For William Myers, tour of vintage aircraft recalls WW II exploits

Year after year, Dennis Gore used to see fellow Westminster resident William Myers in the crowd whenever the Wings of Freedom Tour -- a show of vintage World War II aircraft -- made its annual stop at Frederick Municipal Airport.

In more recent years, when the tour began stopping closer to home at the Carroll County Regional Airport Myers, true to form, would show up there as well.

"He would come out and stand by the fence and just watch the planes," recalls Gore, a long-time aviation enthusiast and a member of the Collings Foundation, the nonprofit organization that sponsors the tour and other living history events across the nation. "I would just notice him there year after year."

One day, Gore introduced himself to Myers who, at 86, is a generation older.

They soon discovered they shared a fondness and fascination for World War II aircraft in general, and specifically for the Wings of Freedom's vintage bombers and fighters.

Gore also learned that Myers, a soft-spoken man who grew up in New Windsor and has lived for years in Westminster, has a firsthand connection with those war birds.

As a tail gunner in the Second Air Division, 448th Bomber Group and 714th squadron, Myers served in the crew of a B-24 Liberator -- the Achtung! Noon Balloon -- and flew 25 combat missions over Germany and France in 1945.

The chance meeting of a fellow Carroll Countian with such a background was, for Gore, a rare and treasured discovery.

"I just love spending time with these guys and listening to their stories," says Gore, who was born a generation too late for World War II but is nonetheless utterly fascinated by war-time aviation.

"Their stories," he says, "are living history."

War and remembrance

Naturally, Myers and his fellow crew members on the Achtung! Noon Balloon formed a deep bond that has endured for 63 years.

A retired auditor for the city of Baltimore, Myers still keeps in touch with his surviving crew mates.

He has attended 448th Bomb Group reunions all over the country and, several times, he and his wife Irene have visited the air base where the Achtung! and its crew were assigned, at Seething, England.

Recently, Myers even compiled "Achtung! Noon Balloon," an illustrated memoir of his plane, its missions and its crew.

In the book, the Achtung!'s captain, Lt. Kay Flinders of Salt Lake City, recalls how even during training in Lincoln, Neb. and Boise, Idaho, in late 1944, the 10-man crew became "like a family."

"I look back and I think how incredible it was how we had that relationship under all that pressure," Flinders writes in the memoir. "I think we had an inner feeling of a spiritual nature that we all shared."

Myers agrees.

"Just being shot at every day is something you don't forget," he says today. "I think that's why we've kept our friendships all these years and have bonded so closely."

Myers recalls that he and his crew flew several missions in other planes until they finally got their own plane. A big debate ensured about what to name it.

"Then on one mission we bombed Berlin at exactly 12 o'clock noon," he adds. "When we got back to base we all agreed on what to name it." The Achtung! Noon Balloon was born.

It still thrills Myers and Gore each time they get an opportunity to spend time around and inside the Wings of Freedom's immaculately restored bombers and fighter planes. Naturally, they will be front and center next weekend, Oct. 17-20, when the Wings of Freedom Tour touches down in Westminster for three days.

Myers and Gore are particularly devoted to the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber that will be among the vintage planes on exhibit and available for rides in Westminster. That's because it's exactly the same make and model that Myers and his crew flew.

Workhorse, not showhorse

Overall, the B-24 is considerably less known and celebrated than it's more high-profile cousins, the B-17 and the B-25. Part of this obscurity owes to the fact that the Collings Foundation's B-24 is the only fully restored and air-worthy bomber of its vintage in existence.

Plus, the B-24 was more of a workhorse, not a showhorse.

"Looks are everything," notes Gore, who is an authority on World War II aircraft.

"The B-17 was slower and carried fewer bombs than the B-24, but it was beautifully designed -- it looked good," he says. "It was the plane they used in movies like 'Twelve O'Clock High.'

"But the B-24 was an altogether more advanced bomber that flew faster, flew higher and carried more bombs," he insists.

According to the book, Achtung! Noon Balloon, more B-24 Liberators -- 18,479, all told -- were built during World War II than any other aircraft.

Ironically, after the war nearly all were scrapped for their aluminum, which was used for prefab housing. Thus, the aircraft that helped preserve a nation's way of life ended up as a piece of the post-war middle class's rising prosperity.

Today, for the veterans of those flying machines and for members of younger generations of appreciative Americans, such as Gore, it's important to commemorate those planes' importance.

That's why they are both active in the Collings Foundation, a national organization devoting to preserving, maintaining and showing these aircraft as a means of helping Americans appreciate their past and the sacrifices of the war-time generation.

That's a mission that, even 63 years after the war, Gore is eager to take on. He has even advocated for increased emphasis on World War II history in local public school curricula.

"Since I first came to a Wings of Freedom Tour over 12 year ago, I've been amazed by the B-24s and all the other planes," says Gore, whose father also served in World War II as a member of the Naval Armed Guard.

"Since then, I've become a sponsor and I've made contributions, because it's important to me to keep the B-24s flying."

Another important mission for Myers is to remember the place where he served as a youth. A portion of all his proceeds from his World War II memoir, "Achtung! Noon Balloon," are donated to the community of Seething, England, where his air base was located.

The book, which chronicles his 25 combat missions over France and Germany between Jan. 13 and April 15, 1945, with the crew of a B-24 Bomber, is available for $18 at Locust Books, 9 E. Main St., Westminster. Call 410-876-1620.

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