This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Alexandria native, 100, survived 'miraculous' B-24 flight across ...

The first piece of B-24 was completed at Willow Run two days after the attack. But Edsel had promised that the massive bombers would take flight in May 1942. After numerous delays and production ...

The B-24 could accommodate as many as ten airmen: pilot, co-pilot in the cockpit; navigator and bombardier in the nose; radio/radar operator behind the pilot; flight engineer adjacent to the radio ...

Absolutely nothing was done to make (the B-24) comfortable for the pilot, the co-pilot or the other eight men in the crew, even though most flights lasted eight hours, sometimes ten or more ...