thedrifter
06-27-07, 07:28 AM
June 27, 2007
A LIFE LIVED: L. Steven Hilligoss, 1946-2007
Restored WWII plane is his legacy
By David Mannweiler
david.mannweiler@indystar.com
June 27, 2007
Graveside services for L. Steven Hilligoss had ended Saturday, and the final, plaintive notes of "Taps" had faded away when a twin-engine Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon bomber from World War II lumbered over New Palestine Cemetery.
It flew in honor of Mr. Hilligoss.
Mr. Hilligoss, who was instrumental in the rescue and restoration of the 1945 plane, died June 20 in a rehabilitation center in Greenfield. He was 60.
A native of Mattoon, Ill., and a 1964 graduate of Avon High School, Mr. Hilligoss caught the aviation bug from an uncle who took him to see planes at an airfield near his Ohio home.
"After Steve got out of the Marines in 1968, he was going to go to flight control school, but he joined UPS instead," said his wife, Rebecca. "The timing was wrong. We got married and we had a child, and he never got back to school."
He loved history, his wife said. "He read every history book out there about World War II. He was an avid watcher of war movies, but he loved the documentaries on the History Channel more than John Wayne macho man war movies."
From his history books, Mr. Hilligoss knew a Harpoon bomber pilot had spotted survivors of the USS Indianapolis three days after the ship was torpedoed on July 30, 1945.
On a 1990 trip to Texas, he saw what was left of a Harpoon plane that became a crop duster after the war. He and other local pilots bought the plane and hauled it to Mount Comfort Airport in Hancock County. They formed the American Military Heritage Foundation to make the plane flyable again.
"Most of the work on that sucker (the plane) was done outside in nasty weather," Rebecca Hilligoss said. "You've got to love it to spend hours freezing in the cold and go stand inside a hangar to warm up your fingers to hold a tool."
The restored plane was featured at annual Riley Hospital-Indianapolis Air Shows, which Mr. Hilligoss co-founded. He also organized air shows all over the country.
"Steve felt by restoring the plane, he made history live," Rebecca Hilligoss said.
The foundation's PV-2 was among 200 World War II planes that marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, on Aug. 11, 1995, by circling the Statue of Liberty and dropping roses at the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier museum.
Mr. Hilligoss was the navigator on that flight. Despite his devotion to the plane, he never learned to fly it.
Seven years ago, Mr. Hilligoss became a Boy Scout leader when he and his wife began raising three grandchildren. "They were the light of his life," his wife said.
Other survivors include daughter Jenny Hilligoss, sister Becky Heflin and brothers Scott and Frank Hilligoss.
Ellie
A LIFE LIVED: L. Steven Hilligoss, 1946-2007
Restored WWII plane is his legacy
By David Mannweiler
david.mannweiler@indystar.com
June 27, 2007
Graveside services for L. Steven Hilligoss had ended Saturday, and the final, plaintive notes of "Taps" had faded away when a twin-engine Lockheed PV-2 Harpoon bomber from World War II lumbered over New Palestine Cemetery.
It flew in honor of Mr. Hilligoss.
Mr. Hilligoss, who was instrumental in the rescue and restoration of the 1945 plane, died June 20 in a rehabilitation center in Greenfield. He was 60.
A native of Mattoon, Ill., and a 1964 graduate of Avon High School, Mr. Hilligoss caught the aviation bug from an uncle who took him to see planes at an airfield near his Ohio home.
"After Steve got out of the Marines in 1968, he was going to go to flight control school, but he joined UPS instead," said his wife, Rebecca. "The timing was wrong. We got married and we had a child, and he never got back to school."
He loved history, his wife said. "He read every history book out there about World War II. He was an avid watcher of war movies, but he loved the documentaries on the History Channel more than John Wayne macho man war movies."
From his history books, Mr. Hilligoss knew a Harpoon bomber pilot had spotted survivors of the USS Indianapolis three days after the ship was torpedoed on July 30, 1945.
On a 1990 trip to Texas, he saw what was left of a Harpoon plane that became a crop duster after the war. He and other local pilots bought the plane and hauled it to Mount Comfort Airport in Hancock County. They formed the American Military Heritage Foundation to make the plane flyable again.
"Most of the work on that sucker (the plane) was done outside in nasty weather," Rebecca Hilligoss said. "You've got to love it to spend hours freezing in the cold and go stand inside a hangar to warm up your fingers to hold a tool."
The restored plane was featured at annual Riley Hospital-Indianapolis Air Shows, which Mr. Hilligoss co-founded. He also organized air shows all over the country.
"Steve felt by restoring the plane, he made history live," Rebecca Hilligoss said.
The foundation's PV-2 was among 200 World War II planes that marked the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, on Aug. 11, 1995, by circling the Statue of Liberty and dropping roses at the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier museum.
Mr. Hilligoss was the navigator on that flight. Despite his devotion to the plane, he never learned to fly it.
Seven years ago, Mr. Hilligoss became a Boy Scout leader when he and his wife began raising three grandchildren. "They were the light of his life," his wife said.
Other survivors include daughter Jenny Hilligoss, sister Becky Heflin and brothers Scott and Frank Hilligoss.
Ellie