Overstreet er død - Viktig person for motstandskampen i Frankrike

WWII Pilot Who Flew Through Eiffel Tower

Posted on January 9, 2014 by The Editor

William Overstreet Jr., a World War II fighter pilot who in 1944 famously flew his P-51C Mustang through the arches of the Eiffel Tower while in pursuit of a German Messerschmitt Bf 109G aircraft, died at a hospital in Roanoke, Va., on Dec. 29, reported the local paper He was 92.



Overstreet was awarded hundreds of medals for his service in the 357th squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces, according to his obituary for Oakey’s Funeral Home. One of his greatest honors was receiving France’s Legion of Honor by the French ambassador to the U.S. in 2009 at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford. At the ceremony, the French ambassador said Overstreet led “some of the most heroic actions that we have ever heard of” during the liberation of France in the Second World War.
Overstreet’s most famous flight came while in solo pursuit of a German Messerschmitt Bf 109G flying into Nazi-occupied Paris.  ”He figured I’d try to get around and he’d have time to get away. He was wrong,” Overstreet once said in an interview. ”I was right behind him, right under the Eiffel Tower with him. And when he pulled up, I did get him.  But that’s a huge space. That’s not close at all. It’s plenty of room to go under the Eiffel Tower, but it makes a good story.”
His manoeuvre re-ignited the spirit of the French Resistance troops on the ground. One of those French Resistance fighters was the father of Bernard Marie. A French dignitary who has hosted D-Day events every year since 1984, Marie said he met Overstreet in 1994. He knew Overstreet was well-known for his flight underneath the Eiffel Tower but didn’t understand the true importance of Overstreet’s flight until he spoke with his father.
“My father began shouting out me — ‘I have to meet this man,’ ” Marie said.
Members of the French Resistance had seen his flight, and it inspired them, including Marie’s father, he said.
“This guy has done even more than what people are thinking,” Marie said. “He lifted the spirit of the French.”
Marie was born into Nazi-occupied France and remembers the Allied troops coming to his home to liberate his family, forever giving him an appreciation for American WWII veterans. It led to a friendship with Overstreet as soon as they met.
“He was a countryman and a wonderful man,” Marie said. “He was very humble. In a way he was almost embarrassed” of the attention his awards brought him.
After shyly accepting the Legion of Honor at the age of 88, Overstreet said, “If I said, ‘Thank you,’ it wouldn’t be enough,” but then added, “What more than ‘thank you’ do you need?”

Overstreet is pictured by his P-51 ‘Berlin Express’, the plane he flew beneath the Eiffel Tower

He was born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1921 and after Pearl Harbor, he enlisted in the Air Corps as a fighter pilot. By February 1942, he was a private and sent to California for flight training; here, his instructors prepared him for the unexpected mid-flight by cutting the engine as he landed.

Overstreet credited this extreme training method with preparing him for the unexpected in war, Warbirds News reported. During training in 1943, he suffered a near-death crash when his plane, a Bell P-39 Airacobra, began spinning as he practiced maneuvers, and he was unable to control it. He eventually forced his way out through the doors and found himself standing amid the wreckage.When he flew in World War II, he suffered another freak accident when his oxygen line cut out as he flew 25,000 feet over France. He passed out but snapped awake and controlled the plane and dodged trees in front of him to figure out where he was and land safely. Newspapers at the time reported that he could not remember a whole 90 minutes of the flight.

According to his obituary, Overstreet returned from war and married Nita Brackens of Covington, who preceded him in death. He worked as an accountant until retiring when he was 65 years old and then worked with numerous charities and veterans groups. Marie said even in his latest years of life, Overstreet still kept his wits and attitude. One night, when Overstreet was about 90 years old, Marie asked if he could give Overstreet a ride home. Overstreet, he said, looked back at him insulted and asked, “Did you forget what I am able to do?”