Back in a B-17

It had been 70 years and six months — a lifetime ago — since Mel Jenner had stepped inside a B-17 heavy-bomber aircraft, but the memories of his experiences in World War II came flooding back as he inspected the turrets, the waist guns, the communications equipment and the cockpit.

Jenner, of Ocoee, was invited to fly last month in a restored B-17G Flying Fortress, which tours the United States through the Experimental Aircraft Association, paying tribute to the Americans who fought in the Second World War. 

The 74-foot plane was nearly identical to the one he flew in 1944, but this one never saw combat. It couldn’t have, he said; there were no patch repairs inside.

Nevertheless, he was “thrilled to death,” he said.

He stepped up to the waist gun on the left side of the plane, just as he did more than seven decades ago. This was where he sat for most of his war missions. On last month’s flight, he rode in the cockpit with the pilot and co-pilot.

“It was a fantastic ride,” he said. “I never would have figured that this would happen, because there aren’t that many flying B-17s, you know.”

The exhilarating experience took place Jan. 22 at Orlando Executive Airport, and Jenner’s son, Bud Jenner, and grandson, Chad Jenner, were there to photograph him as he reunited with his past. He said his family walked through the plane and remarked how big it was.

“What was amazing to me was how small it was,” he said.

Four or five other World War II veterans took the flight with him, but he was the only one who had flown in a B-17 during combat. Jenner and the other passengers were in the air for about an hour, heading toward St. Cloud and then circling back around Orlando. It was a thrilling ride for the 92-year-old, who served 26 years in the Army Air Corps and the Air Force.

WARTIME ASSIGNMENTS

Jenner was in the 8th Air Force, 452nd Bombardment Group and flew 30 European missions as a gunner on the plane known as Lady Satan. His final mission was June 6, 1944 — a photography assignment on D-Day — and he was positioned beneath the plane in the ball turret. This was a place of honor for him, he said, and he sat there in memory of his friend, Oscar McClure, who was the ball-turret gunner when his plane was shot down just two months prior.

Jenner’s crew was the first in the squadron to complete its mission and go home. The staff sergeant was back in the United States in July 19, 1944, and was discharged out of the service the next year. Missing the military life, Jenner re-enlisted in 1947 and was sent to Japan. A year later, he was back in Europe, helping keep 2.5 million people fed through the Berlin Airlift program. He also participated in the chocolate drop that sent candy bars attached to handkerchiefs drifting down to the children caught in the middle of the Soviets’ Berlin blockade.

Jenner served stateside during the Korean War and was stationed in the Philippines in the early days of the Vietnam War. His final retirement was in 1968 as a chief master sergeant.

Through Central Florida’s Honor Flight program, World War II veterans took a day trip to Washington, D.C., to see the WW2 memorial in 2012, and Jenner was among the participants on the flight.

He enjoys fishing from his bass boat, but he always has the military on his mind. In a 2013 interview with the West Orange Times, Jenner said, “If I was 50 years younger, I’d go in tomorrow.”

That still holds true today.

Contact Amy Quesinberry Rhode at [email protected].