NORWOOD, MASS. (WHDH) - Dream Flights is helping New England veterans explore Massachusetts from a thousand feet in the air.
90-year-old Joe Mitchell from Watertown is one of those veterans who was ready to fly high on Friday.
Mitchell’s family watched him take a spin in a World War II-era open cockpit biplane from down below at the airport in Norwood.
Mitchelle, who served in the Air Force during the Korean War, treasured this special experience.
“It was offered to my father to go take a flight, and he was thrilled and I was thrilled to have this once in a lifetime opportunity,” his son Joe Mitchell said.
Mitchell said his favorite part was flying over Gillette Stadium.
“Put me back 50 years,” Mitchell said. “I enjoyed it very much.”
Other veterans are getting the experience today, including 101-year-old Roy Ringman, a WWII hero.
Jeff Klosky is a Dream Flights volunteer and a veteran himself. He loves that he gets to fly these American heroes and to say “thank you.”
“For them, it really becomes the best day for the rest of their lives for pretty much all of them,” Klosky said. “‘You’re important you matter we care about you and again thank you for what you’ve done.’”
Dream Flights have been sharing this experience since 2011, and they plan to hit their 6,000th flight this year.
(Copyright (c) 2026 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)