He got to get his hands on one back in 2004 on opening day of Boeing's Museum of Flight's Personal Courage Wing. They chased him off when he tried to climb up on it.

It was great for us "kids" to stand back and watch our fathers talking with other pilots who had flown the Thunderbolts. Then a group of guys who had flown P-51s came over and they all shared stories. You could tell the guys who flew P-47s because they all had hearing aids. Those air cooled, radial Pratt-Whitney engines were loud suckers. A few years later, for his 92nd birthday, he got to go up in one of the Stearman biplane trainers he had been in during flight training. Not the same but he still got quite a kick out of it.

Those years in Europe were the best years of his life in terms of camaraderie and a sense of purpose but they took a toll. He was awarded the Silver Star for flying a mission towards the end of the war that's still classified. Never talked about any of it with me until we got together in 2004 then he told me things he'd experienced that explained a lot of his behavior when I was a kid.

He went to his death believing that war remains a necessary evil but that we need to figure out an alternative way of dealing with conflicts if we're going to survive. Dad was a pretty smart guy.

Thanks for your link Omaha Steve.
That was quite an experience!

Shot down twice. The first time he was fished out of the Channel (got a "Goldfish Club" card), but the second time was over France and he spent the last 1.5 years in a POW camp. He never talked about it much, but when I was in high school I got interested in WW II and asked him about it. Talking about all the friends he lost on the mission and in the camp was the first time I ever saw him cry.

It would be nice to grant each one a bucket list wish.

Twelve days after his arrival at his base in Italy, he got shot down on his second mission (everyone bailed out safely) and spent the duration of the war at Stalag Luft I. I just came across an article about his return home: http://tinyurl.com/y9vu8xhw Interesting what you can find on the internet.

near the end of WWII. A few years ago, I and my siblings paid for him to fly, once again, on a B-17 when one was in the area. He's still talking about that reminiscence flight.

I wonder if one day my kids will give me a ride in a H-H1. And my kids will go you flew around in this flying washing machine