World War II Pilot Gets Reunited With His Plane!

In 1944, 22 year old pilot for the American Air Force, Charlie Screws, was flying solo over France, which was controlled by Nazi Germany, in his P47 Thunderbolt, a fighter plane. Unfortunately the Nazis spotted Charlie, and he was forced to make a crash landing. Screws deployed his parachute and destroyed his radios to prevent the Nazis from obtaining the American's frequencies. As soon as he landed, Screws ran away from his plane and buried himself into some brush until nightfall when it was safe to escape. A French family took Screws in, and helped him cross the border into Spain where he was eventually able to reconnect with the rest of the military.

Screws is now 93 years old, and was quite surprised when the tail wing of his plane showed up on his doorstep. Texas Air Museum director Malcolm Laing and historian Michael Fuller were able to track the serial number still on the tail fin of the plane, and get in touch with Screws just last week. It turns out that Fuller had first come to Laing with the new discovery of the plane piece and the name of its pilot, and Laing put Screws in contact with the plane, for Laing and Screws had been friends for years.

Laing, Screws, and Fuller with the tail wing of the plan at Screws' house.

The reunion was bittersweet for Screws, for it certainly connected him to his youth, but brought back both good and bad memories. Currently the Texas Air Museum is working to build a rather personal exhibit for the tail wing.

I found it really interesting that even though World War II was, what seems like, such a long time ago, new discoveries are still being made for the veterans of the war. According to the news article I found, which I will link below, the connection was only made last week. If anyone can find any other similar stories, or just information about World War II veterans in general, I would love to hear it!

http://www.wfmynews2.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/21/man-reunited-with-piece-of-his-world-war-ii-plane-71-years-later/22122559/