World War II bomber pilot Bernerd Harding, now 90 and suffering from prostate cancer, took a 30-minute ride in “The Witchcraft,” the last B-24 still flying, Sept. 25 from Laconia, N.H., to Manchester, N.H. “It was fun. It was worth it. It’s history,” he said after the flight, the Associated Press reported that day. According to AP, Harding saw this as his final mission and it gave him closure after 65 years since the last time he flew in a B-24, on July 7, 1944, his aircraft was shot down over Germany and he was taken prisoner. Harding, a resident of Milford, N.H., also went back to Germany last month prior to the flight to the village where he was captured. He tried in vain to find the pilot’s wings he had hidden out of fear of reprisals by the villagers.
The Air Force has finished modifying and testing the new VC-25B Bridge aircraft that will serve as a temporary Air Force One, the service announced May 1. All that’s left now is to finish painting the jet before it starts flying this summer.