Retired B-17 pilots garment bag and Korean War flightsuit

[Bob Hudson]

This came from yet another estate sale where the closets held nothing but women's clothing except for one or two items of men stuff. In the past such closets have held a B-10 flight jacket and a WWII tankers jacket. This time it was 1950 USAF L-1A flightsuit and a garment bag with the officer's name, senior pilots wings and Col. insignia embroidered on it. I found several mentions of him online in obituaries and tributes. Col. John S. Schifferer, USAF Retired, died in 1984 when his open cockpit Breezy RLU-1 aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff from the Ramona Airport in rural San Diego County. He started flying in 1938 at age 16, joined the Army Air Force in 1942, flew 35 B-17 missions, and retired in 1972 after serving in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. His awards included the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, Air Medal with five Oak Leaf Clusters, Presidential Unit Citation, South Vietnamese Staff Service Medal-1st Class, Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Air Force Commendation Medal, according to his obituary. He had almost 16,000 flying hours (8,000 military, 8,000 civilian). He died a couple of years ago and these were the only artifacts from his service at the estate sale, which followed his widow's death (they had no children). On one hand a death in an aircraft crash is tragic, but on the other hand I wonder how many pilots would - if given the chance - choose to go the way Col. Schifferer did: flying their own airplane at age 84?

 

 

 

[Bob Hudson]

I did some more searching online and found he was an active member of the EAA and built several aircraft over the years, which are shown in a webpage at http://www.geocities.com/eaa286/eaa286js.htm - a couple of the aircrafrt were donated to (and flown by him to) the EAA Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

 

Here's the homebuilt aircraft he was flying at the time of his death. He wrote about it, "Super Breezy N577JS

Tri-gear, 4 place, Hi-wing acft. 1st flt 25 June 1997. I had so much fun flying my 1st Breezy that I had to build another one to carry more psgrs. Used same plans from my 1st Breezy but modified with Tri-pacer wings and an O-320 150 HP LYC. Also added bench seat to carry 3 light or 2 heavy psgrs; i.e., 400 lbs psgr wt. It took me about 2000 man hours to complete this Breezy. As of Sept 99 I have flown nearly 100 hours and have carried 150 happy psgrs. Your are all welcome for a "fun" flight in my Breezy !"

 

 

The NTSB accident report said, "A review of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airman records revealed that the 84-year-old pilot held a commercial pilot certificate with ratings for airplane single engine land, multiengine land, single engine sea, multiengine sea, and instrument airplane. The pilot held a certified flight instructor (CFI) certificate with ratings for airplane and instrument airplane. He also held a rating for repairman experimental aircraft builder.

 

The pilot held a third-class medical certificate issued on July 14, 2005. It had no limitations or waivers.

 

An examination of the pilot's logbook indicated that the pilot had a total flight time of 15,819 hours. He logged 6 hours in the last 90 days, and 2 hours in the last 30 days. He had an estimated 150 hours in this make and model. He completed a flight review on September 10, 2004."

 

He died August 17, 2006 and I find it amazing that he'd been flying for 68 years, and for 65 years since he'd joined the AAF.

 

He must have been one of the last WWII bomber pilots who was still an active pilot then. He and Chuck Yeager could not have had too many peers still flying in 2006.