Mail Run to Mississippi

Bill Peters was seven years old when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He lived next to Lockheed Aircraft Company where they built warplanes. His dad worked there.

In the sky were dozens of yellow-wing trainers teaching pilots to fly, Bill was enchanted with flight. Little did he know that later in his life, he would own and fly one of those yellow-winged birds.

At this young age, his help to the war effort was to build models of Japanese and German fighters, climb up in the oak tree in his backyard, light the wing on fire, and glide the aircraft to the field below. The wing would fail, and the aircraft would spin and crash and burn. One more enemy aircraft destroyed--a good feeling for a little kid.

Fifty years later, Bill bought a Fairchild PT23 yellow-winged trainer. He researched the history and found that its first military duty station was Fletcher Field Mississippi. He flew the old plane back to Fletcher Field and enjoyed a reunion with the World War II veterans living there--several who had worked on and one who had instructed in his PT-23. A memorial flight with a little excitement both ways. This is what this book is about. Well worth the read and a compliment to our veterans.