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| November 3, 2006 Barnstable Patriot |  |
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PAUL GAUVIN PHOTO
ON THE BILLBOARD - Former WWII fighter pilot William H. Waechter
holds up billboard heralding movie Thunderbolt, in which he and his
plane,5C6, are prominently displayed.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A:1
and the Brazilian squadron.
"The P-47 was nicknamed
'jug' because its shape was
similar to the old quart milk
bottles," he said last week in
the livingroom of hiscomfort-
able home decorated with
memorabilia from the glory
days of his youth. In his col-
lection is a poster marketing
a movie called Thunderbolt
narrated by Hollywood icon
James "Jimmy" Stewart with
a photo of Waechter's 5C6
plane dominating aformation
in flight.
Waechter signed up in 1941
at 17before highschool gradu-
ation and was sent for basic
training while all the time
arguing that he wanted to be
a fighter pilot.
"They finally checked the
high school and found that I
had completed allthe courses
even though I wasn't there to
graduate. So I went to flight
training."
Last month, more than a
half century after providing
air support for ground troops,
pursuing, bombing and straf-
ing enemy targets, air strips
and railroads, Waechter, who
retired withthe rank of major
in 1969 then went to work
for the U.S. Postal Service
in Bourne, received an unex-
pected surprise in the mail.
It was an invitation from
the Brazilian pilots - those
who are still alive - to join
them in a ceremony at Wright
Paterson Air Force Museum
near Dayton, Ohio, where a
Wright 'B' Flyer replicaplane
and memorialto the Brazilian
pilots was to be dedicated.
The ancient double-winged
craft that looks like a dragon-
fly, it turns out, had been con-
structed by members of the
Brazilian fighter group over
the years. They had formed
a post-war association much
like one forged by American
pilots - the Jug Pilots As-
sociation - after the war. The
Brazilians wanted to donate
the flying replica to the air
museum.
"This is curious," Waechter
said. "The Brazilians built a
plane shortly after 1900 - it
was actuallymanufactured in
France -and flew it at about
the same time the Wright
Brothers got theirs off the
ground. Sothey thought they
were the first country to fly
and we thought the same
thing. Some people in Brazil
stillbelieve they were first."
The retired major couldn't
resist the invite to the Day-
ton ceremony. Its arrival was
serendipitous. Waechter was
heading west anyway last
month for areunion ofhisown
squadron in Reno, Nev., and
decided to make the side trip
to Dayton -at 83years of age
and by himself - not a daunt-
ingtask for afighter pilot with
3,600 flying hours. Besides
P-47s and other designs, he
piloted "Super Connies" out
of Otis Air Base during the
Cold War for the Air Defense
Command.
Not only did Waechter un-
expectedly get to take the
stick in the open cockpit of
the Wright'B' on ashortflight
at Patterson, he remembered
one of the Brazilians, named
Rocha, as the one who intro-
duced him while stationed
together in Pisa, Italy, to
a Brazilian alcoholic drink
made from sugar cane that
was sweet "but packed one
heck of a wallop. Only two of
the American pilots including
myself attended ," Waechter
said.
Parked inWaechter'sdrive-
wayisared, 1991BMW2-door,
4-cylinder coupe with 232,000
miles on it. He bought it used
in 1999 and learned it had
been fed synthetic oil, which
he continued to use.
"That car,"he said."It'sthe
closestthingtoflying aplane.I
take care of it."Sowhen some
of hisfriends and severalof his
eight children looked askance
at him for driving the old car
cross-country again, it didn't
bother him much.
"I did everything I had to
do on the chassis, changed
the struts and brakes...did it
myself.Drove her to Florida in
the spring to see my sister."
The front license plate on
the car emblazoned with avia-
tor wings reads:
345th FTR Squadron,Devil
Hawks,the Best Damn Fight-
er Squadron of WWII.
"On this trip, I drove alone
to Dayton, then to Kansas
where I picked up a another
pilot, then to Reno," he said.
He drove back to the Cape
himself. He wouldn't say how
fast , but Waechter noted ,
while raising his eyebrows in
ayou-know-what-I-meanway,
that "Icruise."He admitsthat
while he is "comfortable" on
long drives, "afew times I de-
bated myself about sleep and
started looking for a motel.
"I guess there were about
1,000 pilots who flew the
Thunderbolt duringthe war.I
missed onlyone reunion since
retiring from the Air Force.
There were about 60 people
there thisyearbut of 22 pilots
I shipped out with, only five
were able to make it."
As pilots age they are ro-
tated to other duties, he said,
andWaechterat onepointwas
sentto AirDefense Command
headquarters in New York
where he ultimately became
second in command to the
operations officer.
Waechtertook sometimeto
explain how the Air Defense
system was interconnected
and integrated with comput-
ers. He described how data
were received at a Truro
defense outpost from planes,
ships and sea and towers in
Texas and how interceptor
planes were scrambled when
encountering unidentified
blips on radar.
From New York, he was
sent to the outpost in Truro
to correct some problems
there and ultimately became
its operations officer. It was
during that time that he wed.
He was later transferred to
Otis, where he flew the Air
Defense patrol "Connie,"then
to Spain before returning to
Barnstable after his military
retirement.
Waechter, articulate, com-
puter savvy and with un-
fettered long-term memory,
said that at the insistence of
friends and his children, he is
writinghis memoirs "on rainy
days."
What elseisanold pilot with
alot of interesting war stories
to tell to do? -
WWII pilot reunites with squadron...
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