Posted on 01/04/2014 9:03:39 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
A World War II fighter pilot who gained fame for dramatically flying beneath the Eiffel Tower's arches to take down a German aircraft has died aged 92. William Overstreet Jr. died on Sunday at a hospital in Roanoke, Virginia, according to his obituary, but there was no indication of the cause of his death.
Overstreet's famously flew his P-51C 'Berlin Express' beneath the Eiffel Tower in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, which has been credited with lifting the spirits of French Resistance troops on the ground.
For his valiant service, the French ambassador to the United States presented Overstreet with France's Legion of Honor at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford in 2009.
Before the ceremony, Overstreet had previously said that, if he lived long enough to receive the Legion of Honor, he would be accepting it in memory of his fallen brothers.
In particular, he wanted to pay tribute to a friend, Eddy Simpson, who died fighting the Nazis on the ground so his comrades, including Overstreet, could escape.
After the award was pinned to his lapel, Overstreet said: 'If I said, "Thank you," it wouldn’t be enough,' before adding: 'What more than "thank you" do you need?'
Overstreet was also awarded hundreds of other medals for his service in the 357th squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces, his obituary said.
He was born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1921 and after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Air Corps as a fighter pilot.
By February 1942, he was a private and sent to California for flight training; here, his instructors prepared him for the unexpected mid-flight by cutting the engine as he landed.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
The German pilot was pretty good too. Just not good enough.
Hadn’t heard of it?
Probably because he was the 2nd plane to fly through the Eiffel Tower that day, not the first.
Clifton Forge was formerly a bustling railroad town. I was born at the C&O Hospital. Being raised “over the mountain,” having to bathe and put on my “good clothes” to go to the stores in C.F., I never thought of it as a “rural town.” ‘Course we only traveled to the big city of Roanoke a few times a year...
Interment is in 15 minutes. His memorial service is this afternoon at 2:00 pm in Roanoke according to the funeral home obit. - http://www.memorialsolutions.com/sitemaker/sites/Oakeys1/memsol.cgi?user_id=1204221
You can sign and read the funeral home guestbook online (only 19 entries so far) - http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/Batesville/guestbook.aspx?n=william-overstreet&pid=168842356
It’s all yours, Freepers. Go for it.
Gotta run. Got a memorial service to attend at 2:00 pm. Will provide after action later today.
And then he had to fly back to England.
Fortunately we had almost complete air superiority over France by that time.
I don’t think they do make em like this any more. When I was training for my license in ‘80 spins had been a requirement before but because so many students had frozen at the controls taking themselves and their instructor spinning into the ground the requirement had been lifted. My first flight my instructor tested me to see if I had a set by putting us into a spin, I said now what, he told me how to pull out of it and that was that. He also would cut the engine in flight at 5000 feet and say where you going to land? Never had to land but he would let me get pretty close to the ground before kicking in the power.
Half way thru my 4th lesson, I had been greasing each landing and so he told me to pull onto the apron. I did he unstrapped and opened the door. I said where are you going, he said I’m going to the flight shack you’re going to do touch and goes. I said you sure? He said, you’ll be fine.
The one thing when you are first alone in a plane is you realize that if you crash the thing it is your fault. No one else you can point at, no one else you can depend on to save your bacon, you realize that you have your life in your hands. Wakes you up in a lot of ways.
My instructor tried to teach others how to pull out of a spin and many would kiss the ground when they landed and you would never see them again. Sorta separated the men from the boys. I asked once why he made them spin and ran off so much business, he told me, he wasn’t going to put a coward behind the yoke and read about his death and feel responsible. His name was Dwight Ensley and was from western Ky., I would like to get back in touch.
He taught me many things those little high wing planes are not supposed to do and I was not supposed to know how to do. Those skills have come in handy and I owe him a great debt.
When that pilot flew under the Tower, America still produced men, not often the case anymore. I would like to think I could have done it too.
WOW! Thanks for the post :)
At age 92?
So much for the old chestnut - “There are old pilots and there are bold pilots. But there is no such thing as old, bold pilots!”
He’s flying with the angels now!
It should be noted that Mr. Overstreet was actually the second person to ever fly under the tower, but the only one who lived to tell about it........
RIP, American hero.
P51C is the early model before the “bubble” canope. This is also the first time I have seen whitewall tires on a P51 or any airplane for that matter.
The ‘D’ model w/ the bubble canoy arrived in Europe just about the same time as the Eiffel Tower exploit, but were initially assigned only to bomber escort until their production #s increased.
“Whitewall tires?”
For some reason whitewall tires had fewer blowouts and didn’t accumulate static charge. IIRC.
The second person that day, anyway...
That is one of my current PC desktop pictures. I just had no clue it was based on a historcal event.
That’s wonderful to know. Now I have a name and event to go with the picture.
Well Done,Good and Faithful Servant.
Thanks for posting.
Thanks for the ping. May he rest in peace.
Grandpa use to own a rubber company in Detroit and made a fortune grinding tires for people on the side. They would buy blackwalls, and for the right price Grandpa would grind them to however wide a white strip they wanted, I think 4” was max on some tires.
I am skeptical on the strength part of the white rubber though, why most rubber is black is because the carbon black put in it makes it stronger, white rubber just isn't as good as black usually.
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