Robert Hanson, the last surviving member of the storied Memphis Belle B-17 bomber crew–the first to fly 25 bombing missions in Europe during World War II–has died.
Mr. Hanson, the famed aircraft’s radio operator, died Oct. 1 in Albuquerque. He was 85.
The exploits of the B-17 were detailed in a 1944 documentary “The Memphis Belle,” made by William Wyler. Its final mission was recalled in a fictionalized 1990 movie “Memphis Belle.”
Mr. Hanson was a construction worker in Spokane, Wash., when he joined the Army in 1941–three months before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, drawing the United States into World War II. During his training at Walla Walla, Wash., he was assigned to the Memphis Belle.
The “flying fortress,” as the bombers were called, and its 10-man crew flew to England, their wartime base, in September 1942. From Nov. 7 to May 17, 1943, they flew 148 hours and dropped more than 60 tons of bombs over occupied France and Germany.
They were credited with shooting down eight enemy aircraft and five “probables,” and damaging a dozen more. Four of the original crew died in combat as the plane was hit by cannon and machine-gun fire.
Although Mr. Hanson and the rest of the crew survived unscathed to become war heroes, they had several close calls.
“When we got the tail shot off, Capt. Morgan put the ship into a terrific dive and we dropped two- or three-thousand feet. It pretty nearly threw me out of the airplane,” Mr. Hanson said on the Memphis Belle Memorial Association Inc. Web site.
“I hit the roof. I thought we were going down and wondered if I should bail out. Then he pulled up again and I landed on my back. I had an ammunition box and a frequency meter on top of me. I didn’t know what was going on.”
On another bombing run, Mr. Hanson was writing in a logbook when he sneezed, jerking his head. A bullet missed him when he moved, and instead hit the log book, which he kept the rest of his life.
In 1989, Mr. Hanson accompanied pilot Robert Morgan and other crewmen to Binbrook Royal Air Force base in England to meet with the young cast of the movie.
“They’re not quite as good-looking as we were,” he joked, “but they are young and enthusiastic–exactly like we were.”
After the war, Mr. Hanson became a salesman and later regional manager for Nalley Fine Foods in Walla Walla. He also worked for a Spokane candy company before retiring to Mesa, Ariz., and recently moving to Albuquerque. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Irene, and a daughter and a son.
