NEW YORK (AP) The plane belonging to a family member of a WWII fighter pilot who died during a bombing mission in the United States has been flown by his relatives to the home of his mother and stepmother in Wisconsin, his family said.
Mia Thompson, 85, died Monday after she was blown out of the sky in the North Sea.
The pilot was a veteran pilot who flew the P-38, a German fighter plane that was used during World War II.
He was in a coma in the hospital until the family learned he was safe.
The family has flown the plane to the Woodbury, Wisconsin, home of Mia Thompson’s mother, Dorothy Thompson, 83, and her stepmother, Joanna Thompson, 63, who have been friends for more than 70 years.
They also will fly the plane back to their home in North Carolina, where the pilot’s son, Daniel Thompson, 21, lives.
The plane was donated to the family in 2003, after they were asked to make a donation by a member of the American Legion, according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
The plane was purchased for $7,000 and is in the care of the museum.
A family member, Mike Sibbald, of Woodbury said he was in the plane when the pilot was killed, but did not know how the pilot had died.
The family is also working to get a copy of the crash report, which the pilot filed when he was shot down.
They plan to fly the crash site to a nearby airfield.
