John P. Brackin - Freelance Writer - Articles

Local WWII Pilot Honored with Flight

Alabaster Newsletter, February 2008

Lt. Col. (ret.) Joy Dunlap Alabaster resident Joy Dunlap, 84, was recently selected to represent the 8^th Air Force on a commemorative flight of a B-17 bomber from Huntsville to Bessemer. The flight was part of an educational tour sponsored by the Collings Foundation, a nonprofit group based in Stow, Mass. Dunlap was chosen to participate as a former B-17 pilot himself.

“These people maintain three World War II aircraft, three bombers, and they tour the country with them to promote and educate what the 8^th Air Force and the bomber did in World War II,” Dunlap said.

Dunlap, a native of Ohio, flew the B-17 during World War II as a member of the 385^th Bombardment Group. He spent three months in England, flying bombing missions over enemy targets in Europe. His first missions took place during the Battle of the Bulge.

Photo courtesy Joy Dunlap “Typical day was up about 3 in the morning. You got your uniform on. You had to fly in a full dress uniform under your flying gear. Then you went to a briefing, where they’d have a big room and a map of the target area. They’d have a line on there to try to track, and it’d say Berlin or wherever it was,” Dunlap said.

At that time, the bombers flew in massive bombing convoys that sometimes stretched as far as several hundred miles. Typical missions lasted about seven hours, though some were longer, straining the plane’s fuel capacity, Dunlap said.

“I had one nine hours and 20 minutes, which was just basically on fumes. The engines quit after we got on the ground,” Dunlap said. Dunlap's WWII B-17 flight crew.

Dunlap also said that antiaircraft fire was commonplace for his 10-man crew.

“You got hit most every time you went, but we were very blessed. We never got hit critically so that our damage didn’t allow us to get home. And we never had a man injured. We had them hit a couple of times with a piece of shrapnel though,” Dunlap said.

According to the Collings Foundation, there are only 14 B-17s still flying in the United States today. The Foundation also maintains a B-24 and a B-25 bomber. The B-24 made the Bessemer trip as well.

“The 24 and 17 are four-engine heavy bombers. The B-25 is called a medium bomber, and that’s the aircraft that Jimmy Doolittle used to make his raid on Tokyo,” Dunlap said.

After the flight, the two planes were displayed at Bessemer Airport. From there, they continued on to Florida, where they’re housed for the winter. According to Dunlap, the two-hour ride gave him a new perspective on his own crew.

“As a combat pilot, I was pretty busy in the position I was in. I didn’t have time to go to the other stations, where the rest of the crew was and see them in action. So for once, I got to go to these other places on the airplane and really realize how small and crowded it was. It gave me a lot more respect for what they did on that airplane,” Dunlap said.

The 8^th Air Force was comprised of not only pilots but also crew chiefs, medics, and truck drivers, a whole host of people responsible for maintaining the aircraft.

“It took 20 men or more to put one airplane in the air,” Dunlap said. “To represent that group of people, I was really thrilled to be the one selected. It was the first time I’d been in one in 63 years, so it brought back a lot of memories.”