I want to add something about how important the Collings Foundation is to keeping the memories of the past alive.
This happened during another visit of their bombers to KDAL. I was there to fly on their B-25, Tondelayo, and while waiting, I was standing in front of Nine-O-Nine. A tall elderly man walked up, looked closely at the B-17, turned, and said to me "The last time I was in a B-17, I left it in a parachute".
His name was Austin D. Rinne. He was assigned to the 546th Sqdn, 384th Bomb Group, Grafton Underwood, England, and the pilot of B-17G #42-31058 'Liberty Run'.
He and his squadron were attacking V-1 launching sites under construction near the French coast on February 25, 1944, when his plane was hit by flak. The crew bailed out, and the man I was speaking to spent the rest of the war as a POW at Stalag Luft I. Other Americans at the camp included USAAF POW commander Hubert Zemke, Bob Hoover, and Frances "Gabby" Gabreski.
The camp was liberated by the Russians on May 1, 1945.
I was practically speechless while listening to this old warrior tell his tale. It's one of my favorite memories.
His obituary further describes the man:
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/obi...ne-world-war-ii-pilot-survived-german-prison/
His ashes are interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
After he died, I contacted his son and emailed him photographs of his father I took that day, standing tall and erect in front of Nine-O-Nine
