Warbird Information Exchange

J. Bradley McManus, 92, developer, WWII pilot

By Kathy Boccella
Inquirer Staff Writer
J. Bradley McManus, 92, of Phoenixville, the last surviving pilot of a World War II mission that had to ditch eight planes in Greenland because of bad weather, died of pneumonia Monday, March 21, at Phoenixville Hospital.

Mr. McManus was a real estate broker and developer.

In 2007, nearly 65 years after the Army Air Corps squadron aborted its mission on Greenland's ice cap, a plane dubbed Glacier Girl that had been recovered there and restored was flown from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on its original mission: a flight to England.

Mr. McManus, whose late friend Harry Smith had piloted the plane, accompanied Glacier Girl as a passenger in a World War II P-51 Mustang fighter for the first 100 miles.

Mr. McManus, 89 at the time, told USA Today that it was a "thrill to know this is occurring and to think they are actually going to fly it over the same route that we flew in 1942.

Posted:
http://m.philly.com/phillycom/db_41070/ ... &pn=1&ps=3