STIRRING MEMORIES FABLED B-25S SOAR THROUGH VALLEY.Byline: Joseph Giordono Staff Writer VAN NUYS - The rumble of lumbering B-25 bombers over Van Nuys Airport Van Nuys Airport (IATA: VNY, ICAO: KVNY, FAA LID: VNY) is a public airport located in Van Nuys, California in the San Fernando Valley, within the Los Angeles city limits. on Wednesday afternoon brought back vivid memories for 84-year-old Lou Zamperini. As the seven vintage bombers stopped to refuel re·fu·el v. re·fu·eled also re·fu·elled, re·fu·el·ing also re·fu·el·ling, re·fu·els also re·fu·els v.tr. To supply again with fuel. v.intr. at Petersen Aviation atVan Nuys Airport on their way to what is billed as the nation's largest reunion of B-25s in Fresno, Zamperini couldn't help but remember how a similar plane changed his life in 1943. Zamperini spent 47 days adrift on a life raft in the Pacific Ocean after his search-and-rescue plane crashed while looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a downed B-25. He spent the next two years in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of enemy combatants captured by the enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. . ``I live in two different worlds. One before World War II and one after,'' said the Torrance native, who inspired the name of that city's airfield. ``I am still reading and studying war stories by other people and what hell it is to go through. These planes bring back a lot.'' The planes, made famous by Gen. Jimmy Doolittle's April 1942 raid on Tokyo and immortalized in the Spencer Tracy film ``Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo,'' are drawing similar reactions all over the country. ``I'm here because the B-25 has such an interesting history,'' said Louis Kridelbaugh, president of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. ``General Doolittle'' Air Force Association chapter. ``There are still a couple of these flying around, but this is the most I've seen together.'' Though none of the 16 B-25s of Doolittle's Raiders survived the raid, their mission was an important morale booster Noun 1. morale booster - anything that serves to increase morale; "the sight of flowers every morning was my morale builder" morale building boost, encouragement - the act of giving hope or support to someone for Americans after Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor, land-locked harbor, on the southern coast of Oahu island, Hawaii, W of Honolulu; one of the largest and best natural harbors in the E Pacific Ocean. In the vicinity are many U.S. military installations, including the chief U.S. and several other setbacks in the Pacific Theater Pacific Theater or Pacific Theatre may refer to
``It is a big honor for us to be invited to the reunions,'' said Pat Anderson, a Northwest Airlines pilot who flies the B-25 bomber Miss Mitchell from St. Paul St. Paul as a missionary he fearlessly confronts the “perils of waters, of robbers, in the city, in the wilderness.” [N.T.: II Cor. 11:26] See : Bravery , Minn., to various air shows around the country. ``It is an honor to meet the guys who went up in these things for real and stuck their necks out. I've flown a couple of the guys around, and it is amazing to see how appreciative they are.'' The aluminum-sided, twin-engine, twin-tailed B-25s are difficult to maintain, Anderson said, but much more fun to fly than an airliner. The rare sight of seven vintage bombers was made possible by Robert Petersen, president of Petersen Aviation, a Van Nuys charter company. His firm donated fuel and provided the pilots and crews a place to rest. ``This is pretty exciting, especially since I used to know Jimmy Doolittle and used to go hunting with him,'' said Petersen, himself a veteran of the Army Air Corps. ``We have had the planes here before and we would love to have them here again.'' CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) A World War II-era B-25 bomber draws an admiring audience Wednesday as it taxis on the tarmac at Van Nuys Airport. (2) A vintage B-25 bomber lands at Van Nuys Airport, stopping to fuel Wednesday before continuing to a reunion in Fresno. Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer |
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