WWII Pilot Takes to Sky At 92

World War II bomber pilot flies plane of his dreams 70 years later at Stallion 51 
Around Osceola
By Charlie Reed
Staff Writer
February 18, 2015

“I think helping people was therapeutic. I gained a lot of insight into my own problems,” said Coutu, who also has sought help from the Veterans Administration for his PTSD.

World War II and Korean War veteran Armand Coutu, who celebrated his 92nd birthday Sunday, took to the skies last week in the venerable Mustang at Stallion 51 in Kissimmee.

Seventy years after Armand Coutu flew his last bomber mission, the World War II and Korean War veteran got the chance to fly the aircraft of his dreams – the P-51 fighter plane.

World War II and Korean War veteran Armand Coutu, who celebrated his 92nd birthday Sunday, took to the skies last week in the venerable Mustang at Stallion 51 in Kissimmee.

Coutu, who celebrated his 92nd birthday Sunday, took to the skies last week in the venerable Mustang at Stallion 51 in Kissimmee.

The flight and training center at Kissimmee Gateway Airport provides novice pilots and veterans such as Coutu the chance to fly some of the world’s rarest war-era planes.

Coutu, a native of Massachusetts who now lives in Clermont, joined Aviation Cadet Reserve Corps after graduating from high school in 1940. He was drafted by the Army in 1943 and completion of basic training got a choice: attend medical school at Yale University or learn to fly. Coutu opted for the latter.

The U.S. military needed bombers and he was commissioned as a lieutenant to fly the B-25 Mitchell.

Coutu’s days as a bomber pilot kept him in the U.S. hunting German U-boats off the eastern coast of the country until the Nazis were defeated in the spring of 1945. He spent the rest of the war flying missions off the west coast in pursuit of Japanese submarines until the Japan surrendered in August that year following the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
read more here