Opinion

Bomber visit honors many who sacrificed

Monday, September 23, 2002

Many McCook residents are catching their breath this weekend in preparation for the start of a long, eventful Heritage Days week.

This year's celebration gets an early start, thanks to Monday's arrival of two stars of the show Monday morning.

Thanks to some hard work, sacrifice and generosity of local aviation and history enthusiasts, the world's only flying B-29, and the oldest flying B-24 will fly in for a week long display at the McCook Municipal Airport.

There is a chance the old warbirds will circle the former McCook Army Air Base before turning final for the McCook airport.

If they do, it will be a special moment for members of the McCook Army Air Base Historical Society, and the surviving men and women who served there in World War II. The McCook base was one of 11 Army Air Force training bases in Nebraska during World War II, and was under command of the 2nd Air Force Headquarters in Colorado Springs.

Some 15,000 servicemen and 500 civilians were stationed here as the base provided final training for crews flying the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberators and B-29 Super Fortresses. Crews trained in McCook saw combat in the European, Mediterranean and Pacific theaters.

The 2,100-acre base originally included three 7,500-foot concrete runways, five hangars and barracks for 5,000 men.

Most of the concrete has been removed, but the base is the only one in Nebraska where all five hangars are still standing.

Now the Airbase Historical Society, already instrumental in preserving one of the hangars, restoring a barracks building and seeing a Norden bombsight vault placed on the National Registry of Historic Places, wants to preserve even more of the base.

It is a worthy effort, and one that will receive a boost by next week's arrival of the two aluminum behemoths.

What's so special about the bombers, restored and operated by the Commemorative Air Force, is that they are still living, functioning examples of America's best efforts.

Stop by Red Willow Aviation this week and view the airplanes and take a cockpit tour. Proceeds go to a good cause -- keeping the big planes flying.

Once numbering in the thousands, the two bombers are unique in their ability to honor the millions of men and women who gave their all to defeat evil and preserve freedom 60 years ago.

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