100-year-old Sask. air force veteran takes to the skies once more
CTV
One-hundred-year-old Reginald "Crash" Harrison comes by his nickname honestly. A veteran of the Second World War, Harrison had his airplane blow up on the runway before he was even deployed after a 500-pound bomb dislodged from the bomb bay.
One-hundred-year-old Reginald "Crash" Harrison comes by his nickname honestly. A veteran of the Second World War, Harrison had his airplane blow up on the runway before he was even deployed after a 500-pound bomb dislodged from the bomb bay.
"When I came to, it was still dark. I could see the stars, and I thought. Geez. Everything was quiet, and my first thought was I must be in heaven." Harrison said recalling the event.
He survived, but it wouldn’t be his last brush with death.
On his 13th flight, a concerned tail gunner requested they call this "Flight 12A," afraid of the superstition behind the number.
Shortly after takeoff, Harrison experienced engine failure. He crash-landed and, again, miraculously survived. After this incident, he earned the nickname — a name he would live up to two more times.
Harrison recalls being shot down by friendly fire, being stuck in a plane plummeting to the ground, only to bail at the last minute, hiking with his crew through a valley for a whole day before reaching civilization.
