(Matt Drzik/Beaver County Radio)
The skies were clear, and thus a special moment for the descendants of a Beaver County veteran clear for takeoff.
On Friday, David Frome and Barbara Blosser (née Frome) took to the sky with the help of Air Heritage pilots aboard a C-47B Cargo Skytrain nicknamed “The Luck Of The Irish” took off from the Air Heritage grounds in Chippewa. David and Barbara are the children of World War II pilot David Frome, who was the original pilot of the C-47B during the international conflict. The airborne crew set off at 10:50 AM for a stop to the National Cemetery Of The Alleghenies in Cecil Township, Washington County.
According to pilot David Messersmith, the original plan wasn’t to have the Fromes on board. “We were contracted to do a fly-by for a 35-year Navy veteran at the Allegheny Cemetery,” he said, before realizing that the Fromes’ current cross-country trip had them near Beaver County; thus putting them near their father’s WWII plane. “We put two and two together, and were able to open up some seats for them to be on the aircraft. This all came together within the last two weeks.” Messersmith talked about the gathering with Tom Gargaro on the August 15 edition of Teleforum with Eddy Crow (Facebook feed below):
For Frome and Blosser, the experience to get to see their fathers’ plane–let alone take a ride in it–was too good to pass up. “I was here on July 4th of 2018, and I was able to sit in my dad’s seat and see the plane,” Blosser recalled. “So when I heard that my brother Dave was going to be able to fly and there was a seat available, I jumped on it.” Blosser flew in from Phoenix to Pittsburgh for this occasion, and will return by evening’s end.
“To sit in the seat that dad flew,” Frome exclaimed, “when they brought POWs back, when they dropped supplies, when they hauled a plane full of gasoline and landed so that [George] Patton could keep moving, and all these missions…it’s stunning. It truly is stunning, and pretty emotional.
To see some of the pictures from the takeoff of “The Luck Of The Irish” from Air Heritage, check out the gallery below:
