Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:21 | Bill McCowen entered the jet age when he moved from the B-29 to the B-47, which he handled so well he became an instructor pilot for the aircraft. Shrugging off the trouble he caused when he let a 2nd Lieutenant fly in the front seat, he was among the first to regularly fly at high altitude, where he was startled by his first sight of a contrail.
Keywords : Bill McCowen Smoky Hill Hawaii B-47 Curtis LeMay pilot bombardier navigator radar Plattsburgh AFB IP instructor pilot contrail St. Elmo's Fire altitude SAC Strategic Air Command B-58 B-52 Castle AFB
He set out with a friend to enlist in the Navy, but Bill McCowen wound up in the Army Air Corps and trained on remote control gunnery for the B-29. He was sent to Italy in the waning months of World War II where he witnessed a dramatic night bombing of Naples.
Korea got real exciting real quick. It was the practice for the commander to fly with new bomber crews on their first mission. Bill McCowen's B-29 crew almost didn't survive that first mission after the Instructor Pilot nearly killed them twice. The rest of the tour was a little less stressful.
Bill McCowen participated in his third war when SAC was levied for pilots to send to Vietnam, and that's not counting the Cold War. Going from mammoth B-52's to the C-123 assault transport, and from high altitude cruising to treetop level and dirt strips, was no problem for him. He loved flying and was ready for any mission.
Bill McCowen enjoyed flying the B-52 and it was a good thing because the Chrome Dome flights for SAC during the Cold War lasted 24 hrs. He describes the strategy for attacking Moscow, including the plan for surviving after the strike. He also circled Cuba during the Missile Crisis and his description of this lends some credence to the tales of the Bermuda Triangle.
After his brief experience in World War II, Bill McCowen moved on to marriage and college. He had the flying bug, though, and was determined to be a pilot. Before long, he was back in the service and flying B-25's.
