William Cornett is retired, and at this writing he's a spry and sharp 89-year-old veteran of World War II, during which he flew 51 missions as a ball turret gunner in a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. From July 1944 to January 1945 he flew with the 15th Air Force, 99th Bomb Group, 348th Bomb Squadron, from a U.S. Army Air Force Base near Foggia, Italy

This is Bill's photostream. I've put this together as a tribute to Bill, a part of chronicling Bill's 51 missions flying on bombing runs over terribly dangerous territory in the Mediterranean and Europe. I'm Greg Bishop, a friend of Bill's, and a Flickr photog; my photostream is named konabish.

I met Bill on his "52nd mission", flying in a B-17 Flying Fortress; I was volunteering for the Collings Foundation www.cfdn.org. On May 9, 2011, BillI flew in the Collings Foundation's B-17g Flying Fortress bomber, "Nine-O-Nine", from John Wayne Airport, to Hawthorne Airport, in California!

The chronicle of Bill's bombing missions is right now separate from this; during the war Bill kept track of all 51 missions in a 'military issue' 3" by 5" tablet... logging them not by date, but as 1 thru 51. At that time, the date was not as important as the number! It was a "countdown" to being able to go home. Using USAAF (U.S. Army Air Force) 15th Air Force records available online, I researched the list, starting on 7/6/44 - the date Bill knew he flew his first mission. Since he had listed the target, I was able to compare to the USAAF records, finding the dates; it's a thrill reading Bill's written record and seeing it reflected exactly in the official historical records. Bill has now been tape recording those experiences for his family and history.

I may be able to work on presenting that to "The Veteran's History Project", through the Library of Congress.

A word about the photostream: Some images here are from the internet, including WWII-related websites. Where possible I show credit. I've been careful to select only info that reflects Bill's actual experience.

If you have additional information you would care to add, please enter it in the comments; but also send a copy to me so I can include it. Bill's vision is poor now, and I'm honored to devote the effort to this. My email is konabish@hotmail.com.