[Annotator's Notes: There is a brief conversation before the interview officially begins.] Robert H. "Bob" Harris was born in October 1920 and grew up in Montgomery, Alabama with his mother and two older brothers. When Harris was nine or ten years old his father died of a heart attack. His mother was convinced that losing his job during the depression was truly what killed him. Both of Harris' older brothers were in the service just like he was. In 1939 Harris graduated high school and began taking classes at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama. In June 1941, after his sophomore year in school, Harris applied for and received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He traveled to Maryland and went to the required medical physical. During the physical he was diagnosed as having astigmatism and told that he would not be able to attend the United States Naval Academy. This devastated him. The examiner told him that he could go back to Montgomery, Alabama and have an ophthalmologist check him out. If his ophthalmologist would officially state that he had been misdiagnosed he would be able to attend the Academy. Unfortunately, the ophthalmologist affirmed the diagnosis. Dejected, Harris got a job with the Alabama State Highway Department and planned to work there until the next semester began, however, shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii he decided to volunteer for service in the Army Air Forces and applied for aviation cadet training. He was accepted into cadet training even though he had lied on his application. For the question asking if he had been rejected by any other branch of the military or service academy, he answered "No". Harris had taken part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, or CPTP, while attending classes at Alabama Polytechnic Institute and knew his way around an airplane. This gave him a little bit of an advantage in his military training.

Robert H. "Bob" Harris loved famous world explorers as a young child and that influenced him into aeronautics at an early age. His childhood heroes included Charles Lindbergh, Richard E. Byrd, Amelia Earhart and Lewis and Clark [Annotator's Note: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark]. Harris reported to Maxwell Field [Annotator's notes: Maxwell Air Force Base] in Montgomery, Alabama for induction on 5 January 1942. He took his pre-flight training at Maxwell Field and was told that he was now part of Class 42-H. After completing about two months of pre-flight training, Harris was sent to a school in Florida for primary flight training where he got about 60 hours flying the PT-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing-Stearman Model 75 primary trainer aircraft] trainer. From primary flight, Harris was sent to Gunter Field [Annotator's Note: today part of the Maxwell Air Force Base] in Montgomery, Alabama for basic flight training. In basic flight training Harris flew the BT-13 [Annotator's Note: Vultee BT-13 Valiant basic trainer aircraft], also known as the Vultee Vibrator, and accumulated roughly 65 hours of flight time in it. From Gunter Field he was sent to Napier Field in Dothan, Alabama. At Napier Field Harris flew the AT-6 Texan [Annotator's Note: North American AT-6 Texan advanced trainer aircraft] in which he brought his total flight time up to approximately 200 hours. In September 1942, Harris was commissioned a second lieutenant and awarded his pilot's wings. Following the graduation ceremony, he was given leave and took off for a couple weeks. During his leave he learned that many of the pilots he had trained with were being given overseas combat assignments. Not wanting to be left out, Harris called back to Napier Field to ask what his orders were. He was almost sick when he was told that he was to report to the army airfield in Bainbridge, Georgia [Annotator's Notes: Bainbridge Air Base] where he was being assigned as an instructor. He spent the next nine or ten months teaching cadets how to fly.

In the early part of 1943, Robert H. "Bob" Harris volunteered for overseas duty. In June he was finally shipped out. Harris was sent to India as a replacement fighter pilot. He flew from Miami to India in a C-87 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express transport aircraft], the cargo variant of the a B-24 [Annotator's notes: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] bomber. By the time he arrived at the staging area in India, Harris had already accumulated over 1,000 hours of flight time and was prepared for the combat duty that lay ahead of him. He was shocked when he learned that he would not be going into combat as a fighter pilot after all. Having over 1,000 hours of flight time someone at Air Command in India decided that Harris was to be assigned as a copilot flying C-87s over the Himalayas to forward bases in China. He was checked out as a copilot and went to work. He was very disappointed but was glad that he was flying. [Annotator's Notes: There is a pause in interview due to a phone ringing.] Harris flew from a base in Jorhat, India to advance bases in Kunming, China. After several missions he was rated a first pilot and began flying missions over the "Hump" with his own crew. Harris and the other cargo pilots he flew with typically carried fuel and ammunition. Occasionally, they would return to India carrying Chinese soldiers but that was not very often.

Robert H. "Bob" Harris lost a friend and former classmate in an event he will never forget. During a mission briefing Harris was informed that he would be taking up a new C-87 [Annotator's Note: Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express transport aircraft] that was equipped with an electronically controlled supercharger. Harris had never flown one of these planes and complained about it to his friend Hugh Hardy. Hardy was experienced flying the C-87s with the electronically controlled supercharger so the two of them decided to visit the operations officer to ask if they could swap planes. The operations officer said "yes" so, the two friends swapped planes. The mission was a regular cargo delivery mission. Harris took off and began climbing. When he reached about 2,000 feet his copilot told him that the C-87 Hardy was flying had just crashed. Harris looked back just in time to see the aircraft explode. That sight sticks with Harris to this day. Had they not switched planes, Harris and his crew would have been the ones who died that day. Flying over the "Hump" was a dangerous endeavor even when the Japanese were not shooting at the cargo planes from the ground or attacking them from the air. Flying at the extreme altitudes they normally flew, it was not uncommon for the wings of the planes to ice up. That was exceptionally dangerous because, often, the deicers didn't work. In addition to the icing up problem, the Davis air foil on the C-87 and B-24s [Annotator's notes: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber] was not designed for the violent wind shifts they experienced in the Himalayas. Adding to the danger, most of the "Hump" missions Harris flew were done at night to avoid Japanese fighters. In addition to flying cargo delivery missions, Harris also flew 24 missions in a P-40 [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. During his time in military training, he was able to get checked out in the P-40. Although he never tangled with any Japanese fighters, he did fly some strange missions. On one of them, his job was to fly over the battlefield at Kohima-Imphal to see if he drew any antiaircraft fire, which he did not.

