Warbirds Highlight N.Y. Air Show

Warbirds Highlight N.Y. Air Show

John Makinson has had many aviation adventures in his decades of flying.

He’s flown bush planes in the Canadian Arctic and the wild’s of Alaska — possibly the only place you can fly a plane with wheels, skis or floats all in one day — where he’s landed and taken off from glaciers and landing strips not much longer than a football field. But none of those experiences compare to the thrill Makinson, 50, gets from flying a North American B-25H Mitchell bomber with veterans on board.

“That’s what makes it for me. You see them come alive, especially the pilots. It makes them a kid again,” said Makinson, who piloted a World War II-era B-25H Mitchell bomber to the Geneseo Airfield in western New York last week ahead of this weekend’s airshow. “And if they were a gunner, or a waist gunner, they sit down and lock in like they’ve stepped back 70 years.”

For the complete story by Ben Beagle of the Livingston County News, click here.

Image via History Flight

Updated: July 12, 2013 — 9:23 AM
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