recall. But, I
distinctly remember that she said "props". She would occassionally
recount riding in the nose of a B-24 on landing as one of her favorite
thrills. Watching the tarmac come up to within a couple of feet of the
glass with someone else at the controls. I liken this to crewmen on
aircraft carriers who stand at the end of the catapult foor
thrills.

I don't know if there is a place to go for copies of the pilot's
logs, but I would love to see just how many hours she had in each type
of aircraft. We recently were honored with the presence of the
Colling's Foundation's B-24 & B-17. I commented to the pilot that
he was probably the first person I had met with more time in the 17
than my mother. His response was"probably not". Even though he had
flown 30+ missions, the average mission was maybe seven hours, totaling
only 210 hours plus thier training time. Far less than most of the
ferry pilots who never saw any combat.

Recently, at the Watsonville antique fly-in, I was talking with a
gentleman from the antique aircraft museum in San Martin, California.
He had been a radio operator on a B-17. He recounted to me a story of
stopping at an unfamiliar base to refuel. The captain and first officer
had gone into the ops building to update their flight plan and check
weather reports. Himself and the navigator had stayed with the airplane
awaiting the fuel truck.

They watched two P-47's execute a high speed fly-by at low altitude
then peel off into the pattern and land side-by-side. The 47's taxied
up and parked