MIflyer
1st Lieutenant
By now everyone knows what happened on United Airlines Flight 93 on that terrible Tuesday in September. One of four hijacked airliners, Flight 93 was the only one that failed to deliver its cargo of death and message of hate. The interruption in the terrorists' plans for Flight 93 was not due to any failure on the vicious planners' part, but due to the actions of a determined group of passengers, and almost certainly, aircrew.
We will never know all the names of the heroes of Flight 93. Jeremy Glick was one, Todd Beamer was another, but there were others; how many and who we do not know. What we do know is that as they fought their last, doomed, but ultimately successful combat action, they were not alone
The sky may have looked empty around Flight 93, but it in fact it was crowded.
Off the right wing of Flight 93 flew the 60 B-17's that fell attacking Schweinfurt on 14 October, 1943. Off the left wing flew the 54 B-24's that went down attacking Ploesti earlier that same year. Down below flew the TBD Devastator torpedo planes of Torpedo Squadron Eight that went in against the Imperial Navy carriers at Midway in 1942. Top cover was provided by Butch O'Hare in his F4F Wildcat, the one he flew when he single-handedly stopped 9 Japanese bombers from sinking the carrier Lexington. Next to Butch flew the late Maj John Howard in his P-51B Mustang "Ding Hao", in which he held off 40 Nazi fighters in 1944. Tucked in tight with Butch were the 12 Marine Wildcats that did so much to delay the Japanese at Wake Island, and in close formation with Maj Howard were Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire in the P-38 Lightnings with which they scoured the skies of the enemy. There were airplanes as far as the eye could see, from Frank Luke's WWI biplane to supersonic jets, and high above, in eternal orbit, flew Apollo 1 and the Space Shuttle Challenger
We are not a nation of sheep; we cannot be, because no matter how empty the skies appear, they are always full of heroes. Flight 93 joined them that Tuesday.
We will never know all the names of the heroes of Flight 93. Jeremy Glick was one, Todd Beamer was another, but there were others; how many and who we do not know. What we do know is that as they fought their last, doomed, but ultimately successful combat action, they were not alone
The sky may have looked empty around Flight 93, but it in fact it was crowded.
Off the right wing of Flight 93 flew the 60 B-17's that fell attacking Schweinfurt on 14 October, 1943. Off the left wing flew the 54 B-24's that went down attacking Ploesti earlier that same year. Down below flew the TBD Devastator torpedo planes of Torpedo Squadron Eight that went in against the Imperial Navy carriers at Midway in 1942. Top cover was provided by Butch O'Hare in his F4F Wildcat, the one he flew when he single-handedly stopped 9 Japanese bombers from sinking the carrier Lexington. Next to Butch flew the late Maj John Howard in his P-51B Mustang "Ding Hao", in which he held off 40 Nazi fighters in 1944. Tucked in tight with Butch were the 12 Marine Wildcats that did so much to delay the Japanese at Wake Island, and in close formation with Maj Howard were Dick Bong and Tommy McGuire in the P-38 Lightnings with which they scoured the skies of the enemy. There were airplanes as far as the eye could see, from Frank Luke's WWI biplane to supersonic jets, and high above, in eternal orbit, flew Apollo 1 and the Space Shuttle Challenger
We are not a nation of sheep; we cannot be, because no matter how empty the skies appear, they are always full of heroes. Flight 93 joined them that Tuesday.
