Next we went to California, home of Walter Perra.  One of the best stories we heard about Walter came from his brother Medrick; we learned about who Walter was and about the relationship he had with his brother.  When Walter first began flying his P-38 Lightning in California, Medrick asked him if Walter could take him up for a flight - the P-38 was a one-seater but could accommodate a second person behind the pilot’s chair.  Walter explained that unfortunately he was not allowed to take anyone up with him.  Instead, he gave a thunderous, low flyover over the family farm.  That is one of Medrick’s last great memories of Walter.

As soon as we heard that story, we became curious to see if we could get a P-38 to fly over the barn once again.  The prospect became difficult when we learned that there are currently only two flyable P-38s in the world, one called Glacier Girl, as it was rebuilt from pieces unearthed from a frozen glacier, and the other maintained by Planes of Fame, which happens to be in Chino, CA, not far from Modesto.

Next, we needed an airfield where the P-38 could land and take off.  Thanks to the generous hospitality of Tom Hillier, owner of the impeccably-maintained Hillier Air Museum, we had a place.  As for the pilot, it was going to be none other than legendary pilot Steve Hinton.  The stage was set.  As long as the weather held out, there was a good chance we could pull it off.

Meanwhile, we had the good fortune of being joined by that Al Gese and Doug MacArthur, who had both flown in missions in the 77th Fighter Squadron with Walter.  Beside the iconic beast that each of them had once learned to fly as if it was an extension of themselves, Al and Doug reminisced about the missions they flew.

Al told the harrowing story of the time he himself was shot down.  Diving down to shoot at German artillery guns, Al flew right over one, and immediately both of his engines were on fire.  Knowing he had to get out of the aircraft, but without the ejector seats found on later aircraft, Al climbed out of the cockpit and jumped off the wing.  On his way down, Al’s parachute was caught in a tree.  In an ironic counterpart to the story of Gene Sellers, for whom landing in a tree was his undoing, for Al, it was his salvation.  The tree acted like a spring and kept him from getting from impact with the ground.  Al would survive the war, of course, but not before experiencing a traumatic two week period of being alone in no man’s land.

Only time has enabled Al to reconcile with the past.  Donning some flight gear, Al climbed into the cockpit for the first time in over 60 years.  Ever youthful, Al remarked to our sound person Franz, that he could still fly the plane.

After our interviews with Al and Doug, the stage was set for the flyover.  Now it was Steve Hinton’s turn to get in the cockpit and actually fly the plane. Steve stood on the wing and zipped up his flight suit.  As he turned on the engines, we watched as one prop begin spinning, then the other, in opposite directions.  Steve then steered the P-38 onto the runway and into position down at the far end.

We watched with anticipation as the P-38 sat on the runway, with Steve inside, waiting for our signal.  Looking on in front of us were Al Gese and Doug Macarthur, who had both been in Walter’s squadron.  As the P-38 started to accelerate down the runway, we watched it get closer and closer, start to lift off just as it got to us.  Al and Doug waved as it went by.  We watched Doug and Al’s faces flood with admiration as they saw that powerful that they had once maneuvers through the thickest regions of combat take off like it always could.

We arrived at the barn to see Steve making big circles overhead like a vulture waiting to descend.  Mark Perra arrived with Medrick, and Steve proceeded to do several low flyovers.  One his final pass, Medrick gave an impromptu wave to the plane, and to the brother he lost.

Walter came back to life in another way as well.  Later, we had held a gathering at the Tom Hiller Air Museum, that included not only Medrick’s family, but also people like Grant Lucas who had gone to high school with Walter.  As a surprise, we unveiled the 8mm Perra family home movies that Mark had found in his attic last spring.  We had them transferred to tape to be included in the film, and Medrick had not seen them in half a century.  When the first frames appeared of Walter petting a horse, gasps of recognition went around the room: “That’s Walter, that’s Walter.”  Medrick named other family members who appeared in the film as well.

We took a couple of trips to downtown Ceres, now for the most part a one-street town, with the tallest structure being the looming water tower with the town name stamped on it.  There we spent some time with Grant Lucas and Chuck Brown, who attended Ceres High School and have remained friends since then.

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