Here is a little of their personal history .

Roscoe (Bill) L. Pearce was born in Downing, Missouri in 1920 and grew up on a farm east of town. He attended school in a one room school house called "Energy" but the kids called it "possum holler". He went to high school in Downing and college at Northeast Missouri State teachers college in Kirksville, Missouri. He then earned his Masters from the University of Missouri at Columbia. After college he worked for 36 yrs at Dow Chemical as a chemical engineer and troubleshooter. He met and married Louise Dye from Bevier and they have three children William, Claudia and Belinda. Louise passed away in 2003. During WWII Bill entered the army air corps and became a bombardier in B-17's. He made 17 bombing missions over Germany.

Richard Castle was born in East Liverpoole, Ohio in 1948 and grew up in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. He graduated from Ritenour Senior High and got his Bachelors degree from Central Christian College of the Bible in Moberly, Missouri. He is an ordanined minister in the Christian church and a flight instructor and commercial pilot flying for a non-profit mental health corporation. He is married to Julie and have 4 kids, Lisa, Cheryl, Katie & Matthew and 7 grandchildren. He is a decorated Vietnam vet with service dates from 1968-1969 in Vietnam. His father was a WWII fighter ace, flying P-38's in the south pacific. He shot down five Japanese bombers to be called an ace. He abandoned his family (wife and 5 kids) in 1954 and disappeared. He resurfaced 40 years later and Richard met him briefly for one hour and he was gone again. He is 87 years old but still alive as far as is known. His father is Nial Castle and believed to be an Airforce Colonel when retired.
It is ironic that an 87 year old WWII vet (Bill) would be taught to fly by a Vietnam vet (Richard), the son of a WWII fighter ace, who never knew his father. Bill and Rich's father fought in the same war and both doing so in aircraft. One was a bombardier and the other a fighter ace. One was in the sky over Germany and the other over the islands of the south pacific.