It was only four days after D-Day in 1944 when the Hershey Hellion took some flak and crashed into a field in the French countryside near Renes. That, by the way, was what Flight Officer John W. Ginder had christened his Thunderbolt dive bomber. A native son of Hershey, Pennsylvania, he even had a Hershey bar painted on the side of it right below the cockpit. And while Ginder only had a few cuts and bruises, his faithful plane was now just burning wreckage.
Fortunately, like a lot of American flyboys, Ginder was hidden from German patrols by friendly French farmers. Eventually, he joined up with members of the Maquis, the French resistance movement, and even accompanied them on night raids. After two months, an armored patrol from General Pattons Third Army showed up, and Ginder was reunited with his unit. And his next plane? Hershey Hellion #2, of course.
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