Please Note: MSU MEMO is archived as a part of Mississippi State University's history. Articles may refer to situations which have changed or people who are no longer affiliated with the university.
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February 11, 2002 Volume 26, Issue 25 |
The man who piloted World War II's most famous Flying Fortress bomber shares his wartime adventures Feb. 14 in a public program at Mississippi State.
Beginning at 3:30 p.m. in Simrall Hall auditorium, retired Col. Robert Morgan will recount his many experiences over Nazi-held Europe as commander of the B-17 nicknamed the "Memphis Belle" and, later, as a B-29 bomber pilot flying against Japanese targets in the Pacific.
MSU's August Raspet Student Chapter of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics is sponsoring Morgan's visit. Raspet was the first director of the university's nationally recognized flight laboratory that also bears his name.
Morgan's Memphis Belle was the first B-17 to complete 25 combat missions at a time when losses among bomber formations flying into the Luftwaffe-patrolled continent reached 80 percent. The fabled plane and its crew were the subject of a 1943 documentary and a 1990 Hollywood dramatization of the 25th and final combat mission.
Morgan and his crew accompanied the Belle-named for the hometown of the pilot's then-girlfriend-on a public relations tour of the U.S. in 1943. The following year, he took command of a B-29 Superfortress squadron, piloting a bomber dubbed "Dauntless Doty" on 26 raids against the Japanese mainland.
Last year, Morgan's memoir, "The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle," was paired with historian Stephen Ambrose's "The Wild Blue" as the History Book Club's selections of the month.
A North Carolina native, Morgan and his wife Linda live today in Asheville.
The Belle is on permanent display at Memphis's Mud Island Air Field.
For additional information about Morgan's visit, contact Dr. Boyd Gatlin at 325-2681 or gatlin@erc.msstate.edu.