Community Corner

Warren Veteran Takes Flight on Historic World War II Plane

Yankee Lady flights offered as part of weekend's Wings & Wheels Expo 2013 at Teterboro Airport.

When Jack Elliott Schapiro was 20 years old he left New Jersey by ship and headed to Africa. From there he went to Italy, then France and the Rhineland. His travels were all courtesy of Uncle Sam in 1944 and 1945—he was a private with the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion.

Nearly 70 years later he took another trip, but this time it was closer to home courtesy of the Yankee Air Force. On Friday afternoon, Schapiro flew up and down the Hudson River in Yankee Lady, one of the last flying B-17 bombers in the world.

It is all part of the Wings & Wheels Expo 2013 at Teterboro Airport this weekend.

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“It’s a show in three parts. You’ve got the air display, which involves a number of warbirds this year,” Shea Oakley, executive director of the Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey, said. “Then you have the car part of the show, which is classic cars – we’re also bring in two of the Batmobiles and the Green Hornet car. And then there’s the Salute to Veterans part of the show.”

There will be a hero’s row—a line of tables full of the men and women who served this country. There will be Pearl Harbor veterans and three Tuskegee Airmen—part of the first squadron of African-American pilots and crews in World War II. Their accomplishments were featured in George Lucas’s movie Red Tails last year. 

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Bee Haydu, a Women Airforce Service Pilot (WASP) and inductee to the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame, will be sharing the story of the women who flew during WWII. There will be veterans who were shot down over Europe and held as POWs, and Jean Cruz, the soldier who pulled Saddam Hussein out of the spider hole during the Iraq War will be on hand to talk about his experience.

Among the planes on static display will be a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, made famous by the Flying Tigers; a Japanese Val dive-bomber; a C-47; and a C-54 that flew supplies into Germany during the Berlin Airlift. There also will be some jets—an L-29 trainer and two corporate jets, a Falcon 900 and a Citation X.

But the star of the show is Yankee Lady, which will be offering rides like the one Schapiro took on Friday.

“Oh boy, it was great,” the longtime Warren Township resident said. “I’ve flown in a B-17 four or five times, but every time is better than the last. This airplane is the finest looking one I’ve ever seen.”

And he should know. Schapiro, writing under the name Jack Elliott, wrote “Wings Over Jersey,” a column about aviation that ran in the Newark Star-Ledger every week for 38 and a half years. He also is a member of the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame, along with Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart and Buzz Aldrin.

The 30-minute flight went down the Hudson River, past the Statue of Liberty and the Verrazano Bridge before turning back up past the aircraft carrier Intrepid and the George Washington Bridge. But the highlight of the flight was passing the new Freedom Tower being constructed at Ground Zero. 

Nothing could be more appropriate to start the salute to veterans at this year’s Wings & Wheels Expo than flying an aircraft that helped provide the freedoms we enjoy today past a building that serves as a reminder that the fight never ends.

To book a ride in the Yankee Lady this weekend, call 734-843-4030 or go to the Yankee Air Museum website

The Wings & Wheels Expo runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $15 for adults of $8 for seniors or children under 12. Kids under 3 are free, as are veterans with proof of service or active duty military personnel (with ID). All the proceeds benefit the Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of NJ located at 400 Fred Wehran Dr., Teterboro Airport.

Submitted by Steve Schapiro.


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