Central Coast News

California Central Coast’s WWII aviators honored and remembered

KCBX | By Tom Wilmer

Published May 30, 2018 at 9:43 AM PDT

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The B-17 at the bottom of this photo, on a mission to Anzio, Italy, was piloted by Harold Schuchardt of Los Osos when it was shot down over Hungary. Schuchardt was captured and served out his war as a POW. Courtesy the American Air Museum

Courtesy the American Air Museum in Britain, Imperial War Museums

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Hancock Field. Army Air Forces Cadets on parade at Hancock Field, on the site of today’s Hancock College. Nearly 9,000 cadets would receive primary flight training here during World War II. Courtesy the Santa Maria Museum of Flight.";

Courtesy the Santa Maria Museum of Flight

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Ball turret gunner Donal Laird of San Luis Obispo, top row, third from left, was killed on his first mission in the B-17 in the background, “Strictly G.I.” A German group devoted to identifying missing and lost fliers returned Laird’s wristwatch t";s:3:

Courtesy the 91st Bomb Group

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The McChesney family of Corbett canyon were pioneers in local flight. The airport is named for Leroy McChesney Jr., an advocate for civil aviation. His brother, Jess Milo (top right) was the pilot of a Fifteenth Air Force B-24 and a veteran

Courtesy Michael McChesney

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POW photograph of Albert Lee Findley Jr. of Los Osos, a B-24 radioman who now lives in Los Osos. Findley was shot down in February 1945 and was liberated by George Patton’s Third Army in April. Courtesy of Albert Lee Findley Jr.";

Courtesy of Albert Lee Findley Jr

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Former Cal Poly architecture professor John Sim Stuart was a P-47 fighter pilot who witnessed the explosion of the Nagasaki atomic bomb on August 9, 1945

Courtesy John Sim Stuart

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Longtime Arroyo Grande High School teacher Al Spierling as a B-17 top turret gunner and flight engineer in the 457th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force.

Courtesy the Spierling Family.

Central Coast Aviators in WW II book cover

Historian Jim Gregory shares insights about his new book Central Coast Aviators in WW II. Gregory shares the stories of local men and women who served as pilots and crew during WW II. Stories include how Cal Poly State University was transformed into a Naval aviation pre-flight training center and Santa Maria’s Hancock Field trained thousands of pilots and crew.

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