Barberton vet fills gap in war history
Name scribbled on aircraft 64 years ago helps museum verify plane's role in combat
By Jim Carney
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Tuesday, Aug 05, 2008
BARBERTON: Sixty-four years ago, during World War II, Bob Buchanan scribbled his name on the wall of a PBY-5A Catalina amphibious aircraft.
When the war ended, the aviation machinist mate first class came home to Barberton, got a job at B.F. Goodrich and worked there until his retirement in 1991.
He forgot all about writing on the plane.
Then one day last month, Buchanan got a phone call from Matt Voight, the chief mechanic at the Palm Springs Air Museum in California.
''I found your name on an airplane,'' Voight told Buchanan, now 86, who had been a plane captain — a job like that of flight engineer — in the Aleutian Islands and in the Pacific during the war.
''He got all excited,'' Voight said. ''He said, 'I've been looking for my airplanes.' ''
Voight's response: ''Now the airplane is finding its way back to you.''
After the war, the plane, which was built in 1944, was in storage until 1951, Voight said. Then it was used in a variety of roles by different airlines. Once it crashed in the Pacific Ocean and was towed back to Oakland for repairs.
A year ago, the plane came to the museum from Moses Lake, Wash., where it had been used for firefighting.
During restoration, as paint was being removed, Voight said, Buchanan's name, rank, group number and the date — 10-14-44 — were discovered.
Through a veteran friend in California, Voight received an old photograph of a PBY flight crew. On the back, by happenstance, was the name Bob Buchanan.
Voight found a phone number for Buchanan and called to say he had discovered Buchanan's name on the plane.
Buchanan remembers nothing of putting his name on the plane that day. He would have been 22 years old then.
''I was probably bored, and found something to do from scratching my name in it,'' he said.
Buchanan enlisted in the Navy during the summer of 1942. When the war ended, he brought home a logbook in which he recorded every mission he flew.
''Our flights were all patrols in toward Japan,'' he said.
Voight said it is highly unusual to have so much information on a World War II plane, including the photograph of the crew and Buchanan's logbook and testimony about life on the plane.
''It is rare to have verifiable information that it served in a combat theater and actually did missions,'' he said.
A lot of aircraft ''that survived WWII were planes that rolled off the production line too late and they were stored,'' Voight said. ''And a lot that were out in the field in Europe and the Pacific were pushed into big pits and destroyed.''
With all the evidence supplied by Buchanan, he said, the puzzle of what this plane did during WWII has been solved.
Of the 25 planes at the museum, Buchanan's is the only one with its combat history verified.
When he learned that Voight had found his name on the plane, Buchanan said, he was a bit concerned.
''I didn't know if they would arrest me for defacing property,'' he recalled with a laugh.
Buchanan and his wife, Rita, have five children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He said he'd someday like to go to California and see the plane again.
Since getting the phone call from Voight, Buchanan said, he has been thinking a lot about his days in the Navy.
''I was very young,'' he said. ''It was exciting. . . . You dream a little bit about it.''
To see video of Buchanan's plane, now at the Palm Springs Air Museum, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-eDRZaGpvw.
Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or
jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com.
Barberton vet fills gap in war history
