T-L Photo/SHELLEY HANSON BILL NAUGHTON of St. Clairsville holds the T-shirt he purchased years ago after riding in the Flying Fortress bomber. The same plane crashed Oct. 2 in Connecticut.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — When St. Clairsville resident Bill Naughton read the news about a World War II bomber crashing in Connecticut on Oct. 2, killing at least seven people, it brought back memories of when he got the chance to fly in one himself.

As he looked closer at the photo of the burned up Boeing B-17 bomber, he noticed it looked a lot like the one he was on several years ago. So, he found the T-shirt he bought that day to commemorate getting to experience the aircraft. Sure enough, it had the same number on its tail — 231909.

Naughton said he was living in the Dayton, Ohio, area when he learned that some World War II aircraft were going to be at the South Dayton Airport, and that for a fee people could ride in them.

Though he didn’t have much money at the time, Naughton decided to take the plunge and use his credit card to pay for the experience on the Flying Fortress. It cost about $250 and helped the owners of the plane, Collings Foundation, pay for the fuel used to fly the planes.

“It was a bucket-list type of thing. … It was a heck of an experience. It’s not very comfortable ride. There’s nothing in the way of creature comforts,” Naughton, a retired teacher, said of the plane. “It was noisy.”

When Naughton realized for sure that the crashed plane was the same bomber he had flown aboard, he was in a bit of shock.

“It’s been kind of a rough weekend in a sense,” he said last week. “I’ve been visualizing the people. They had the same interest I did. … I can visualize them walking around, checking out the front and the cockpit.”

“The pilot, he was 75 years old and had 7,000 hours in B-17s. He recognized there was a problem right after take off,” he added of the Connecticut crash.

The plane was experiencing engine problems, and the pilot radioed that it was coming back to the airport. However, it did not make it. The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.

Naughton is a Shadyside native who graduated from St. John Central High School in 1960. He retired from Fairborn, Ohio, City Schools in 1995. He now lives in St. Clairsville.

Seven people aboard the plane died in the crash, while six others survived. Three crews members were transporting 10 passengers at the time of the crash at Bradley International Airport. One person on the ground also was injured, according to published reports.