Man flew bombers, transports in wartime and crises
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Ed Jaworek learned to fly this PT-17 biplane at Carlstrom Field in Arcadia in 1942. He flew a Mitchell B-25 attack bomber during the war.
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Second Lt. Jaworek was a jaunty devil, shown here about the time he graduated from advanced flight training at Bennett Field, Ga., before flying to the war front in Europe to provide tactical air support for Gen. George Patton's 3rd Army.
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Ed and all three of his brothers served in the war. From left, Chet served in Patton's 3rd Army, Hank was a Marine who served in the Aleutians, Ed was a co-pilot in a B-25, and Vin was a crew chief on a B-29 "Superfortress" who flew missions over Japan at the end of the war.
SUN PHOTO BY DON MOORE
Ed Jaworek, 91, at his Port Charlotte home.
Ed Jaworek was a co-pilot who flew a Mitchell B-25 twin-engine attack bomber on low-level combat missions for the Eighth Air Force in Europe during World War II. He took part in the Berlin Airlift in 1949, and piloted a C-46 twin-engine “Commando” transport in and out of Berlin. When the Korean war rolled around in the 1950s, he flew a medical air transport C-47 “Gooney Bird” during the last months of that war. A C-119 “Flying Boxcar” was his plane during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.
All four brothers in the Jaworek family, of Gainesville, N.Y., were in the service in WWII. In addition to Ed, Chet served with Gen. George Patton’s 3rd Army, Hank was a Marine who fought the Japanese in the Aleutian Island invasion, and Vin was a crew chief on a B-29 bomber flying missions over Japan during the last months of the Second World War.
