World War II bomber pilot Bernerd Harding, now 90 and suffering from prostate cancer, took a 30-minute ride in “The Witchcraft,” the last B-24 still flying, Sept. 25 from Laconia, N.H., to Manchester, N.H. “It was fun. It was worth it. It’s history,” he said after the flight, the Associated Press reported that day. According to AP, Harding saw this as his final mission and it gave him closure after 65 years since the last time he flew in a B-24, on July 7, 1944, his aircraft was shot down over Germany and he was taken prisoner. Harding, a resident of Milford, N.H., also went back to Germany last month prior to the flight to the village where he was captured. He tried in vain to find the pilot’s wings he had hidden out of fear of reprisals by the villagers.
The 301st Fighter Wing in Fort Worth, Texas, became the first standalone Reserve unit in the Air Force to get its own F-35s, welcoming the first fighter Nov. 5.