Stories to tell

By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

Before the B-17 bomber rolled to a stop at 3:40 p.m., a Wings of Freedom Tour crew member asked the crowd to raise their hands and point to their watches -- for arriving late.

Delayed more than a day for repairs in Pueblo, Colo., the B-17 was the last of three tour stars to arrive. The tour opened Wednesday with a B-24 bomber and a P-51 Mustang. The planes are available from 9 a.m. to noon today at Salina Municipal Airport.

The World War II-era planes served to educate some and brought back memories to others. They were nothing new to Richard Buhler, in his mid-70s, who was reared south of Salina.

"There were hundreds of them out here. We would stare with our mouths open," Buhler said.

The airport was part of Smoky Hill Army Airfield, which opened in 1942 and was later named Schilling Air Force Base.

"We had a couple neighbors that flew in them," Buhler said. "One came home. The other one didn't."

The planes, equipped with machine guns and other gear used in combat during the war in Europe and the Pacific, are impressive, said Scott Robertson, 50, public works director for the city of Phillipsburg.

"We'd seen them in museums," he said.

But the up-close experience Thursday was spiced up by the gray-haired tourists who flew in the aircrafts during the war. Those in attendance (the World War II veterans didn't have to pay the $12 admission) harkened back all day and became the impromptu entertainment.

"The stories these old guys tell. Just to listen to them while you're standing here is what's neat," said Jerol Robinson, 48, who owns a lawn care service in Phillipsburg.

"We talked to a radio man. He had to bail out and was a prisoner of war for the rest of the time," Robertson said.

A number World War II veterans were among the more than 500 who visited Thursday, said Melissa McCoy, spokeswoman for the Salina Airport Authority, which is hosting the event. More than 400 people stopped by Wednesday.

Standing in the bomb-bay of the B-24, she listened as a number of veterans shared memories.

"One man said he went into D-Day with eight guys, and came out with three. It was just heart-wrenching. I had to go be by myself for a minute," said McCoy, who served in the Marines. Her husband, Casey McCoy, did two tours in Iraq.

As he watched folks mill around the B-24, most taking refuge from the heat in the shade of its left wing, Bud Lyne, 87, of Salina, recalled some frightening times as a gunner on 12 bombing missions.

"We came back from Japan one time and the bomb-bay doors wouldn't close. The number one engine was on fire a couple of times," he said.

The plane would vibrate, and some missions lasted eight hours, said Lyne, who was reared in Lincoln County.

"It was scary if they were coming in after you ... pretty spooky," he said. "It was either you or them, and it better be them."

The danger didn't sink in until years later, Lyne said. "You were only 19 years old in those days, and you were kind of gutsy."

Dale Gruthusen, 90, of Ellsworth, brought some personal war memorabilia. The sergeant in the 15th Air Force said he flew 51 bombing missions as an aerial engineer, based in Italy from March to July of 1944.

In his leather flight bag were his leather helmet and oxygen mask and military issued sunglasses.

Grothusen said he trained in the B-24 but flew missions in the B-17.

"It was not comfortable in there, either too hot or too cold," he said.

After victory was secured in Europe, Grothusen said he trained in a B-29 for an invasion of Japan.

As he looked at the old planes Thursday, Grothusen said he was thinking about the troops that didn't make it home.

"I saw some of that, too," he said.

Seated nearby in the lobby of the new large hangar was Tyler Haley, 9, of Bennington. He waited for hours for the B-17 to land.

"My grandpa (Jack Haley) used to fly one of these. He lives near the Sno Wizard (in Salina)," Tyler said.

The youngster climbed through the "very hot and cramped" B-24 so many times that he was becoming an expert.

"I've been giving tours," Tyler boasted.

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.

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Milt Martin says....
Thanks for this great event and story to honor those who served in WW II. The importance of Smoky Hill Army Air Field's history will be included in the planned Bombers On The Prairie Museum in Pratt.
7/10/2009

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