Osoyoos resident and World War 2 veteran Jack Shaw took a ride in an American bomber on July 13. (Dale Boyd / Osoyoos Times)
By Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
The last time Second World War veteran Jack Shaw saw a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber, he was in the tail gunner seat of an RAF Lancaster flying over Germany.
“I saw those planes fly when we met them in the air over Germany, but I never thought I’d be inside one,” Shaw said on the tarmac Saturday after taking a ride in the American war plane which took off from the Penticton Regional Airport.
The B-17 “Sentimental Journey” and the B-25 “Maid in the Shade” flew passengers around the Okanagan from July 8 to 14 as part of the Flying Legends of Victory tour put on by the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum.
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Though Shaw was usually facing the other way, in the tail gunner seat, that wasn’t the only difference he noticed since the last time he flew in a bomber.
“It’s a peaceful trip and you don’t anticipate any problems. When you’re going to drop bombs on people who don’t like it, and are going to fire at you, oh boy, the anticipation is different. Here we’re going to look at the scenery,” Shaw said with a chuckle.
Shaw, just 19 years old at the time, flew in Lancaster bombers in 34 trips over Europe in the Second World War. His service record includes the February 1945 bombing of the German city of Dresden and a few months later Shaw was part of the bombing raid on Adolf Hitler’s Berghof home in the Bavarian Alps, where the Allies believed the German commander was located at the time.
Originally from Meritt, Shaw is the former Mayor of Osoyoos in the 1970s and currently resides in Osoyoos.
“It’s a bonus to have survived,” Shaw said. “It’s great to see the world is peaceful again.”
