As a news photographer I’ve had the opportunity to  fly in some pretty cool aircraft over the years.  I’ve taken the controls of a WWII T-6 Texan fighter trainer, and held on for dear life in a privately owned 1960’s era Russian MiG, which I puked in after a series of acrobatic maneuvers. But earlier this week I took a 27 minute flight from Chesterfield to St. Louis and back in a WWII B-17 bomber that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

The ride in the B-17 was more of an emotional journey for me.  My grandfather, William Bates, flew 35 missions over Germany as the bombardier in a B-17 during WWII.  As we flew over St. Louis County it was thrilling for me to sit in the plexiglass nose of the plane and look down through the Norden bombsight like my grandfather did 65 years ago.

As a child I would often ask him about his experiences in WWII.  I was a kid, I had only vague grasp of life and death and my ideas of war were shaped by glamorous Hollywood movies.  I was a kid, I thought war was cool.  I was a kid, I didn’t know any better.  But he would usually humor me with a story or two.

The story I always remember is about a daytime mission over Berlin.  He and his crew were lining up for their bombing run.  My grandfather was looking down through the bombsight searching for his target when a burst of flak sent a piece of shrapnel ripping through the plexiglass nose, grazing his right arm below his elbow.  The navigator on the flight bandaged up his arm and they completed their mission.   He would sometimes point out to me that had that shrapnel been a few inches to the left I might have never been.

My grandfather completed his final mission on October 2, 1944.  But last week he was able to fly again with me—well, sort of.  Lynden Steele, our assignment editor, put my name down to shoot a video of the B-17 Liberty Belle as the plane flew media flights over St. Louis to promote their event this weekend**.  I eagerly printed out a photo of my grandfather from WWII and brought it along with me.  I had a plan.

After the plane was airborne I climbed down into nose of the plane and taped up his picture above the bombsight.  It’s by far my favorite picture of this year.  It has only personal meaning to me and my family but I love it.  To sit where he sat, hear the roar of the engines, and to look down through the bombsight and see landscape move through the crosshairs were experiences I’ll never forget.

I taped up this photo of my grandfather William Bates in the nose of the Liberty Belle B-17 bomber during a media flight over St. Louis. He was a bombardier in a B-17 based out of Thorpe Abbots in England with the 8th Air Force, 100th bomb group in 1944.

I asked my grandfather who is now 87 and living in Mansfield, Ma what was running through his mind during those missions.  He said “We had a lot of planes shot down.  We lost a lot of buddies.”  He went on to say “It was strange I didn’t think anything about it.  It was something we were expected to do.  We were trained to do our job”

I’m glad they were trained to do their jobs so well.  And I’m glad my job allowed me to get a brief glimpse into his life.

**If you’re interested in seeing the Liberty Belle or purchasing a ticket to fly in the plane it will be on display Saturday June 27 and Sunday June 28, 2009 at the Spirit of St Louis Airport at Million Air, 549 Bell Ave. Chesterfield, MO.  Tickets to fly are pricey $430 per person and $390 each for foundation members but visitors are allowed to tour the plane on while its on the ground for a small donation to help preserve the plane.