WEEKEND OF PUBLIC RIDES TWO WWII PILOTS FLY ONE LAST 'MISSION' IN FLYING FORTRESS.

Byline: DANA BARTHOLOMEW

Staff Writer

VAN NUYS -- Retired pilots Lt. John Bockhorst and Lt. Col. Henry "Hank" Cervantes scanned the horizon as the B-17 Flying Fortress banked west.

There were no puffs of enemy flak. No fighters at 12 o'clock. No rat-tat-tat of machine guns. No bombs falling from the yawning bay.

And no "big friends" flaming from the clouds.

"In the air -- (after) 62 years," exclaimed Bockhorst, 83, of Moorpark, who was a cocky, 21-year-old pilot in World War II, the last time he climbed aboard a B-17. "They got bombs in here. Holy (cow)!"

"Doing well -- like we're flying on a mission," added Cervantes, 83, of Marina del Rey, who rose from migrant farmworker to become one of the few Mexican-American pilots of the war.

More than six decades after their last missions, they took to the skies Thursday in one of the most famous war birds of all time.

The Aluminum Overcast, a B-17G on a Keep It Flying tour hosted by the Experimental Aircraft Association, is among the last of the flyable Forts. And Bockhorst and Cervantes are among the last of the B-17 flyboys.

Both fought with the 100th Bomb Group, known as "The Bloody Hundredth." Both completed 26 daylight missions in one of the riskiest theaters of the war. And both were inducted into The Lucky Bastard Club.

"We were extremely lucky," said Bockhorst, a native Kansan and member of the 350th Squadron. "I honestly didn't expect to get through the war alive."

In 34 months of combat over Europe, "The Mighty 8th" Air Force suffered more than 47,000 casualties, including 26,000 deaths. On some missions, 60 bombers went down.

Of nearly 13,000 B-17s built by Rosy the Riveters across the nation, nearly 5,000 were lost in combat. Today, only a dozen remain flying.

"It's a tribute to American history," said Anne Marie Radel of West Hills, a pilot and chairwoman of the EAA B-17 tour. "They played a major part of why we're free."

The silver bird took off, its 1,200-horsepower Curtis Wright engines throttling like a roaring tin can. As the vintage bomber pointed 13 machine guns toward Malibu, the vets harked back to bombs over Berlin.

Where flak burst like popcorn.

Where enemy pilots -- flying the world's first fighter jets -- circled the bombers like sharks.

And where B-17s, with wings ablaze, spiraled toward destruction.

Before each mission, Bockhorst would raise a glass with his friend Bob Coover, a fellow pilot from Nebraska.

During one mission to Berlin, Bockhorst watched as his friend's B-17, flying just ahead, exploded from a direct hit.

"The wreckage flew right on top of our plane, scorching it from the fire," Bockhorst recalled. "I sat there powerless and watched my best friend go down in flames."

Each year, on the anniversary of Coover's death, he toasts his pal.

Cervantes, author of "Piloto: Migrant Worker to Jet Pilot," was a Central Valley farmworker who went on to develop supersonic aircraft after the war.

During one low-level "milk-run," a desperate Luftwaffe sent stripped-down fighters for a kamikaze-style attack.

"The tail gunner said, 'Here comes one from 5 o'clock high,'" said Cervantes, a pilot from the 349th Squadron. "I looked out the window and an ME-109 dove in -- within the span of our wing.

"He wasn't at his gun sight: He was looking right at me. We stared at each other for a fleeting moment (before) he crashed into the B-17 below.

"And everybody died."

Suddenly, there was a tremendous crash as Cervantes' plane, nicknamed "E-Z Gin," was rammed in the tail -- taking out the rudder and left elevator flap. After "bombs away," he managed to limp back to base, landing through the fog.

Two weeks later, he flew the last bombing run over Europe.

"When you're 21," he said, "no big deal -- you're gonna live forever. It may be somebody else (who goes down), but it won't be you."

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If you go

The EAA-B-17 Aluminum Overcast will be at Syncro Hangar at 7701 Woodley Ave., Van Nuys, today through Sunday. For information on flights and ground tours, call [phone] or see www.b17.org.

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Photo:

(1) Lt. John Bockhorst was 21 when he completed his 26th mission aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress over Germany. Here, he poses for a picture for his daughter in front of one. The Experimental Aircraft Association is offering flights aboard the B-17 Aluminum Overcast today through Sunday at Van Nuys Airport.

(2) The view from the clear nosepiece of the Experimental Aircraft Association's B-17 Aluminum Overcast over Los Angeles is clear Thursday.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(3) Lt. Col. Henry Cervantes, shown here in a 1945 photo, survived a suicide Messerschmitt ramming mission while flying a B-17 during World War II.

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If you go (see text)