Thomas Edgar Wiley passed away January 17, 2024. He celebrated his 100th birthday on June 23, 2023. Interview recorded on April 20, 2005 by the Ashland County Historical Society.
Tom was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1923 on The Ohio State University campus when his father was attending post-graduate classes. He graduated from Ashland (Ohio) High School in June 1941 and began classes at Ohio State in August of that year.
One year after the bombing of Pearl Harbor Tom enlisted in the US Army Air Corps and soon began pilot training. On April 15, 1944, he received his pilot wings and was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the US Army. (The US Air Force was not a separate service until 1947.) Due to the heavy loss of bomber crews in Europe, he was assigned as a co-pilot to an already trained B-17 crew. They picked up a new B-17 in Kearney, Nebraska and Tom learned how to fly this new plane as they flew it across the Atlantic Ocean to join the 15th Air Force in Foggia, Italy.
Between August 30, 1944, and February 28, 1945, Tom completed 35 missions bombing targets in Southern Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia and northern Italy. His most memorable mission was his 15th on October 17, 1944, as it resulted in his being reported “Missing in Action.” The target was an oil refinery in Blechhammer, Germany. His squadron encountered the severe winds of a thunderhead cloud as they dropped their bombs. Upon recovering into clear air, Tom saw no other planes from his group so he took up a southerly heading to return to his base in Italy.
To conserve fuel he reduced engine power and put the plane in a slight downward glide while flying in smooth clouds. Suddenly, over the plane’s intercom, came the command, “Pull up!” Immediately Tom pulled the plane up in a steep climb while applying full power to all four engines. A waist gunner shouted, “There are trees outside!” They were flying up the steep slope of an Alps mountain!
Clearing the top at over 16,000 feet, he resumed the slow downward glide. As they approached home base, Tom asked for permission to land. “Who are you?” the tower demanded. Tom gave the day’s password. The tower responded, “Permission refused!” Tom landed anyway and as the plane turned off the runway, the engines stopped. Out of gas! Every member of the crew all said that he had heard the command “Pull up!” over the plane’s intercom but no one admitted that he had yelled “Pull up!” But they all saw the leaves on the ball turret on the underside of the plane from the trees on the mountain.
During debriefing, the engineering officers demanded to know where they had landed and refueled. They said a B-17 could not have flown for over eleven hours and not refueled. So, while Tom recorded eleven hours and fifteen minutes in his personal pilot fight log, his official Air Force log reads eight hours, the normal flight time for that mission.
For his combat service 1st Lt. Wiley was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Upon completion of his combat tour, rather than go to the Pacific Theater and fly B-29’s, Tom transferred to the Mediterranean Air Transport Service and began flying C-47 and C-46’s. This included picking up mail for the 15th Air Force in Cairo and flying military personnel and supply trips. On one trip he flew a plane load of tank parts destined for Marshal Tito into a Yugoslavia pasture field. Landing in the small grass area wasn’t as hard as taking off, clearing the high fence, tall trees and lifting the right wing over the steeple of the town’s cathedral.
On his final leave, Tom briefly visited his parents in Ashland, Ohio and then went to Haymarket, Virginia where, on October 24, 1945, he and Mary Lillian Norman were married in a small, rural Episcopal Church. They returned to Columbus, Ohio and Tom resumed his classes at Ohio State graduating March 19, 1948. He worked on a large dairy farm in north central Ohio for the remainder of the year and then moved to Madison, Wisconsin to begin a Master’s degree program in the College of Agriculture. During this time Tom worked on two fellowship projects sponsored by U.S. Steel Corporation unaware that in 1960 he would move to Pittsburgh and begin a 22-year career with U. S. Steel.
Four children were born to Tom and Mary; James in 1948, Janet in 1950, John in 1954 and Joseph in 1956. Mary died on July 12, 1999, her 77th birthday, due to complications of her many years struggling with Parkinson’s disease.
After Mary's passing in 1999 due to complications of Parkinson's disease, Tom found love again with Joan Dawson, and they shared over two decades of companionship.
Tom is survived by three children, James (Kristi) Wiley of Menlo Park, California, Janet Wiley, and John Wiley of Pittsburgh, two grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren. One son, Joseph Wiley, preceded him in death.