[WorkingClassFilth]

Cool guy - RIP.

Too bad today’s Bisbee is an slagpile infested with leftist dung beetles. No doubt the fellow traveler ‘interpreters’ at Bisbee’s ‘Heritage’ museum must be choking on this hero’s legacy.

[El Gato]

Benko was 31 years old when he enlisted.

Makes one sort of ashamed of what one did NOT do on 9-12-2001, doesn't it. Even those of use who served earlier and were a bit longer in the tooth than that.

[ThePythonicCow]

From http://www.warbirdalley.com/b24.htm:

---

Consolidated B-24 Liberator

(Variants/Other Names: C-87; C-109; LB-30; PB4Y-2 Privateer; RY-3; Liberator C IX)

---

B-24J N224J, serial no. 44-4405 "All American," operated by the Collings Foundation, later repainted and renamed "The Dragon and His Tail," and now called "Witchcraft." Photo by Patrick Bunce.

History: Life for the B-24 heavy bomber began in 1939, when the U.S. Army Air Corps initiated a request for a new bomber designed to exceed the performance of the B-17. Consolidated Aircraft responded quickly with its proposal, labeled Consolidated Model 32 and, on March 30 of 1939, was awarded the contract. One day short of nine months later, on December 29, 1939, the first flight of the XB-24 bomber prototype took place.

Slightly smaller than the B-17, the turbosupercharger-equipped B-24 flew farther with a bigger bomb load than the much more publicized Boeing aircraft.

[loungeSerf]

Thanks for sharing this story! WWII era gunners don’t often get credit or glory for what they did (much less gunners in the CBI). Sgt Benko obviously had some serious “skillz”.

I’m glad they’re honoring him.