This week’s Property of the Past looks at some World War II items collected by a local man and donated to the National Military Heritage Museum.

The man was Ray J. Baker. He graduated from Benton High School in 1942 and enlisted in the Army Air Corps in November 1942. Mr. Baker qualified as a navigator in a 10-member crew for the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, a heavy bomber. He was stationed at Chelveston Air Field in England, in the 305th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force.

The U.S. had agreed to daylight bombing raids in Germany at a time when they didn’t have an escort fighter that could go out and back with the bombers, said Frank Flesher, the museum’s director. As a result, the casualty rate for the Eighth Air Force was 40 percent, and Germany had 25,000 airmen as prisoners by the time the war ended.

Mr. Baker completed the required 30 missions as a navigator, sitting in the forward compartment of his Flying Fortress with a bombardier. On a number of occasions, he served as lead navigator for air groups and squadrons. He was awarded a number of medals, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.

He never forgot those days and loved to collect World War II memorabilia, Mr. Flesher said. One example is this fragment of Plexiglas that came from the forward turret, or nose, of a B-17 that was hit by enemy fire on May 15, 1942. Notice that it’s only about a quarter of an inch thick, Mr. Flesher said.

An interesting side note is that a German chemist in 1932 or 1933 discovered a synthetic polymer process for methyl methacrylate, or Plexiglas. Within the next three years, the company of Rohm and Haas began producing acrylic safety glass in America. During World War II, the U.S. used the acrylic glass for nose turrets, gun turrets, canopies and other types of windows on aircraft.

Another safety procedure included issuing maps to air crews so they could have a chance of finding their way through enemy territory.

One of Mr. Baker’s maps in the new World War II aviation exhibit is this map of Germany, Belgium, Holland and parts of France. It’s printed on silk. That’s because the maps had to be quiet to unfold or fold, not disintegrate when wet, maintain integrity when folded on a crease line, and concealable in small places.

These are just two of the items in the new exhibit, Mr. Flesher said. The entire exhibit should be ready for viewing within a month.

After the war, Mr. Baker returned home, enrolled at St. Joseph Junior College and married Mary Britt. He earned several college degrees, and in 1958 the family moved back to St. Joseph and he taught at Benton. Three years later, he became principal at Bliss Middle School. In 1973, he moved to Truman Middle School as the principal until he retired in 1984.

Mr. Baker had a private pilot’s license and belonged to the Trailwinds Flying Club. Appointed to the city’s Aviation Board in November 1995, he served until 2000. He and his wife were married for 56 years before his death in 2002.

The museum is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon, and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to noon.

The museum offers special tours for larger groups, and birthday parties for children, by calling 233-4321.

Each week, Property of the Past writer

Marshall White features a building or an item of St. Joseph history. If you have a home, building, special collection or an interesting piece of history that you’d like to see featured, please contact him at marshall@npgco.com.