Lt Col Russel Norris, Usaf (Ret)

Russel Norris, 96, entered into rest on Wednesday, August 29, 2012.

Col Norris was born in 1916 in Pekin, Illinois, the son of the late Benjamin and Arthelia Norris. He had two sisters, Viola and Thelma, both deceased. Norris was a Command Pilot in the U.S. Air Force during his military service and an Airline Captain after military retirement.

He graduated from high school during the depression of the 1930's and found employment to support his widowed mother and two sisters. He was employed as a city fireman when Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, and he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the Army Air Corps, later named the U.S. Air Force. Norris had learned the art of flying while still a teenager, and logged many hours as a member of the local barn-storming teams where he entertained communities interested in aviation at the time. While a cadet in 1942, he met and later married his wife of sixty-nine years, LaVerne Storey of Augusta, Georgia, and decided to make Georgia his permanent home.

Norris was a military veteran of World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Berlin Airlift. During World War II and after his required tour of daylight combat missions was completed, he flew voluntarily, solo high altitude night missions over Europe, photographing radar images of targets for the 9th Air Force to assist bombardiers locate their targets on daylight missions. He did this until the war's end. Although a high altitude bomber pilot at the time and after his combat tour was completed, he volunteered for low level B-17 missions over Normandy on D-Day, in support of ground forces landing on the beaches.

At the end of World War II, he left the armed services and purchased and operated his own restaurant, but was quickly recalled to active duty to participate in the Berlin Airlift in Germany. After the Airlift was completed, Norris elected to remain in military service. During the remainder of his flying career, he was stationed in seven different foreign countries, one of which was three years with the Air Sea Rescue Wing, operating from the Philippine Islands flying the amphibious SA 16. His final seven years in the service were spent at Robins Air Force Base, retiring there as Chief of the Flight Operations Division. During his tenure at Robins Air Force Base, he commanded flights throughout all areas of the world, including piloting two around-the-world flights with the Commanding General in support of the command's mission.

Upon retirement from the military, Norris, always the consummate adventurer, joined "Air America" as a civilian airline Captain. The airline, operated by the Central Intelligence Agency in the Far East was in support of the U.S./Vietnam War effort. At the close of that operation, he accepted a position with an American machine tool company in Saudi Arabia for three years. He operated under contract with Saudi Arabian Ordinance Corps, a position he held until his final retirement from the work force. Norris held the highest pilot ratings awarded, a Command Pilot Rating in the Air Force, and an ATR (Airline Transport Rating) in civil aviation. During his flying career, he was "checked out" in thirty-five different aircraft models and accumulated over thirty-five thousand hours in the cockpit, most of which was flowing in support of his country and his adopted state, Georgia.

His memory will forever be treasured by his loving wife, Laverne Norris of sixty-nine years; daughters, Nicki and Donna; grandsons, Spencer Cushman and Maj. Russell Parham; and five great-grandchildren.

Funeral Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, August 31, 2012 in the chapel of McCullough Funeral Home. Burial will be private. Reverend Andy Cook will officiate. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully requests that donations be made to the Heart of Georgia Hospice, 103 Westridge Drive, Warner Robins, GA 31088.


Funeral Home:
McCullough Funeral Home
417 S. Houston Lake Rd.
Warner Robins, GA
US 31088