Jerry Penry

Thanks! That first plane looks like maybe a C-47 or C-53.

I was based at Kansas City for 13 years while employed by Trans World Airlines. I lived in Independence and kept a Piper J-3, a sailplane and a Cessna 182 at the Independence Airport. The fellow that is in the newspaper article had a maintenance hanger there and I would get him to service and inspect my airplanes and sailplane.

He showed me the photograph of him holding a captured German Flag along with several grinning GI's. When I was twelve or so I had seen that photograph in a set of WWII books that a brother in law owned. I am quite sure the photograph was in Life magazine at one time.

About six or so years ago the 310 Bomb Wing held their yearly reunion in New Orleans and of course we took a trip to the WWII museum and in one of the rooms an enlarged life size copy of that Photograph was displayed. I didn't see any names on the photograph, I went to the office of the Museum and told them I knew the name of the person holding the flag, they didn't seem to have any interest in knowing anything about the photograph.

James Flanagan left Independence about 1982 or so and went to California and got a job maintaining a P-51 for somebody. In 2005 our 50 year reunion of the first flight of the U-2 was held at Beal AFB, I attended that reunion and I stopped by and visited with James a couple of hours. He had retired and age was catching up with him real fast. His mind was wandering then. He had made it back to the invasion site where he jumped on 6 June 1944, I don't remember the year he made the trip.

A friend sent me the news paper article, it was printed in 2011. I think James probably died about 2007 or 2008. My friend sent me the obit article but I can't find it right now.

James also was involved in the action that the movie A Bridge To Far was supposed to reflect that action.

He was a character and said what ever was on his mind, no matter the subject and he didn't candy coat his remarks. He was well read and a fantastic airplane mechanic. He is the only person that I have ever met that I considered a genius. Most folks gave him quite a birth when he was around. I spent many happy hours listening to him weave his tales. He had quite a few momentous in his small office in his maintenance hangar.

I agree the WWII museum at New Orleans is well worth the visit.

You are correct, I clicked on the wrong image when I posted. That is a C47.

This is the B25.

Andy

Thanks for sharing. I would love to visit the museum. It looks like I need to plan a trip to New Orleans!

My Dad and I made a whirlwind trip to Charleston back in July 2007 to buy my Robot and RTK gear when I opened my business. We made it to the aircraft carrier about an hour before it closed for the day. I want to make a trip back out there for that as well.

I saw a B-17 flying out of a local airport about a year ago. It was a real treat to see it flying over my town. Even for someone like me with no experience in the military, the sound is very distinctive. I (thought) I knew what it was from the sound before I ever saw it. It turned out to be the plane that was used in the movie "Memphis Belle". There was a story about it on the local news later that evening.

One of the staffers there is the son of Curtis Makamson. Curtis is his "teacher" name. I grew up calling him "Squeakie". Hell of a guy. First Sgt in an Army unit in Viet Nam. They don't come any better.
Squeakie is a Civil War buff and makes some of the most beautiful powder horns that you have ever seen. When you hit the museum, look up Squeakie's son ans ask him about his Dad's powder horn business.
Squeakie lives just to the East in the Pascagoola/Gulfport area. Those into black powder hunting need to go see Squeakie and see what he has for sale. (I think he has photos on his Facebook page.)
Either way, you are going to meet some mighty fine people. The museum is well worth the trip. They've done a heck of a job on setting it up.

Jerry Davis - did you know David Alexander with TWA when you were in KC?

Jim,
I was at Kansas City from 1967 till 1980 and I don't remember meeting anybody of that name. I left Kansas City for New York in 1980 and retired in 1991. Funny thing about Airline flying, I was meeting folks at the end of 24 years that I have never seen or heard of. We did bidding by seniority each month, very seldom would I have a month of flying with somebody I knew. That was back in the three man cockpits and most of the flights were with two strangers. I usually carried surveying books or magazines with me on flights. One time in New York one of the other fellows saw POB on a magazine, he remarked that sounded like Point of Beginning, asked if I was a surveyor. He said he was a surveyor but was not active. He asked me if he could read my magazine on the layover in Europe, most likely Paris. The next day he returned the magazine and said he would get a subscription. After that trip I never saw him again. At that time we had about 4,400 pilots, so it was kinda like being in the Armed Services. One thing about flying is we have more tales to tell than surveyors, hard to believe but true.