101-year-old MN WWII vet takes to the skies in vintage bi-plane

World War II Air Force veteran takes dream flight in historic plane

At 101 years old, World War II Air Force veteran Lester Schrenk got a dream flight along with other veterans on Monday in a vintage Stearman Bi-Plane. FOX 9's Rob Olson was there.

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (FOX 9) - As 101-year-old Lester Schrenk climbed into the front seat of an open-cockpit bi-plane, he impressed the pilot who was about to take him up.

The greatest generation

The backstory:

Schrenk enlisted in the Army Air Corp in 1942, hoping to become a pilot.

The reason he was denied was dubious at best.

"They washed me out because my eyesight wasn’t good enough. And here I am at 101, and I still don’t wear glasses!" Schrenk said. 

"So you can tell, they didn’t put you where you wanted to go, they put you where they wanted you to go."

Instead, he became a ball-turret gunner on a B-17, was shot down on their tenth mission in early 1944 and immediately captured, spending the next 15 months in POW camps.

This past spring, he visited the site of one of those camps in Poland.

Back in 2012, he tracked down and spent time with the German pilot who shot down his plane, thankful that the pilot did not shoot at them as they descended under their parachutes, as other pilots were known to do.

"If he would have kept on shooting, I wouldn’t be here," said Schrenk. 

Taking veterans into the skies

What we know:

Dream Flights is an organization that travels the country and thanks veterans, 65 and older, by taking short flights in one of their open-cockpit bi-planes.

They are supported by the Vital Life Foundation, based in Portland, Oregon.

"This year, in the fall, Dream Flights is going to honor their 8000th veteran, which is a pretty cool accomplishment for their organization," said Johannah Senn, Vital Life’s Executive Director.  "And we’re very thankful to be a part of that."

At Flying Cloud Airport in Eden Prairie, Schrenk was one of ten getting a ride.  He was the only World War 2 veteran of the bunch.

Three months shy of turning 102, he had no problem climbing into the cockpit and wasn’t stressed about the flight at all, asking the pilot if they could do "barrel rolls or loopity loops."

"They don’t pay me enough," the pilot joked back.  "I’ll reimburse you," replied Schrenk with a hearty laugh.

A short time later, they were back on the ground, Schrenk joking about how he didn’t have to bail out this time.

Just keep going

What's next:

Schrenk will now be heading to Hawaii to take part in the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2, which came with the surrender of Japan.

Last December, he was in Bastogne, Belgium for festivities marking the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.  Then, in June, he was in Normandy, France for D-Day ceremonies, helping unveil a memorial to the 8th Air Force.

Living World War 2 veterans are becoming fewer and fewer each day, with less than 1% of the more than 16 million who still serve with us.

"I intend to as long as I can keep going," Schrenk told us.

As for any secrets of a long life, he had just this one:

"You’ll be 102, also.  Just don’t die!"