Indy RC South member Al Tucker honors local WWII Veterans with FlightLine B-24J Liberator

[indyrcpilot]

On Monday, 10/18, Indy RC South member Al Tucker honored two local veterans of WWII with an RC model of a FlightLine B-24J Liberator, a WWII 4-engine heavy bomber.

One of them was Bob Pedigo, who served in the US Army Air Corps as a Bombardier/Nose Gunner on a B-24J Liberator named Silent Yokum. He was also the Chief Armorer of the aircraft, and had to dislodge a bomb from the bomb bay, over the English Channel, when it got stuck. The bomb exploded on impact and they were close enough to the water that the plane got wet! After 30 missions over France and Germany, including missions over Normandy for the D-Day invasion, he earned a ticket home. Bob is also an honorary crew member of Witchcraft, the Collings Foundation B-24J. Bob celebrates his 98th birthday on October 20th... today!
Check out his interview on Wish-8 - https://www.wishtv.com/.../world-war-ii-veteran-recounts.../

The other was Bill Cirello, who served in the Navy aboard a cruiser in the Mediterranean Sea. He was a Bugler and a Gunner's Mate.

Both of them signed the wing of Al Tucker's B-24J Liberator. This was extra special for Bob Pedigo, since he flew in them during the war!

What an awesome tribute to these men that gave so much for our country in her time of need!

[Hugh Wiedman]

indyrcpilot what an incredibly uplifting story, thanks so much for sharing! During these trying times, we need to be reminded of who are true heroes are with great stories like this.

[Hugh Wiedman]

indyrcpilot I would also suggest you post this on the official B-24 Liberator thread as well as the "What did you fly today" thread under General RC Topics. You should also post it on the "Share your Pics & Videos for the Live Show" thread under General RC Topics/Motion RC Live-Weekly YouTube Show so James can include it for one of his Friday shows. I suspect a lot more people will see it there, and this deserves to be seen by as many as possible.