United States Military Aviation - General & Miscellaneous, World War II - Prisoners of War, Military Pilots & Bombardiers - Biography, Historical Biography - United States - 20th Century, World War II - War Narratives, World War II - Personal Narratives,

Iowa Pilot Named Hap

Name: Iowa Pilot Named Hap
Author: Norman Rudi
ISBN: 9781888223255

by Norman Rudi

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Overview

Hartley A. Westbrook learned to fly an airplane when he was a student at Iowa State Teachers College and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force in January of 1942, soon after the events at Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to the 44th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force, the first B-24 Liberator aircraft group in the European Theater of Operations. Westbrook was stationed at Shipdham Air Base in East Anglia, England and flew sixteen missions. On his seventeenth mission over Kiel, Germany, his plane was shot down and he became a prisoner of war in the famous Stalag Luft III in Sagan Poland for two years. After his release from prison and service, Westbrook became manager of a small airport at Guthrie Center, Iowa, and was recalled into service during the Korean War. He returned to operate the airport at Atlantic, Iowa, for twenty-four years, and the Ames Municipal Airport for twenty-five years. He was the first recruit for the Iowa National Air Guard, chief pilot, first state rotor-craft instructor, and he retired from the Guard as a Lieutenant Colonel. Westbrook's fifty-year association with Cessna is the company's longest dealership, and he is second in Cessna aircraft sales worldwide. Hartley 'Hap' Westbrook's journey through POW camp and Iowa aviation history is a unique and fascinating adventure.

Synopsis

Hap Westbrook flew a B-24 Liberator for the 44th Bomb Group during WWII, was shot down, and became a prisoner in the famous Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Poland, for two years.