Name Barney Rawlings | Died July 19, 2004 | |
Bernard (Barney) Wayne Rawlings (1920 – July 19, 2004) was the Eighth Air Force co-pilot of the B-17 bomber, "G.I. Sheets", which was shot down over Belgium in 1944. With the aid of resistance fighters in Belgium and France, Rawlings made his way to Spain where, after a brief incarceration, he was repatriated. His story is recounted in Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer by Brian D. O'Neill (McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999), and The Last Airman, by Roger Rawlings (Harper & Row, 1989).
Following the war, Barney Rawlings became a pilot for Trans World Airlines, ultimately becoming a 747 captain. He retired in 1987.
A year prior to his retirement, he and the surviving members of his World War II crew returned to Belgium where, in the town of Solre-Saint-Géry, a granite monument had been erected in their honor - and, by extension, in honor of all Allied air crews who fought for the liberation of Europe. The dedication ceremony included presentations by NATO, the United States Air Force, and the Belgian Air Force, which conducted a fly-over by four Belgian jet aircraft.