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On Board the Flying Fortress
By Ray Allen
WWII B-17 Navigator
Saturday March 17 - 11AM
Ray Allen completed a full tour; that's thirty five missions as a Boeing B-17 Navigator in the European theatre during the latter years of WW-II. He achieved the highest qualification a navigator could attain - Class Three Navigator. When Ray shares some nail-biting details of his various missions, he tells it like it all happened earlier in the day! For his brave service to his country, Ray received the Distinguished Flying Cross, five Air Medals, and three Battle Stars with Area Ribbons. Our hero had an active role during formation bombing raids on targets over Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Nazi occupied northern France. With great success, Ray and his crew crippled Hitler's war machine by putting out of commission factories, oil fields and oil refineries which are the Achilles heel of any mechanized army. Ray received Army training as an aircraft mechanic and ever since has taken a keen interest in machinery, and has played an active part in maintaining his flying machine. In the US Army Air Corps (after WW-II, became the US Air Force), aside from Pilot and Copilot, sufficient flight training was standard for navigators and bombardiers in case they were needed to bring their ship home and complete their mission. A born aviator, Ray has been at the controls of the B-17, B-25, B-26, C-46, C-47, and a civilian operated P-51. He continues putting the sky beneath his wings while piloting his own Cessna Skymaster; that's the funny looking twin-boom airplane with one propeller pulling on the nose while a second propeller pushes from the rear. If you've ever wondered what the famed Norden Bombsight looks like and how it works, Ray will have one on hand to show you and he can explain how it was put to use on the Flying Fortress. You won't want to miss this presentation; come and meet one of our nation's finest.
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