Crew
Members of Famous 1,000th Superfort
Get Together Here for First Time Since War
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Joe
Fair, TG, meets Frank Novak (r), RG, during a
tour of Boeing Plant II; Steve Franko, AC in center
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The
spirit of "Boeing-Wichita 1000" was back in
the Pacific last week, flying from Guam and Iwo Jima
- dumping lethal loads of bombs over Tokyo and Nagoya;
staving off enemy fighters 1,000 miles from home base.
All
33 missions of the veteran Superfort were re-lived,
briefly, by three of the men who flew in the bomber
during its Pacific tour - the pilot, Steve Franko of
Struthers, Ohio; the tail gunner, Joe Fair of Broken
Bow, Neb.; and the right gunner, Frank Novak formerly
of Middleville, N. Y., now a Boeing-Wichita employee.
The
three Air Force veterans held a reunion - their first
- here in Wichita, Franko coming from Ohio, Fair driving
down from Nebraska. Staying at the home of Novak, they
recalled their long months together in the Pacific and
brought each other up to date on events since they went
their separate ways at the war's end four years ago.
Pilot
Now Studies Engineering
Franko
returned to college to study engineering, and is now
in his junior year at Ohio State university. Fair returned
home to Broken Bow, where he is now an electrician.
Novak after a year at home, decided to move out to the
middle west. In the same week his plane, "Boeing-Wichita
1000," returned to Plant II for modernization,
Novak started to work here as a sheet metal assembler
helper.
The
reunion of the three was brought about when Franko discovered
Novak was in Wichita. Having several days remaining
before his term started at Ohio State, Franko decided
to come to Wichita to visit with Novak and to look over
the Boeing plants from whence came his airplane.
Meet Inside Plant II
First
writing the Public Relations department to make certain
Novak was actually working here, Franko made the trip
to Wichita. Soon after his arrival, he was taken on
a tour of Plant II. There, he met Novak - a second shifter
assigned to B-47 body work - for the first time since
the war ended.
The
following day, the two notified Fair of their reunion,
and Fair decided to take a few days off and come to
Wichita from Nebraska to join them.
Between
the three of them, they were able to place the other
"Boeing-Wichita 1000" crew members in six
other states; and before the end of their get-together
they decided to plan a real reunion of the entire crew
for next summer. And where do they plan to hold it?
Right here in Wichita, the home of their B-29, "Boeing-Wichita
1000."
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