MESA – As the bomber known as Sentimental Journey thunders to life on the runway, Jeff Cook runs to warn visitors to avoid the danger zone. The roar of the propellers drowns out his voice and the wind nearly blows his hat off.
It’s a typical day at the Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum in Mesa, where people like Cook keep history alive through storytelling and by maintaining the airworthiness of the museum’s vintage warplanes. Passengers can tour the museum and planes or take flight on one of several of their World War II aircraft, including a twin engine B-25 Mitchell, a Stearman trainer biplane, and Sentimental Journey, one of only a few operational B-17G Flying Fortresses in the world.
“That’s really our mission, to preserve one of every type of aircraft from World War II,” said Cook, who served in the Army for 27 years and now dedicates much of his time to preserving these planes and the stories of the people who flew them.
He said he has recorded video interviews with 27 World War II veterans. He sends free DVD copies to the veterans and to the Library of Congress for its Veterans Oral History Program.
Cook said it’s important to preserve the testimony of aging veterans, whose numbers are rapidly dwindling. About 558,000 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II were alive in 2017, and 362 die each day, according to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, citing the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Paul Moore, another Commemorative Air Force Museum guide, said veterans who visit often tell their war stories, including some they’ve never shared with loved ones. Some veterans have trouble sharing war stories with their children because the younger people can’t relate to the experience, Moore said.
Cook interviewed Moore’s father about his experience in World War II as part of the “Forgotten 500,” a group of Air Force men on a B-17 bombing mission who were shot down over Nazi-occupied Serbia.
“The stories are fascinating.” Moore said, “That’s why I admire Jeff and the crew here for interviewing these guys and getting the oral history.”
Moore said he brought his father to the museum when he was 85. The two of them flew in the B-17, and his father thoroughly enjoyed sitting in the nose of the bomber. He was also given the opportunity to sign his name on the bomber’s bay doors –– a honor afforded any veteran who served on a B-17. His father died last year.
Jeff Cook said he never tires of seeing the Flying Fortress take off.
Jeff Cook keeps a close watch as a crowd gathers outside the museum hangar, drawn to the unmistakable sound of four B-17 piston engines roaring to life on the runway. Visitors can pay for flying tours on one of several aircraft at the museum, including the B-17, which is the most expensive. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Out of nearly 13,000 B-17s produced, fewer than a dozen are airworthy – including Sentimental Journey at Falcon Field. Docent Jeff Cook said maintenance can be expensive because “there aren’t that many customers who would want a B-17 engine, but there are some, and it’s profitable for those people.” (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Bob Charnes stands by as fellow docent Jeff Cook talks to Sherry Forrest, who was visiting from Iowa. “He’s very knowledgeable, he taught me a lot,” she said of Cook, especially about the Doolittle Raid in early 1942. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Asked whether he ever tires of seeing Sentimental Journey lift into the heavens, Jeff Cook replied no. “Do you think anyone could?” (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)At the Commemorative Air Force Museum in Mesa, veterans and non-veterans alike experience history through firsthand accounts and up-close encounters with the machines of war. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Docent Jeff Cook (with pinup Betty Grable and Sentimental Journey over his shoulder) served in the Army for 27 years. He has been working on a personal project for several months, recording video interviews with World War II veterans before their stories are lost to history. He said the interviews typically last for 45 minutes, and one veteran he spoke with was older than 100. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Jeff Cook makes sure to take any veteran who has served on one of the museum’s two bombers – including real “Rosie the Riveters” who built the planes – to see the bomb bay doors. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Bob Charnes didn’t fly a B-17 in World War II, but his father did. At 6 feet, 7 inches, he received several exemptions to fly in the cramped bomber, where he manned the lower turret gun. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Dozens of veteran visitors to the museum have signed the bomb bay doors of both the B-17 and B-25 bomber. Cook said one of the original Doolittle Raiders signed the doors of the museum’s B-25 Mitchell, the type used in the raid on Tokyo four months after Pearl Harbor. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)Paul Moore (left) said Jeff Cook interviewed his father about his World War II experiences, getting him to share stories that even Moore hadn’t heard before. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)In addition to static and flying aircraft, the museum has many smaller exhibits, including one on the evolution of 20th century helmets and a collection of scale model World War II aircraft. (Photo by Jesse Stawnyczy/Cronkite News)
