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Air Show Lets Visitors Travel Back in Time: Step Inside WWII Planes, Watch Aerobatics at MAPS Event

Posted on: Sunday, 18 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By Lisa A. Abraham, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jun. 18--Saturday wasn't the first time Wayne County resident Charles Thomas had stepped off a C-47.

"I flew in one overseas in 1951," the 76-year-old recalled as he descended the steps of the Black Sparrow, a C-47 on display this weekend at the MAPS Aero Expo 2006, at Akron Fulton International Airport.

One trip he remembered well was during the Korean War, when he flew on a C-47 to Tokyo for some "R & R."

Just 22 at the time, the Smithville resident was an Air Force mechanic who spent his days repairing B-29 bombers during the war.

Inside the massive C-47 are two lines of benches that held paratroopers on missions over Europe during World War II. There were 1,200 C-47s in the air over Normandy on June 6, 1944, dropping thousands of paratroopers into France for the D-Day invasion.

Nicknamed the Gooney Bird, the C-47 was widely used after World War II in Korea and Vietnam.

In keeping with its military tradition, the Black Sparrowwas used at the air show Saturday to drop members of the 82nd Airborne Parachute Team -- bearing the American flag -- to open the expo.

The C-47 on display was made by Douglas Aircraft in May 1945 and saw no combat in World War II. It is owned by the Great Lakes Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, a nonprofit group dedicated to keeping World War II planes in flying condition.

It has been restored as a replica of the original Black Sparrow -- right down to the painting on its nose: a curvaceous woman's leg dropping out of a martini glass, topped off with musical notes.

"Wine, women and song -- it was the pilot's philosophy of life," said John Kowal, of the Commemorative Air Force.

The original Black Sparrow was the lead ship of the 302nd Squadron during D-Day, he explained.

He and Robert Bos flew the replica into Akron from its base in Gary, Ind., on Friday. Bos, a retired pilot for United Airlines, said the 60-year-old craft still "flies wonderfully."

Bos said the group frequently flies the plane to air shows to help raise money for the group's ongoing restoration of historic military planes.

Operating the plane for just one hour costs $1,500, so donations collected at air shows are important for the group to continue its work, Kowal said.

The MAPS Aero Expo continues from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Lisa A. Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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