Warbird Information Exchange

Retired airman, German guests unite over WWII relics

Mar. 14, 2009
The Arizona Republic

At 88, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Stanton Rickey needed no help climbing aboard a World War II bomber Friday to commemorate a reunion with history.It was the two Germans with him, however, who held the links to his past.

Rickey and his European guests were brought together for this occasion after the Germans recovered pieces of the B-17 Flying Fortress that Rickey was flying when he was shot down during a raid over southern Germany on July 18, 1944. Five of his crewmen died in the crash. Rickey was captured after he bailed out of the burning plane and was held in a prisoner-of-war camp.

"They not only found my aircraft, they expanded the search of the entire area and located other crash sites of American and German aircraft," Rickey said of the men. "It's been super cultivating friendships with them. We've become very close because of our shared experience."For the past four days, Rickey has examined twisted fragments of the wreckage and photographs of other recently discovered wrecks with their discoverers, Ludwig Hauber and his uncle, Kurt Hauber.

Ludwig began searching for aircraft remnants after Kurt kept telling him about watching the aerial battle over the Hauber family farm near Kempten, between Munich and the Austrian border, and seeing planes falling from the sky when he was 11. "He can't forget the story," Ludwig said. "They had very little to eat at the time, and every three days the bombers would come to south Germany."

With a metal detector and shovel, Ludwig began locating and unearthing small pieces of a bomber he later traced to Rickey through numbers on the wreckage.Rickey said Ludwig's recovery efforts have become more sophisticated, identifying crash sites throughout Germany that will be investigated.

"We lost 14 of our 26 aircraft" on the Memmigen Raid, Rickey said. "That's 140 people, and 40 percent of them were killed."Rickey bailed out, but half of the B-17's 10-man crew was killed after nearly 200 German fighters ambushed the 483rd Bomber Group while it was on a bombing raid.

"I was the last one out of the airplane," Rickey said. "We were hit at 25,000 feet and I got out about 5,000 feet as the plane was spinning."In all, 65 airmen from the 483rd lost their lives that day. The entire 5th Bomber Wing had been dispatched to the targets, but weather prevented most of the group from reaching the targets, he said.A recall message from the Wing's leader did not reach the 483rd leader, Capt. Louis T. Seith, but the group's escort P-38s heard it and returned to their base in Italy.

As a result, the bombers closed in on their targets without protection and became easier prey for the Luftwaffe.On Friday, Rickey and the Haubers stood under the wing of a North American B-25H Mitchell bomber called Barbie III at Falcon Field Airport.The plane is operated by Warbirds Unlimited Foundation, a non-profit organized to preserve aviation history in honor of all veterans, and the organization provided Rickey and his two German guests with a ride to commemorate the occasion.

Rickey said the Haubers have helped bring closure for him to the mission in which so many men paid the ultimate sacrifice.

"What they have done is wonderful," Rickey said.

Stanton Rickey (left) talks with Kurt Hauber after the men completed a flight in a North American B-25H Mitchell bomber called Barbie III at Falcon Field Municipal Airport in Mesa.Pat Shannahan/The Arizona Republic