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US WW2 fighter pilot returns to skies in Mustang

Emma Baugh & Katy Prickett
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Aerial Collective, Duxford Joe Peterburs wearing a brown leather flying helmet and goggles. He is sitting in a cockpit, wearing a green jacket and smiling broadly. Aerial Collective, Duxford
Joe Peterburs said the surprise flight in the Mustang was "beyond my expectations"

A World War Two American fighter pilot has been surprised with a flight in a Mustang aeroplane 80 years to the day after he was shot down.

Joe Peterburs was escorting United States Army Air Forces bombers over Germany on 10 April 1945 when he was forced to bail out of his damaged plane and was captured.

The unexpected flight in the Mustang was organised by King's Cliffe Airfield Museum, in Northamptonshire, after it heard the 100-year-old planned a visit to the former RAF airfield.

Mr Peterburs said it was "beyond my wildest dreams to have this opportunity to fly over England and remember the days past".

Emma Baught/BBC Isabel Rutland and Joe Peterburs sitting side-by-side outside at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. She is on the left, with short blonde hair and wearing a grey roll-neck jumper. He is on the right and wearing a blue peaked baseball cap and has a blanket and a fake fur throw over his shoulders. They are looking at each other and talking.Emma Baught/BBC
Professional display pilot Isabel Rutland was his pilot, flying from the Imperial War Museum Duxford airfield

Mr Peterburs was stationed at RAF King's Cliffe with the 55th Squadron of the 20th Fighter Group after he arrived in the UK in December 1944.

King's Cliffe Air Museum arranged the flight with professional display pilot Isabel Rutland, flying from the Imperial War Museum airfield at Duxford, Cambridgeshire.

She took him up in a Mustang similar to the one he flew in World War Two.

Mr Peterburs had fond memories of the combat plane, saying: "It was a beautiful aircraft, I used to say it was like a suit of armour putting it on - it just fit you like a glove."

Emma Baught/BBC A Mustang aeroplane resting on grass at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. It is silver and white with a red and white propeller nose and it has black, yellow tipped propellers. Yellow steps are leading up to the cockpit. Two people can be seen getting into the cockpit. Above is blue sky with white clouds. Emma Baught/BBC
Mr Peterburs had "never seen a Mustang until I landed at King's Cliffe", so had to get in 20 training hours before he could begin combat missions

By the time he was shot down, the 20-year-old was flying his 49th mission.

"I landed, looked around and there was just farmland with about 20 German civilians working in the field - they came running at me - and then I heard a rumbling noise and up came a Luftwaffe [German air force] sergeant on a motor cycle who fired two shots in the air and said I was his prisoner," he said.

After a few "hairy adventures" - including interrogation by Gestapo officers and sharing an air raid shelter with Luftwaffe airmen during RAF raids - he managed to escape from a prisoner of war camp.

"I headed towards Berlin and came across a Russian tank column, so fought with them up from Berlin to Wittenberg on the River Elbe, and a US army patrol came along and retrieved me - I was repatriated after that," Mr Peterburs said.

Emma Baugh/BBC Joe Peterburs wearing a black leather flying jacket with wings across its left breast. He is standing outside, with white short hair and a white moustache, wearing dark glasses. Behind him a Mustang can be seen resting on grass at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Emma Baugh/BBC
His favourite memories during World War Two were "the camaraderie; how a group of strangers come in and became a team"

The veteran said he enjoyed the memories sparked by his return to RAF King's Cliffe.

"When I was there, it was a hustling, bustling community of people. Things were going on all the time; there was a lot of joy and fun," he said.

He continued his career in the air force, retiring as a colonel in 1979.

"A lot of young men were not able to live the life I've lived," Mr Peterburs said.

"I'm truly grateful that people are remembering the sacrifices that were made during the war."

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