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Tagged: World War II

B-17 flight
6:25 am
Tue October 9, 2012

Navigator Flies Again, 68 Years After Final Mission

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Credit Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio
Capt. Don Nicholson watches from a window in the nose of the "Memphis Belle," a restored B-17 bomber.
Credit Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio
Nicholson before his flight. It was the first time he had been aboard a bomber since being captured in 1944. A picture of Nicholson in his Army Air Corps uniform sits on the table.
Credit Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio
The view from the landing gear bay of a B-17 bomber.
Credit Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio
Nicholson and his wife Betty June after the flight from Spirit Airport to Lambert Airport.
Credit Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio
The Memphis Belle on the tarmac at Spirit before takeoff. The plane is named for a legendary World War II craft, and is one of just 10 "flying fortresses" still in operation.
Credit Rachel Lippmann/St. Louis Public Radio
This is where Nicholson, a navigator, would have sat during his 26 combat missions over Europe.
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In September 1944, just nine days before his 23rd birthday, 1st Lt. Don Nicholson boarded the B-17 bomber known as “Little Chum” for a run over Germany. It was his 26th mission navigating the plane referred to as the "flying fortress."

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