Final Flights: November 2005
Robert Hanson, the last surviving member of the Memphis Belle B-17 bomber crew, died October 1 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Robert Hanson, the last surviving member of the Memphis Belle B-17 bomber crew, died October 1 in Albuquerque, N.M. He was 85. Hanson, the radio operator for the aircraft, and the crew flew 148 hours in the aircraft and dropped more than 60 tons of bombs over Germany and France in World War II. After the war Hanson was a salesman and regional manager for Nalley Fine Foods in Walla Walla, Wash., and worked for a candy company in Spokane, Wash. He is survived by his wife, Irene; one daughter; one son; a brother; a half-sister; and six grandchildren.