Williamsport veteran of two wars takes to the skies as part of DreamFlights’ ‘Operation September Freedom’
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John Cerquozzi got a bird's-eye view of his hometown Monday morning, flying in the front seat of a 1940 Boeing Stearman airplane, a flight arranged by his Dove Street neighbor, Doug DeClerck.
Cerquozzi, 94, arrived at the Energy Aviation building, at Williamsport Regional Airport, where he was greeted by the DreamFlights team of pilots.
DreamFlights is an organization based in Carson City, Nevada, which is arranging flights in August and September for veterans of World War II.
The flights are called "Operation September Freedom," as the 80th anniversary of the war draws near.
At least 1,300 of the war's veterans -- many in their late 80s and 90s -- have signed up for the flights, but not all have made it up -- "with some no longer with us," DreamFlights' pilots said. About 1,000 were expected to either fly or have flown.
The team this day was from Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina.
"I've been there," said Cerquozzi, who was a Navy chief and veteran of WWII and the Korean War.
Cerquozzi sat in the aviation building with the pilots, bantering with the team about his life experiences and telling them what retirement was like.
"I walk around the block," he said to smiles in the room.
"I take it easy," he said. "Wouldn't want to do nothing different."
Cerquozzi, who got his pilot's license as a hobby and flew in the 1970s, impressed the DreamFlight team and a combat pilot at the facility, who thanked him for his service.
His heroism during the war included having to spend four days on the ocean, floating to survive, while sharks claimed the lives of his fellow sailors.
"You paved the way for guys like us," said Dave Hall, a retired Air Force colonel who flew B-52 missions in the Vietnam War.
Hall, who also flew B-1 bombers, watched in awe as the World War II veteran ambled slowly out to the tarmac, holding onto his cane for support, with the DreamFlights crew by his side.
Flight day was nearly perfect.
It was about 9:15 a.m. and the sky over Bald Eagle Mountain broke through as clear, with some heavier cloud cover to the north of Montoursville.
The blue sky matched the color of the airplane's fuselage and the sun's rays, peeked out of the clouds, and glistened off the yellow wing.
The names of the military veterans who had already taken flights were scrawled in ink on the tail, soon to have Cerquozzi's name added to the list.
Marcus Smith, 24, his pilot on the flight, assisted Cerquozzi up a small ladder and Smith and another DreamFlights team member helped him to get into the seat, strapping him in securely in the open cockpit. Smith would jump in the rear seat, which had the controls.
As his friends watched, the 275 horsepower, seven-cylinder, air-cooled radial engine manufactured by the Jacobs Aircraft Engine Co. roared.
The engine had about 500 flight hours and the powerful rotors blew air backwards as Cerquozzi lifted his head.
Smith guided the airplane out to taxi and before long it could be seen lifting off the airstrip, soaring upward and heading east before turning far below Montoursville and heading back toward the borough and over the city.
"I saw you up there smiling ear to ear," Smith said after the flight.
Cerquozzi held up his hands with two thumbs up.
He said he could see much of his hometown, including the downtown and Market Street Bridge, and the rolling hills to the north of the city.
The flight was 20 minutes long.
"Alright buddy," Cerquozzi excitedly said as the pilots and team picked him up out of the seat, and assisted him as he stood on the wing, walked backwards with help, and walked down the step ladder.
He received a commendatory hat, signed the wing and a poster.
The organization of volunteer pilots has taken 4,500 senior citizens and veterans on vintage flights around their hometowns.
In a touching moment, as he handed over the pen he used to sign the aircraft, the team broke down with emotion.
"Now you're always going to be flying with us," the pilots said.