In September or October 1944, Robert H. "Bob" Harris left India to return to the United States. He completed 150 missions over the "Hump" and 24 missions in a P-40 [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft]. He planned his route to take him through North Africa so he could look up his brother who was there. When he arrived, Harris was informed that he had missed his brother. His brother had already returned from his leave in the United States and been sent over to Italy. Harris recalled the several leaves he went on during his 15 months in the China-Burma-India Theater, the CBI. Upon his return to the United States, Harris was sent to Nashville, Tennessee. He volunteered for, and was assigned to, the 4th Ferrying Group based in Memphis, Tennessee. As a ferry pilot, Harris was able to fly nearly every plane the US Army Air Forces had. During the last year of the war, Harris checked out in 28 military aircraft. Harris was checked out in the P-38 [Annotator's Note: Lockheed P-38 Lighting fighter aircraft] fighter and flew the first P-38 built at the Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft plant in Nashville, Tennessee. Harris liked flying the P-38. He also enjoyed flying the other twin boomed aircraft used by the Army Air Forces, the P-61 Black Widow [Annotator's Note: Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter aircraft ]. One morning, he received a call and was asked if he wanted to fly a jet. Harris was elated and accepted the task. He was assigned to Eglin Air Force Base in Florida where he trained to fly a P-59 [Annotator's Note: Bell P-59 Airacomet jet fighter aircraft]. Harris really enjoyed his time at Eglin and the variety of missions that were assigned to him. On one mission, he fell asleep while 15,000 feet in air. He woke up in a nosedive and had to apologize to the control officers and explain what happen. Harris heard the news of the surrender of Germany and surrender of Japan while at Eglin. Harris went to Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia where he retired from the Army Air Forces. [Annotator's Note: There is a pause to change tapes.]

When Robert H. "Bob" Harris was sent to instructor school in Montgomery [Annotator's Note: Maxwell Fieild, now Maxwell Air Force Base, in Montgomery, Alabama], he asked a girl friend if she could set him and his Marine friend up with a couple of blind dates. She agreed and set them up with two girls. Four years later, Harris was walking down the street with a fraternity brother and he saw the girl that was set up with his Marine friend. He was introduced again to the girl and they began dating. Six or seven months later they were engaged. They married on 30 August 1946. They had four children.

When Robert H. "Bob" Harris finished his induction training, he was assigned to single-engine planes. He was happy with the assignment, but he had no choice in the matter. He enjoyed flying the Northrop Black Widow [Annotator's Note: Northrop P-61 Black Widow night fighter aircraft]. He thought it was fun to fly. He remembered that the P-40 [Annotator's Note: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighter aircraft] was a good airplane but it was not good with high altitudes because there was no super charger like on the P-51 [Annotator's Note: North American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft]. It relegated to 15,000 feet and below. When he flew over the "Hump" [Annotator's Note: a section of the Himalaya Mountains between India and China], there was no armament on the plane except carbines, and the pilots had only shoulder holsters. Anytime they saw a Japanese plane, Harris said they would hide in the clouds. Harris considered himself lucky because there were many planes that were shot down by the Japanese while traveling over the "Hump". Harris recalled that they switched from day flying to night flying on the condition of China. He disliked flying at night because he could not see anything, and it was scary watching the ice buildup on the wings. Harris remembered that life at their base on the Brahmaputra River was not bad. They lived in two-man thatched roof huts and always had plenty to eat. There were a couple of times that were strange for Harris when two of his roommates were killed. When news of their death reached the base, a sergeant would enter the hut and remove the dead man's personal belongings. This happened to Harris twice. For the most part, he did not interact with the local population except going to the one restaurant in Jorhat, India. Harris volunteered to create the map for the base at Jorhat, India for the Air Forces. Harris remembered the holiday celebrations were nice with wholesome meals. He also recalled a tense night when he went to a men's night club with some fellows in China and one of the men got into an argument with one of the dancers. Harris was very concerned that he would be in a lot of trouble because he was not wearing his insignia.

Robert H. "Bob" Harris returned to the United States sometime in September or October 1944. While overseas, he knew very little of the preparations of D-Day [Annotator's Note: the Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944]. When the United States dropped the atomic bombs on Japan, he remembered being elated because it appeared that war would be over soon, and he could return to civilian life. After the war, Harris was unsettled. He knew he wanted to go back to school, but he was anxious about the future. For a while, Harris disliked the Japanese people. He had heard horrible stories about some of the things they did and therefore did not care for them. Harris was interviewed for The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), now National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and General Electric Company (GE). He took the position with GE. Years later he was assigned to a post in Japan, and by that time his animosity towards the Japanese had lessened. He and his wife enjoyed their time in the Far East. When Harris left the military, he was a captain. He decided not to re-enlist because he wanted to go back to school, which he did on the G.I. Bill.

One of the most memorable events that happen to Robert H. "Bob" Harris was when his friend died in the plane he was supposed to fly. Being exposed to jet engines during the war helped him when he began his career with General Electric Company (GE). Harris stated that World War 2 allowed him to learn to live with all sorts of people. He is a people person. He fought in World War 2 because he wanted to fight for America. He loves his country. He wants to tell the people watching this interview that you should always do your best and put your whole heart in to it. He worries for America and the path it is taking today. He heard The National WWII Museum is a great place. We need a place that tells stories of American victories.