World War II veteran surprised with flight in Miss Montana

Local 99-year-old World War II veteran Betty Meyer was honored July 15 for her service in the Women’s Army Corp with a flight aboard a restored C-47 affectionately known as "Miss Montana."

Meyer got the opportunity of a lifetime with the help of family and longtime friend John Haines, the Museum of Mountain Flyers and many others. Haines heard that Meyer was a World War II veteran -- she enlisted in 1944 and spent the remainder of the war working as a truck driver -- and contacted her granddaughter Kelly about setting up the flight. Meyer and another granddaughter, Christina Kraus, were asked to tour the skies of Western Montana aboard Miss Montana.

Miss Montana is a World War II-era C-47 transport aircraft, a type used extensively by the allies. Over 10,000 were built and employed by over 100 countries. The aircraft remained in service until 2008.

Before becoming known as Miss Montana, it was purchased by Montana’s aviation pioneer Bob Johnson in 1946 and spent the next 30 years in service throughout the state. Tragedy struck the plane when it dropped 15 smokejumpers on the Mann Gulch Fire in 1946. Twelve of the smokejumpers died in one of the deadliest tragedies in the smokejumper’s history.

In its second brush with death, Miss Montana crashed into the Monongahela River in 1954, with nine servicemen aboard. Pilot Harold Poe was killed in the crash.

Johnson Flying Service pulled the plane out of the river, repaired it and flew it another 20 years.

The C-47 received the name Miss Montana in 2018 in preparation for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Volunteers restored the plane just in time to represent Montana in the ceremony.

Meyer arrived at the Museum of Mountain Flying with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in tow. She met up with pilots Art Dykstra and Randy Schonemann. Dykstra was one of six pilots that flew Miss Montana across the Atlantic to take part in the D-Day celebration.

Meyer fondly remembers her first flight in an airplane at the age of 12 and said, “I never dreamed I would fly in that airplane.”

Miss Montana was fueled up with 200 gallons of aviation fuel, Meyer and her granddaughter were loaded up and strapped in. Family photos were taken, and goodbyes were said. The plane's route was going to take them over Thompson Falls before continuing up to Libby and then to Missoula.