Mr. Lane was in the TIMES office arranging for renewal of his subscription when this writer engaged him in a conversation. It had come to my attention that the gentleman was a WW II aviator, and since I am also a pilot I had an interest in his flying history. So I engaged him in a conversation about his war experiences as a part of the Army Air Corps.

He first described growing up on a farm near Lansing. Michigan during the 1930's. He told how he had taken a heifer to the county fair that he had entered through his FFA school involvement, and at that time took his first airplane ride in an open air cockpit plane which was selling short rides over the fairground. It was at that moment he fell in love with flying.

He graduated from High School in 1940, just before the war. He worked for an airplane manufacturer as a carpenter for awhile, and then in construction. Then Pearl Harbor came and the US entered the war. He wanted to be a pilot but knew he had to get some college credits to qualify.

He managed to be accepted to Michigan State, and entered ROTC as a cadet. During his second year the Air Force approached the cadets with an offer to enter OCS and becoming a military pilot. Albert couldn't get in line fast enough.

He went through OCS and began to learn to fly in an AT-19 at Helena, Arkansas.

Then he progressed to a BT-13 and finally a twin aircraft, an AT-9 at Blytheville, Arkansas. Finally his primary training was over and he was assigned to fly B-17's, the huge four engine bombers which were doing the heavy work in the war. He picked up his crew at a base in Tampa and proceeded to Gulfport for B-17 training. Then he was sent to Foggia, Italy. The year was 1944.

The brave aviator flew a total of 25 missions, dropping hell from heaven by flying over the Alps to bomb Bolivia, Milan, Northern Italy, Austria, Vienna, Berlin, and many other familiar European cities. I asked him what his most vivid memories were, and he was quick to respond, a night attack over Berlin when we got hit at 32,000 ft. just after we began a bomb run.

The aging veteran began his remarkable story. "The sky was black with anti-aircraft fire over the well defended city of Berlin. We got "smacked" pretty good. It killed my bombardier, one gunner, and took out one engine. It also knocked out the oxygen system in the plane so I had to get us down to below 15,000 feet as quickly as possible for us to survive. I fell out of formation and began a steep descent.

Our bombs were still on board, and were locked in the rack. My co pilot and a crew member had to get a crowbar and pry them out and let them drop as we descended.

There were several of the new jets which Germany had just developed which were sitting waiting to pick off any "cripples" that were falling away from the site. One came down after us, and just as we reached 15,000 ft. he was about to attack us. I looked the German pilot right in the eye as he prepared to shoot us down. Then suddenly four P-51's appeared and quickly chased him away. The P-51's were from the Tuskegee Airmen Flight, and they were flying cover for the bombers on this raid. They saved my life and the lives of my crew that night and I will never forget it.

We managed to limp over the Alps and made it back to home base. Then when we landed we discovered that our right tires were flat. We ran off the runway, between several parked B-17's, through a ditch and finally came to a stop. I jumped out and kissed the ground!"

He paused for a moment, reliving those moments of terror and joy from his experiences sixty-eight years ago. Then he added, "But I don't think that was my worse experience... We were involved in a bombing mission over Linz Austria and the anti-aircraft fire was really terrible. The target was really defended. Then we found out that the Germans had developed a new shell which was filled with particles which flew out when the shell exploded, and these were filled with phosphorous. It was deadly.

The B-17 directly in front of me took a direct hit and exploded. A few of the crew managed to bail out, and some of them were on fire. I had to swerve to the side to keep our wing from hitting them. It was horrible. Before it was over I saw five B-17's explode that night. Each was carrying a crew of 10, so that meant fifty men died in a period of just a few minutes.

It took me a long time to get over that one," he finished with a tearful look in his eyes.

After the war Mr. Lane worked for 25 years as an executive for General Motors.

These are but a few of the stories from this American Hero's life. We plan to present more in a coming issue. Also, we will have a video posted on our web site of Mr. Lane telling of his experiences. Just go to www.jacksoncountytimes.net.