By Jim Roberts
Imagine you’re a young B-17 radio operator far from your Pennsylvania home, setting off on your first mission over Germany. Just two days before Christmas 1944, the bomber labors into the skies from your base in Italy, and your pilot turns northbound toward the Alps and hostile skies.
You’re serving in the 816th Bomb Squadron, 483rd Bomb Group (Heavy), part of an aerial armada destined to bring Nazi Germany to its knees. Of course that day is somewhere off in the uncertain future, and statistically your future may be very short. According to the 483rd Bomb Group Association, of the original 646 personnel sent to Italy in 1944, 39.8 percent were either killed in action or became prisoners of war.
After what seems an eternity of breathing through a crude oxygen mask in subzero temperatures, your formation nears the target. Without warning, a wall of antiaircraft fire surrounds your ship, mortally wounding the Flying Fortress. With the aircraft limping toward home and losing altitude, you send an SOS prior to ditching in the Adriatic Sea. Your cry for help is answered by friendly forces, and you will be one of the lucky ones to see the war’s end.
That’s the story I hear from 23-year-old Nolan Merulli as he recounts his great-grandfather’s service in World War II. Nolan, a commercial pilot and CFI from Monaca, Pennsylvania, made the pilgrimage to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh to immerse himself in aviation and connect with his great-grandfather through a flight in the Commemorative Air Force’s B-17, Sentimental Journey.
Nolan related, “My dad got me into flying. He was never a pilot himself, but he really loved aviation. We were at air shows watching all the planes, and he’d always tell me about his grandfather, Walter Cochran, my great-grandfather, and I’ve loved the B-17 my whole life.” Nolan continued, “My dad was an important person to me. I lost him in 2020 at 46 years old. So it’s tough, but he meant a lot to me for getting me into aviation.”
The flight was a gift from Nolan’s grandmother, Suzanne Merulli, the daughter of that B-17 radio operator. On a phone call she said, “I knew this would be a delight for him. And my dad was a wonderful person, and I know he’d be thrilled to death for Nolan.”
And what did Nolan think while seated for takeoff at the radio operator’s station? “It was just amazing, absolutely surreal. I literally was crying as we’re taking off at the sound of those engines.” Did he feel like his great-grandfather was along on the flight? “Absolutely. My dad as well. I know he’s up there with me, and it was just an amazing experience.”
