This Thursday sees the start of the 46th National WWII Glider Pilots Association annual reunion held in Mount Pleasant, TX. I'm excited to hear that there will be five D-Day Glider Pilots in attendance :- Mel Pliner 82nd TCS 436th TCG - Mission Elmira Serial 32 - Horsa Tom Kilker 85th TCS 437th TCG - Mission Detroit Serial 28 - CG-4A Jack Merrick 84th TCS 437th TCG - Mission Detroit Serial 28 - CG-4A William Fasking 83rd TCS 437th TCG - Mission Elmira Serial 30 - Horsa John Whipple 83rd TCS 437th TCG - Mission Elmira Serial 30 - Horsa Is anybody else from the forum attending? I'm doing a presentation about the Holdy Horsa and this great forum will be mentioned for all the research done prior to me starting. Neil.
Hi Guys, Enjoy the event and I look forward to reading your accounts on your return. Please do pass on our good wishes to the veterans attending. I'll be there in spirit only unfortunately Regards, Pat
Hi all, I will be at the reunion also. I hope to get to speak with Mel Pliner, as he was in the same group and squadron as my father. I did not seem him at any of the last 3 meetings. Charles
Hi all, As anticipated, the reunion this year was exceptional. I'm sure that most of you know that it was held at the Mid America Flight Museum, ( http://midamericaflightmuseum.org/ ) located at the Mt. Pleasant Regional Airport in Mt. Pleasant, TX. Scott Glover opened up his many hangers to the membership, provided lunch and dinner and much more for 3 days for all in attendance. Many of his aircraft were on display, many for flying. He could not have been any more generous. Many pictures on facebook. I took what I guess was my third flight in the "Sky King" C-47. Another great ride. Next time I will consider getting on board some of the faster planes. My goal of meeting F/O Mel Pliner was achieved. I had several conversations with him over the 3 days, and found him to be quite friendly and willing to answer questions which I guess he has been asked on numerous occasions. He was quite interested in the fact that my father was in the 436 TCG / 82 TCS with him, and seemed genuinely pleased to speak with someone with a connection to his squadron, albeit slight. According to Mel, he did not fly on D-Day. Rather, his first Normandy mission was on the morning of D+1. His description of the flight was very much as he stated on page III of Philippe Esvelin's Forgotten Wings. He was on the last Horsa Glider at the very end of the runway. Way overloaded with 33 men onboard, he nevertheless managed a safe landing. I greatly appreciated his willingness to speak with me, and the fact that he autographed the above noted page for me. Below is a photograph of Mel and his daughter, with me behind them after lunch on Saturday:
Hi all, As anticipated, the reunion this year was exceptional. I'm sure that most of you know that it was held at the Mid America Flight Museum, ( http://midamericaflightmuseum.org/ ) located at the Mt. Pleasant Regional Airport in Mt. Pleasant, TX. Scott Glover opened up his many hangers to the membership, provided lunch and dinner and much more for 3 days for all in attendance. Many of his aircraft were on display, many for flying. He could not have been any more generous. Lots of pictures on facebook. I took what I guess was my third flight in the "Sky King" C-47. Another great ride. Next time I will consider getting on board some of the faster planes. My goal of meeting F/O Mel Pliner was achieved. I had several conversations with him over the 3 days, and found him to be quite friendly and willing to answer questions which I guess he has been asked on numerous occasions. He was quite interested in the fact that my father was in the 436 TCG / 82 TCS with him, and seemed genuinely pleased to speak with someone with a connection to his squadron, albeit slight. According to Mel, he did not fly on D-Day. Rather, his first Normandy mission was on the morning of D+1. His description of the flight was very much as he stated on page III of Philippe Esvelin's Forgotten Wings. He was on the last Horsa Glider at the very end of the runway. Way overloaded with 33 men onboard, he nevertheless managed a safe landing. I greatly appreciated his willingness to speak with me, and the fact that he autographed the above noted page for me. Below is a photograph of Mel and his daughter, with me behind them after lunch on Saturday: More later. Charles
Charles, I'm truly sorry we only briefly met at the reunion. I could have done with two extra days to talk to everybody.
Charles, Glad you got to talk to F/O Mel Pliner and thank you for posting the photograph above. Do you have any others of the event? Readers who were unable to attend would I know be delighted to see more. Thanks, Pat
Hi Neil, It was very nice to meet you, and I too am sorry we didn't get talk more. If you attend future reunions maybe we can continue the conversation a bit more! Pat, I will post additional photos once I solve a computer problem that is driving me crazy right now. In the meantime, the facebook page for the Glider Pilots Association has a very large number of images from the recent reunion. Go to http://ww2gp.org/ Click on "46 REUNION 2016" on the left side, and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to click on the facebook link. A number of the collections of pictures with indications such as +35 or +28 will give you many photos of the event, more than I could ever come up with. Charles