WWII Fighter Pilot in Flight Again
By Eloise Ogden
It was a dream come true for former P-38 pilot Elmer Wolff, of Makoti, to fly again in a World War II plane.
Warren Pietsch made it happen when he took Wolff, who will be 92 in December, up in the Texas Flying Legends Museum plane Sunday. Pietsch is TFLM chief pilot and vice president of operations, and a Dakota Territory Air Museum board member.
Wolff and his wife, Virginia, were not aware when they came to Minot Sunday morning for the Minot air museum’s plane sweepstakes breakfast that a flight for Elmer would be part of the day. There, Pietsch asked Wolff if he’d like to go on a flight with him in the P-51 Mustang “Little Horse.” Wolff didn’t let that opportunity go by. He took him up on the offer.
“That’s been a dream come true for him. He’s wanted to ride in one of them,” said Virginia Wolff, before her husband and Pietsch took off in the plane.
Pietsch planned the flight in observance of national “Spirit of ’45 Day” on Sunday to commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War II.
Wolff took the back seat in the P-51 and then he and Pietsch took off with the crowd at the air museum watching. Their flight took them over Minot and the Sawyer area.
When they returned from the flight, Wolff said, “It was terrific.”
Wolff noted that since he was sitting in the back, he didn’t have the air speed indicator to watch when they were flying and wondered what their speeds were. They flew up to 300 mph.
Wolff expressed his thanks to Pietsch for the flight.
“It was an honor to give it to you,” Pietsch said.
Article & photo published August 17, 2015 © Copyright 2015 Minot Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
