveiling was the whole new generation of little kids getting excited about the Memphis Belle’s amazing story. Looking at them, I had to wonder what future aviators are being inspired today because of the same airplane I that inspired me.