Prior to his flight in a L-17B Navion Friday, the last time Duane Hoffman was in an airplane he jumped out of it.
The 90-year-old Korean War veteran likes to stay busy.
Hoffman was the first person to receive a flight from the Rocket City Wing of the Commemorative Air Force, a group whose mission is to acquire, restore and fly military aircraft in an effort to honor American military aviation.
The flight was sponsored by the Air and Space Force Association.
“This particular plane we want to share with Korean War veterans, because that’s the era this plane is from,” retired Lt. Col. Jim Burch, the pilot for Friday’s flight, said.
The plane was never designed to carry any weapons. Instead, it was used to carry people and classified documents during the Korean War.
Burch said once they got in the air, he let Hoffman – who earned his pilot license after leaving the Navy – fly the plane for about 80% of the flight.
The weather wasn’t the most cooperative, so the plane stayed in the pattern around Pryor Field Regional Airport and was in the air for about 15 to 20 minutes.
“I really enjoyed getting to fly an old-school plane like that,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman is a member of the Legacy 4 Korean War Veterans, which was the group that put him in touch with the Rocket City Wing.
Hoffman spent four years in the Navy, from 1951 to 1955.
He was a petty officer third class – aerial photographer. One of his jobs was to photograph the landings on the aircraft carrier he was stationed on. Specifically, he was supposed to capture the hook on the back of the incoming aircraft intercepting the wire that would stop it on the deck of the ship. Additionally, if something were to fall off the plane upon landing, he was supposed to follow it with his camera.
While training for this role, the Navy showed a video of a plane landing on the deck of an aircraft carrier. When it did a bomb detached and began rolling toward the cameraman. The bomb then exploded. The film survived, but the cameraman didn’t.
“You always had to keep two eyes open,” Hoffman said. “One for the hook, the other for anything that falls off.”
Hoffman was married for 37 years before his wife died seven years ago. He said the two of them had a fantastic marriage, but there was one problem. Hoffman liked to travel, his wife didn’t.
He said after her death, he decided to make a bucket list.
Now, he tries to take one big trip every other month. He recently returned from a cruise in February and has five more trips planned for 2024.
He might even go skydiving again.
Hoffman said that after he had made the jump for his 90th birthday, which was a repeat of how he had celebrated his 80th birthday, the skydivers asked him if he was going to come back to celebrate his 100th.
He said he told them that was up to a higher power. He was open to the idea, though.
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