Clear the Prop!

Many people say flying is hours and hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror. That was certainly true – numerous times – while I served during World War II, because sometimes we flew for 11 hours without ever touching the ground. And there certainly were moments of sheer terror as we flew through skies filled with flak and flying bullets, with our planes exploding around us or crashing in flaming infernos.

After World War II, aviation became my life-long career. The stories I’ve included in my memoirs – forced landings, crash landings, miracle landings, foreigners landing illegally, and planes flying upside down – show that life was anything but dull at a rural Wisconsin airport during the heyday of private aviation.