Aeolus2000BC, the youngest WWII pilot was not an American B-17 bomber pilot, but a young UK lad who flew Whitley bombers.
Thomas Dobney added 4 years to his age and joined the RAF as a pilot in 1941 at the age of only 14.
After training in Canada, he was awarded his wings at 15 and was posted to a Whitley bomber squadron.
He flew over 20 operations before his true age was revealed when his estranged father saw him in a photograph talking to King GeorgeVI who had visited his station in East Anglia.
The astonished father contacted the Air Ministry to ask why his 15 year old son was dressed in a pilot's uniform and talking to the King. Thus his true age emerged.
He was immediately discharged with a letter saying "The reasons are soley that you are below the minimum age".
He rejoined in 1943, but suffered serious injuries in a crash following an engine failure on take off, and by the time he recovered the war had ended. He remained in the RAF, flew in the Berlin Airlift and became a pilot in the King's Flight.
He then joined the Metropolitan Police before returning to the RAF as an Air Traffic Controller, and subsequently became a deputy art editor with the Daily Express in Manchester.
Tom Dobney died of cancer in Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire in April 2001.