Vet’s last wish a heavenly delight for Lynn family

LAWRENCE – It read like a movie script.Early Monday morning, a hospice nurse asked 74-year-old Mario Natola what his last wish might be. A Korean War veteran born and raised in Revere, Natola said nothing would make him happier than to fly in a WWII Mustang P-51 fighter plane. By all accounts, satisfying the dying man’s wish seemed a long shot.By sheer coincidence, Natola’s son, Mark, had read in the news that the restored WWII B-17 bomber “Liberty Belle” was at the Lawrence Municipal Airport awaiting a special event this coming weekend when the public can tour the plane and, for a fee, go for a short flight.”The hospice people didn’t think my dad would make it until the end of the week, so I called the Liberty Foundation, which owns the B-17, and explained the situation. They told me if I could get him to the airstrip by 1:30 p.m. they’d do their best to get him aboard, but they didn’t promise,” Mark Natolaexplained Monday and he and his sisters, Leigh and Kim, both of Lynn, helped their father into the Flying Fortress. “My dad was in his underwear when we told him where he was going. We got him dressed and raced over here from New Hampshire.”With several other Lynn family members looking on, Mario Natola stood up from his wheelchair and ducked through the small opening in the fuselage.”This is just amazing the way everything worked out,” said a delighted Leigh Natola. “It just happened that hospice asked my father about his last wish and it just happened that this airplane was in Lawrence. So in the end, he got his last wish.”Another WWII veteran, 87-year-old Al Audette of Woburn, also clamored aboard. In his case, however, it was true flashback, having served aboard a B-17 as radio operator and tail gunner in 1945. He hadn’t flown in a B-17 since.”I’m the only guy who could shoot the tail off one of these planes,” he quipped.Audette flew 14 overseas bombing missions before he was forced to ditch over the English Channel. As he recalled, “They let us rest for seven days. When we came back, the next mission was Berlin.” He eventually flew a total of 30 missions.Audette was reflective during Monday’s flight, sharing his remembrances and explaining the intricacies of the Flying Fortress to members of the media.Another passenger, Bruno Turchi, 85, of Methuen, was an Army Ranger in WWII, trained to defuse bombs in enemy territory. He was among the first 300 soldiers to cross and capture the famous Lundendorff Bridge at Remagen, a feat listed among the war’s decisive battles. “We saved a lot of lives by disarming the bombs that were on top of a bridge over the Rhine River,” he said. “I went in with a glider group. If you know anything about gliders, then you know 72 percent of them crashed.”Turchi said he often watched the B-17s returning from missions. “I’d see them going back to England. We were on the ground. Only we could see what the bombs do. They kill.”John Bode of Albuquerque, N.M., co-pilot of “Liberty Belle”, said the aircraft is living history. “We’re just trying to show what this generation did for us,” he said of the WWII veterans. “We’re always on the road, although the Liberty Foundation is headquartered in Douglas, Georgia. Everything we do is to keep this airplane in the air.”The non-profit Liberty Foundation purchased “Liberty Belle” in 2000 as a restoration project from owner Tom Reilly of Kissimmee, Fla. For Don Brooks, founder of the Liberty Foundation, it was a dream come true and an honor to his father, who flew 39 missions in B-17s as part of the 390th Bomber Group and was a tail gunner in the original “Liberty Belle” during WWII.According to pilot John Shuttleworth of Huntington, Ind. the B-17 was the quintessential bomber. Each of 12,732 B-17s designed by Boeing had a crew of 10. Of those, 4.735 were lost in combat, translating to more than 40,000 airmen killed.On Saturday and Sunday, July 25-26, the public will have access to “Liberty Belle” at the regional airport. For more information about tours and f