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Retired B-24 pilot Bob Norsen had a remarkable military career

Retired Lt. Col. Bob Norsen holds up a picture of his B-24 Liberator crew. The 94-year-old former pilot flew 12 missions in World War II, and made a significant impact on several other missions while working as a mission planner. /Marques Hunter

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They had been hunting the German submarine all day.

It was 1942 and Lt. Col. Bob Norsen and his crew were flying a B-24 Liberator bomber in the Gulf of Mexico.

Norsen's account of the day is vivid, as if the mid-summer combat incident happened yesterday.

As the B-24 pilot, he descended the bomber to water level, he recalled, the plane so low it began picking up wave tops in the bomb bay doors. The German sub he and his crew of nine were hunting had been sinking U.S. tankers about once a week.

Then it happened. The underwater vessel rose to periscope distance.

The crew sunk the German sub - the first ever in the Gulf of Mexico - and watched as two halves of the submarine separated in an explosion.

It was a moment that stood out in Norsen's memorable 22-year active-duty Army Air Corps and Air Force career.

"We were a little sick," he said about sinking the German vessel. "We realized we killed about 20 German servicemen that were doing what they were supposed to for their country. It didn't make us feel very good."

The incident was the first time the crew had used bombs and depth charges against the enemy and witnessed the destruction firsthand. Usually, Norsen and his team bombed targets from high altitude, unable to witness the aftermath.

At the age of 94, the Patriot's Landing resident still thinks about that day.

"That made us realize that war was not a happy event," he said.

During one of the bloodiest wars in American history, Norson served primarily as a backup pilot, flying just 12 missions.

"That's why I survived," he said. "Because I was not in combat as much."

However, he made significant impact as a mission planner, essentially the brains of the operation.

He determined which airplane's crews would fly and the most efficient routes to take, projected weather conditions and more. Many of his assignments targeted Berlin supply factories.

Norsen even helped revolutionize B-24 weaponry by helping to develop twin 50-caliber machine guns before forward firepower was installed. Within a month, every B-24 had a pair of twin 50-caliber machine guns, he said.

One of the biggest assignments of his career was finding a way to get 22 American B-24 bombers from Shipton, England to Warsaw, Poland. The distance was three times further than the B-24 could travel.

"Having flown sub(marine) patrol, I knew how to get long range out of the B-24," he said, adding that the B-24 burned more than 400 gallons per hour. "By detailing the power settings and altitude, we were able to get 22 airplanes to Warsaw and back without any problems."

That's the kind of problem solver Norsen was.

In 1940, Norsen applied for and was accepted into cadet school out of the University of Michigan, where he studied mechanical airplane engineering. He's flown 129 different planes, including five different models of B-24s and British airplanes.

He flew with famous actors who had military careers, like Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable.

"They flew the missions like other people and were highly respected and did a good job as officers in the Air Corps," Norsen said.

Norsen grew up just outside of Minneapolis and has lived in the Pacific Northwest since the 1960s. After his military career, he opened a business designing custom homes. He has three children, four grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.

About a year ago, he and his high school sweetheart, Donna, moved to Patriot's Landing, a retirement home for former Servicemembers located in DuPont.

He couldn't be happier since moving there.

"This is the most desirable living condition," he said. "They accommodate individuals and the entire group."

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