T.O. resident, a WW II vet, shares his experiences serving as a bomber pilot

A boy who spent his youth surrounded by cornfields and cows in a small town in Iowa grew up to be a man who's displayed extraordinary courage to protect freedom.

Many students in Van Nuys have known Wayne Downing, 87, as a math teacher who's graded their papers and given them tests, but the Thousand Oaks resident is also a person who's displayed nerves of steel when others would crumble.

At age 21 in 1941, he had been studying engineering at the University of Denver before he joined the Army Air Corps, which later became the U.S. Air Force. He wanted to help stop Hitler from taking over the world, he said.

"The whole nation supported us. I wish they were like that today," Downing said.

The farm boy learned how to dive bomb A-31 planes, but when it was time for him to go to England in 1943, America got out of the dive bomber business and Downing was put into an A-20 Havoc attack bomber, he said.

He was with the 416th Squadron flying out of England and doing his job on D-day, June 6, 1944, he said. That was a very busy time. He was too busy to get scared, he said.

"On DDay there were hundreds and hundreds of ships as they landed on the beach. It was a very interesting view from the air. I've never seen so many ships in my life- they were firing shells back and forth."

Downing would destroy a target and go back to base, reload and go out again, he said.

His job was to make sure those fighting against the U.S. and its allies didn't get reinforcements. He and his two gunners would blow up railroads, tanks and other targets to prevent the enemy from supplying additional ammunition, food or troops.

His twin-engine plane had bombs on the wings and in the bomb bay. There were also machine guns on board and in the nose of the plane.

Downing flew 86 missions in two tours. Every time he did his job, Nazis on the ground with a lot of firepower were trying to shoot down his plane, he said.

Sometimes they were successful. He came back with holes in his plane and sometimes a flak jacket filled with bullets. But nothing ever penetrated the decorated hero's body, he said. Downing received the Distinguished Flying Cross, given for heroism or extraordinary achievement while flying. He also was awarded 17 medals and many campaign ribbons.

While he was at war, Downing met a nurse named Norma, whose hospital corps landed on Utah Beach three weeks after DDay. That nurse became his wife. The couple has a daughter, Nancy, and a granddaughter, Sara, 18.

After the war, Downing was assigned to travel from island to island to find crashed airplanes and bring the crew's remains back to a central identifying lab in Hawaii.

During the Korean War, Downing flew a B-29 four-engine bomber that was revamped and became the B-50, he said.

He flew out of Guam and the bomb he carried was never dropped.

"We had the A-bomb ready to use if the president said to use it," he said.

Downing continued to fly around the world during the Cold War as a bomber pilot with nuclear weapons waiting for the "go-code," which never came. He retired in 1963.

That's when the major began to teach math. In 1968 the Downings moved to Thousand Oaks. Norma has since had a stroke and requires constant care from her husband.

Wayne is now Norma's hero. The man of steel once again serves honorably and does not flinch from his duty.