"I fly in honor of them." That is what retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Don Thompson said last week when he was invited to fly on the 65-year-old Boeing B-17 bomber called "Aluminum Overcast" at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids.

"I lost 26 of my buddies through training and combat during World War II," he said.

Out of nearly 13,000 B-17s manufactured, the "Aluminum Overcast" is one of 14 left that are still air worthy. It was one of the last B-17's made, delivered to the Army 10 days after the war in Europe ended. It was sold for surplus after the war and survived many years as a cargo hauler and an aerial mapping platform, and used in pest control and forest dusting applications. It was purchased in 1978 by a group of private investors wanting to preserve history, and was then donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association in 1983.

Four Curtiss Wright nine-cylinder radial engines power the B-17. The bombers were the work horses of the daylight precision strategic bombing campaign of Europe in World War II against German targets.

A Marion resident for the last 13 years, 85-year-old Thompson was offered the opportunity to fly in the same kind of flying fortress he piloted during the war last Wednesday, July 21, when the plane made a stop on the way to AirVenture Oskosh. Thompson had previously flown in this same plane at Oskosh 26 years ago.

Yet his most momentous flights came almost seven decades ago. A native of Alburnett, the 17-year-old farm kid joined the Army Air Force December 7, 1942, exactly a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. At Jefferson Barracks, Mo., he took basic training with the future senator of  South Dakota and 1972 Presidential candidate George McGovern, who went on to pilot B-24 bombers during the war.

"They took two years to train me as a pilot," said Thompson. "My high school superintendent didn't think I had what it took. I graduated as the top pilot in my class, fifth from the top academically. I guess he was wrong.  It was during the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 when they called us up and dispatched us to Europe.

"I molded myself and eight others into an effective combat crew. They named our B-17 bomber the 'Damned Yankee' because all the crew members were from the South and being from Iowa, I was the Yankee. I was considered the fighter pilot in our bomber group. I'd do things with a bomber that others wouldn't do. I used to put it in a vertical and a fast letdown -- I just let it fall instead of dive. The plane would take us to England and combat, as part of the 384th Bomb Group."

The Damned Yankee's first bombing run was over Berlin. Thompson said if it hadn't been for a ground crew sergeant he wouldn't be alive today.

"Sergeant Ruby gave me a piece of plate steel that I placed under my seat," Thompson said. "A piece of flak came straight through the floor and hit it. One hit the instrument panel. Another missed my legs. A piece of flak fell at my feet. Three of my crew members were cut up pretty bad. I shouldn't be here talking to you."

On April 25, 1945, he and his crew flew in what became the last American bombing mission in Europe during the war. The target was the Skoda Armament Works at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, the last and largest remaining ammunition factory of Nazi Germany. President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill didn't want the plant to fall into Russian hands.

The 384th Bomb Group lost two planes on that last mission.

"And so a day like so many before came to a close," Thompson said, "only this one would be different, in that no mission over Germany for tomorrow would be coming. 'Keep the show on the road' was our motto and we were proud that we had done so."  

V-E (Victory in Europe) Day was 13 days later, May 8, 1945. He left the active air force in 1946.

"When I got home from the service," he said. "I was going to school and went back home to the farm. I met a girl by the name of Irene who was teaching in Marion. She was dating a young man who was a friend of mine. Turns out she was the only girlfriend I ever had and we'll be married 60 years August 4." The couple has two daughters, a son, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

"After the war, I went to Iowa in pre-law," said Thompson. "My dad had a farm accident so I went back to the farm in Alburnett. I went to school one night a week for 18 years." He was in the Air Force Reserves and retired after 30 years of service in 1972. In the 70s and 80s, he was a member of the Cedar Rapids Senior Squadron and the Iowa Wing of the Civil Air Patrol.

Switch the scene to last Wednesday when Thompson took his flight on the "Aluminum Overcast."

The flight lasted about a half-hour, taking Thompson over Cedar Rapids and the Amanas. The pilots sat Thompson in the jump seat in the cockpit.

"It brought back lots of memories," he said, "some good and some bad. When we took off I kind of lost it a little bit, thinking back to the old days. The only thing that would have been better is if I could have been flying it."

The "Aluminum Overcast" is a living window into history. Don Thompson is living, walking history.

"Being a pilot and serving in the Air Force opened so many doors over the years," he said. "I'm glad I was able to serve my country."