Gastonia Boy Scout Bomber (B-24 Liberator)

[RememberSchiff 3655]

Returning to Gaston County after the war ended, the elder Quinn was active as a Boy Scout leader and worked with a now long-defunct division of Scouting known as the Air Scouts.

In 1947, when the younger Quinn was 3 years old, Gastonia businessman and community leader Allen Sims, for whom Sims Legion Field was named, purchased a B-24 likely headed for the scrap heap and donated it to the Gastonia Boy Scouts.

 

The plane was to serve as a memorial to Sims' son Albert, an Army Air Force fighter pilot who was shot down over China during the war against Japan.

The plane was placed in a fenced-in area at the small airport to protect it from vandalism but the elder Quinn had a key and according to Paul, "My brother Michael and I climbed all over that airplane. That's where I got the aviation bug really bad."

The Liberator only stayed at the Gastonia Airport for a few years. At some point, date unclear, it was sold, made airworthy, and flown off to parts unknown.

https://airclassicsnow.com/

Source link:

https://www.gastongazette.com/story/news/2021/08/26/tragic-fate-gastonia-boy-scout-bomber-revealed-64-years-later/5576013001/

Edited August 26, 2021 by RememberSchiff