He's credited for shooting down nine German planes and was awarded both a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
With his wife, Bettye McCubbin, he had four children, nine grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Bettye passed away at the Renaissance Marquis three years ago. McCubbin still lives there.
But on Wednesday he sat beneath a tent at Floyd County's airport as U.S. Air Force Col. Craig Hutain landed a P51 Mustang, to give him a last look at the aircraft he flew while serving his country so many years ago.
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/06/05/wwii-fighter-pilot-reunited-plane-georgia-airport.html
https://www.cbs46.com/2022/06/01/wwii-veteran-reunited-with-p-51-mustang-77-years-after-his-was-shot-down/
https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/calhoun_times/gordon_life/local/wwii-fighter-pilot-reunited-with-plane-he-flew-in-the-war-at-richard-b-russell/article_93b6198c-e21c-11ec-aa4d-9b9d7077ac1f.html
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/48914
https://www.cbs46.com/2022/06/01/wwii-veteran-reunited-with-p-51-mustang-77-years-after-his-was-shot-down/
https://www.northwestgeorgianews.com/calhoun_times/gordon_life/local/wwii-fighter-pilot-reunited-with-plane-he-flew-in-the-war-at-richard-b-russell/article_93b6198c-e21c-11ec-aa4d-9b9d7077ac1f.html
https://www.americanairmuseum.com/media/48914
WOW! Love this!
ReplyDeleteGreat story! My Dad flew P-51's and would have been 105 this year.
ReplyDeleteOne error in the original story (not your error Jesse!). You didn't eject from a Mustang because they didn't have ejection seats. You bailed out by opening the canopy, unbuckling, and rolling inverted.
Don in Oregon
wow! You must have heard cool stories! Do you have a little showcase of his photos, patches, jacket, etc?
DeleteAnd thanks for the correction, I should have caught that... dang young people forget that the WW2 generation wasn't equipped with ejection seats!