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Youngstown air base brings honor from World War II to the forefront
New nose art on a C-130 recognizes Tail Wind, a B-25 bomber piloted by James Olney of Canfield.
VIENNA — In early 1944, James Olney was piloting a B-24 Liberator bomber on daylight combat missions over Germany.
“Our fighter planes couldn’t provide us protection all the way. We had some pretty tough missions,” said Olney, of Canfield.
On March 6, 1944, he flew his B-25 on the first daylight bombing raid on Berlin.
“When we came back, two pilots just walked in and turned in their wings and quit,” he said.
Olney’s plane, dubbed Tail Wind, had 62 flak holes in it.
“Miraculously, no one on board was hit,” he said.
The memory of Tail Wind was honored Sunday during a ceremony at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station when a Tail Wind “nose art” decal was placed on the nose of one of the 910th Airlift Wing’s C-130 Hercules cargo-transport planes.
Olney, who requested the honor, attended with family and friends.
The nose art, a decal about 3 feet long and 11 inches high, depicts the words “Tail Wind,” which look as if they are being blown by the wind and has tornadoes separating the letters.
It was created by Air Force Reserve Tech Sgt. Scott Obermiyer of Brookfield, a member of the 910th Maintenance Squadron.
Obermiyer, who joined the Reserve in 1994 after five years on active duty with the Air Force, said he designed the nose art on a computer and then cut it out of vinyl to attach to the C-130.
A 1989 graduate of Brookfield High School, Obermiyer and his wife, the former Michaelene Vagasky, a native of Masury, have two children, a son, Michael, and a daughter, Madison.
Olney said the decal is not a re-creation of the nose art on his B-24, which pictured a young woman bending over with her skirt blown up over her head by the wind.
“You couldn’t see what she looked like, but she had nice legs. That wouldn’t be politically correct today, but it was fairly mild for that time and place,” he said with a chuckle.
Olney, 87, flew Tail Wind on 23 of his first 30 missions, which he accomplished in about four months. He logged about 1,200 hours flying time in the military and was logging a little time on the dance floor in England when he met his future wife, Madeline, to whom he has been married 64 years.
Married in England before he returned to the United States, arriving June 2, 1945, the couple have two children, a son, David J. of Greenbelt, Md.; a daughter, Elizabeth Danner of Chardon; and three grandchildren.
Olney, who lived in Water- vliet, N.Y., at the time, received his first pilot training under the government’s Civilian Pilot Training program.
“I wanted to learn to fly, and I had no money, so I got into the program,” he said.
He was then accepted into the Army Air Corps, was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1943 after completing aviation cadet training and was sent to Europe as a member of the 458th Bomb Group, with which he flew his first 30 missions.
“We arrived in England just after Christmas of 1943, and I flew my first mission in January 1944,” he said.
Olney moved to Youngstown in 1946 and began working for Tee-Nee Trailer Co., of which his brother was a principal. He had worked for Tee-Nee, founded in 1939, during the summers while he was in high school.
He left Tee-Nee in 1963 and began work developing aluminum trailers, and with two partners, started Trailex Trailer Co.
He left the Army Air Corps a captain, having received the Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, five Air Medals and the European Theater Ribbon.
alcorn@vindy.com