Resident enjoys high-flying quest
PENN TWP — William Morrow Sr. was a tail-gunner on a B-24J Liberator in North Africa during World War II.
More than 70 years later, his son Dick Morrow saw the sky through the same type of aircraft in memory of his father.
Dick Morrow, 64, of Fenelton was one of many who took a flight on one of four different aircraft Tuesday at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport as part of Bomber Week.
“It was like going back in time in that thing,” Morrow said. “Then (the pilot) powered those engines and we took off, and there was nothing like it.”
A week before, Morrow, himself a Vietnam-era veteran, asked his employers at Cory Fox Trucking in Cabot for the day off so he could tour the aircraft, and possibly pay the $450 fee to fly in it for a half-hour.
Shannon Odomaitis, an administrative assistant at the company, had the idea to raise the money for Morrow's fee to fly in the plane.
“Dick is a super nice gentleman,” she said. “He's very soft-spoken, a very kind-hearted man.”
American Legion Post 117 of Butler, Maxim Crane of Pittsburgh, Fox's Water Service, Richard and Jeanne Fox, and Cory Fox Trucking combined to pay for his fee, and Morrow was able to take flight Tuesday.
Morrow rode in the plane — the sole remaining example of its kind in the world still flying — over Moraine State Park and back.
Morrow said he thought of his father “the whole trip.” He also commented on what the aircraft symbolizes to him.
“Our freedom, and what (the soldiers) went through to keep America free over there when the Germans were on the march,” he said.
When he landed, he had some perspective of what it must have been like for those who came before him.
“When the tires were landing and you smelled that burned rubber you had to think of what the guys were thinking, that they were home safe again,” he said.
Morrow was one of many who enjoyed the second day of Bomber Week, which held its final day this morning at the airport.
The event is held by the Collings Foundation as part of its 27th annual Wings of Freedom Tour.
In addition to the B-24J Liberator, there is a World War II Vintage Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a North American B-25 Mitchell and a P-51 Mustang.
