Willis Lloyd Carter of Milford flew 30 B-17 missions in World War II, mostly deep into Germany under fierce Luftwaffe attack and anti-aircraft fire. Because of outstanding bombing scores on their first seven missions, the Carter crew was selected to fly as group leader on the rest of their flights. First Lieutenant Carter, co-pilot, often served as formation control officer, sometimes squeezing into the tail gunner's position to observe formation performance, guide planes into position and report problems, such as bombers crippled and breaking formation because of enemy damage.
Besides high-altitude operations, he also flew on several missions in direct support of ground forces, bombing Nazi troop concentrations, bridges, railroads and communication facilities. On Carter's eighteenth flight, his crew was leading a mission to destroy a supply dump at Paris. On the bomb run, his plane was hit by flak, killing the navigator. Their plane went down with three engines afire. They made it to the English Channel and crashed-landed near Cherbourg, France. The remainder of the nine crewmen were unhurt. Luckily, they crashed a mile and a half inside friendly territory and were able to catch a ride back to England that night on a plane lifting Allied wounded.
Returning from two raids, their B-17 was so badly shot up they had to crash-land. On one, the landing gear were inoperable; on the other most of the tail assembly had been shot away and the pilot had to maintain control by throttle management.
Lt. Carter was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters (for "courage, coolness and skill" during several bombing attacks), the European Theater Medal with four battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation.
Willis learned to fly in 1941 at Dover Airport, a field that operated at Rt.13 and Little Creek Road from 1933 to 1950. Following his first solo, he was told to practice on runways of an airport under construction south of town. He thus became the first to land on what is now Dover Air Force Base. He became a charter member of the Civil Air Patrol and flew over Kent and Sussex Counties spotting names of towns—they were to be painted over "so that they could not aid enemy planes." He won his Air Corps wings in 1943.
The 88-year-old veteran and his wife Betty Jo (deceased) are parents of two sons, Christopher and Kim, residents of Milford, and three daughters: Carol Jo Sutcliffe and Judy, also of Milford, and Kelly Malloy residing in Collegeville, Pa.
