Title : WWII veteran, 98, flies takes flight in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor plane
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WWII veteran, 98, flies takes flight in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor plane
WWII veteran, 98, flies in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor plane - the same aircraft he first flew in at 17, before becoming a B-17 Flying Fortress captain
- Russel Hilding, 98, returned to the skies on Thursday in Michigan
- The WWII vet flew in a rare 1929 Ford Tri-Motor for the first time since age 17
- Plane was his first experience flying before he later became a B-17 captain
- Flew daring bombing raids over Europe before he was shot down over France
- Joined with the French Resistance but was captured by Gestapo weeks later
- Endured internment at Buchenwald and POW camp from 'The Great Escape'
- Was freed by Allied forces and returned to US on his 23rd birthday
A World War Two veteran who captained a B-17 Flying Fortress has returned to the skies in a 1929 Ford Tri-Motor, the same plane he first flew in at the age of 17.
Russel Duane Hilding, 98, was overjoyed at the chance to fly in one of the ultra-rare vintage aircraft on Thursday at Gerald R. Ford International Airport near Grand Rapids, Michigan.
'My first airplane ride was in a Ford Tri-Motor,' Hilding told WXMI-TV. 'The best part of getting old, is trying to not stay old.'
Only 18 Trimotors remain in existence, of which only eight are certified airworthy by the FAA.
Russel Duane Hilding, 98, was overjoyed at the chance to fly in a Ford Tri-Motor on Thursday
The Tri-Motor that took flight at Gerald R. Ford International Airport is one of only eight of the planes still certified as airworthy
A Ford Tri-Motor is seen in 1929 in Oklahoma on the inaugural Ohio to Oklahoma leg of the transcontinental New York-Los Angeles Air-Rail Passenger Service
On Thursday's flight, Hilding got to reminiscence about the experience that first hooked him on flying at the age of 17.
By age 19, while working at his father's company Wolverine Typewriter in Lansing, he began taking flight lessons, according to a profile by his flight club.
Hilding received his Air Force wings and commission in September 1943
In 1942, after the U.S. had entered WWII, Hilding enlisted in the Army Air Corps and received his Air Force wings and commission in September 1943.
After extensive training, Hilding was deployed to England as a captain of a B-17 in the Eighth Air Force's 447th Bomb Group, located at Rattlesden Airfield, northeast of London.
Hilding ran dozens of successful bombing raids over Germany and occupied France, until on July 13, 1944 his luck ran out during a daylight raid on Munich.
Taking heavy flack, the Flying Fortress crew lost an engine and tried to make it back to base when they were attacked by German fighters and lost two more engines.
The situation dire, Hilding gave the order to bail out over France, and parachuted to safety in a field where he was greeted by two Frenchmen who were friendly and took him to shelter in a nearby home.
Hilding ran dozens of successful bombing raids over Germany and occupied France
He was captain of a B-17 Flying Fortress like the ones seen above in 1944
Though Hilding couldn't communicate with the men, he soon realized his good fortune that they were members of the French Resistance, partisan fighters against the Nazi occupation.
Hilding, his co-pilot and bombardier moved from safehouse to safehouse, trying to make their way to the Spanish border with the aide of the resistance.
But several weeks in, they were riding in a car when the driver suddenly stopped, turned around and pulled a gun out, revealing himself as a Gestapo agent.
'Sorry boys, the war is over for you,' the Gestapo said in perfect English.
Hilding was transported to the horror concentration camp Buchenwald, where he spent two months.
Then, he and other captured Allied air crews - labeled 'Terror Fliers' by the Nazis - were transported to Stalag Luft III, the POW camp made famous in the film 'The Great Escape'.
Hilding prisoner's card testifying to his departure from Buchenwald on October 19, 1944
U.S. Third Army troops march into Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany, after its liberation on April 27, 1945
Months before Hilding arrived, the Allied prisoners had attempted the daring escape by digging three tunnels out of the camp. Two survived the escape to rejoin friendly forces, and another 50 were executed when a furious Adolph Hitler learned of the plot.
The camp was evacuated as Russian tanks approached after Christmas 1944, and the POWs were force-marched to another camp near Munich.
Hildig was finally liberated on April 29, 1945.
He finally learned that only three of his crew had been captured, with the rest joining the French Resistance or making camp in the woods until General Patton swept across France.
The transport that returned Hildig to America sailed into New York Harbor, past the Statue of Liberty, on his 23rd birthday.
Hilding took in the view from the old Tri-Motor in his flight on Thursday
Hildig went on to work for his father's office supply company in Lansing, and married Marie, a Michigan State student, whom he met on a blind date.
He continued flying with the Army National Guard, Aviation Section and as a private pilot, going on to own four planes: a J-3 Cub, an Aeronca Champ, a Cessna 140, and a Citabria 7ECA.
He continued piloting planes until quite recently.
On Thursday's excursion, he marveled at the chance to take to the air once more.
He summed up his advice the the younger generations: 'I don't know. Keeping active. Do what you like. Do it.'
Hilding said he realizes there are few left from his generation. 'Yeah, not many,' he said. 'Old time, going by.'
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