B-17 Flying Fortress Restoration The Story of a World War II Bomber's Return to Glory in Honor of the Veterans of the Mighty Eighth Air Force

by McLaughlin, Jerome J.

• ISBN13: 9781940013251
• ISBN10: 1940013259
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2020-07-29
• Publisher: Dudley Court Press, LLC

Summary

The arrival of the WWII B-17 bomber at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in January of 2009 initiated a great adventure for a group of warbird lovers from the nearby communities as they united to restore that B-17. The dream of the volunteers was to honor the WWII veterans of the Eighth Air Force—some of whom were literally their fathers—by restoring the B-17 to its original pristine condition. The group was challenged by the fact that the airplane had been in storage for more than two decades following a long working life, and was far from the gleaming symbol of power that it had been in 1945.

Author Biography

Jerry McLaughlin brought together his broad experiences as a history teacher, project manager, and author to write B-17 Flying Fortress Restoration. A native of the Borough of Queens in New York City, Jerry was raised in Lynbrook, New York and graduated from Long Island University with a degree in United States History and Education in 1973. He served in the United States Army from 1969-1971. After a thirty-year career with the Federal government, he retired from the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 as a member of the Agency's Senior Intelligence Service. Jerry's first book, D-Day +60 Years, was published in 2004. He and his wife, Denise, reside on Skidaway Island outside of Savannah, Georgia, with a recently rescued Wheaten Terrier who now goes by the name of Annie.