Roger Steingraber: Flew a B-26

Roger Steingraber was born to a structured, disciplined family on Aug. 4, 1929 in Elmwood Park.

The Steingrabers moved to Elmhurst on Dec. 7, 1941. Roger was in the seventh grade at the time. He was not aware of the infamous events of that day until the next day at school.

The subsequent World War II continued through his years at York High School in Elmhurst. After graduation, Steingraber worked as a truck driver for the village of Elmhurst for 13 months until he saved up enough money to enroll at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.

During the war, all male students were required to join the Reserve Officer Training Corps. Roger Steingraber was a part of the Naval ROTC for two years while at Illinois.

When the Korean War started in June of 1950, Steingraber did not have enough money for another year’s tuition. In fear of being drafted and sent to fight in the trenches, he tried to join the Naval Air Corps instead. However, they were full and had a backlog of applicants.

Steingraber then walked down the street to the Air Force recruiting office and signed up as an enlisted airman on Jan. 12 of 1951. This was the start of an exciting and honorable part of his life as a military pilot.

Roger went through basic training at the Lachlan Air Base in San Antonio, Texas for five months. He then started his pilot training at basic flying school in Columbus, Miss. followed by advanced training at Reese Air Force Base in Lovett, Texas where he flew B-25s.

He transitioned into B-26s at Sherman Air Force Base in Denison, Texas. B-25s had twin tail vertical stabilizers and two engines. They were manned by a pilot and co-pilot and had enough room to move around in. B-26s had one stabilizer, a bigger engine, and were reciprocating. They were designed more for combat, and had less room to move around in.

With little room, one had to enter the top through a canopy. Steingraber picked up his crew of navigators, Tex Johnson and Ralph Living, in Sumpter, S.C. They then headed out to Stead Air Force Base in the Saharas for survival and escape and evasion training. Steingraber and his crew arrived in Korea in May 1953 and stayed together for the rest of their time in Korea.

During basic flying school, Steingraber flew T6s. The tail wheels on these planes had narrow landing gear which was subject to ground loop and spin which would damage the wing tip. However, Steingraber was a part of the first class on record to go through training without a single accident, which was rather remarkable.

In another part of his training, Steingraber was executing a ground control approach to land the plane using radar when they were in clouds. Steingraber was to fly with his sergeant to Tokyo International Airport in Japan. When they arrived in Japan the weather was bad so Steingraber had to fly while reading the flight books. He assumed the approach lights would be on land when they became visible. However, when they broke through the clouds at 500 feet, Steingraber saw that the approach lights were in the water and the runway started at the edge of the pier. Luckily, he was able to pull up in time and have a safe landing. This was Steingraber’s first near-crash experience.

Another time, Steingraber and crew lost radio contact over Japan at night. They were flying only with use of the “D” emergency channel. Because of the pitch black night, Steingraber almost took off a smoke stack at a train station during the GCA.

Steingraber’s favorite wartime story took place after the war during a flyover of the Demilitarized Zone. He and his crew were flying at 28,000 feet without cabin heat on a very cold November day.

That morning Steingraber drank too much coffee. After relieving himself in the tube under his seat, the system backed up onto his instruments and roof and froze.

As they descended, the inevitable melting occurred. After they landed, Steingraber said, “Sarg, you’ve got a little job to do here.” Steingraber recalls that the incident did not seem that funny at the time, but he now enjoys telling the story to his children.

In total, Roger and his crew flew six missions while they were in Korea. Their missions were for Night Photo Reconnaissance. At night they would drop photo flash bombs and then fly visual reconnaissance up the valley. The missions were very dangerous due to the darkness.

Typically, one would fly 50 missions and then be rotated out. However, when the war ended Steingraber had to stay in Korea for almost a year because he didn’t have enough missions. After Korea, he was in Strategic Air Command at Fair Child Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington where he flew bigger bombers. He was discharged from the Air Force in 1955.

During the Korean War, Steingraber was married to his wife, Janette. Their oldest son, Scott, was born on Dec. 7, 1953. Steingraber found out about Scott’s birth by a letter from his mother-in-law and did not meet Scott until he was 6 months old.

Steingraber and his wife would have four more children. They moved to Arlington Heights in 1958 with no debt after he completed his BA and MA at The University of Illinois.

Steingraber continued to serve his community by teaching math, driver’s education, physical education, and health, and coaching girls’ volleyball, basketball and tennis for District 214.

“I’ve seen this district grow from one to eight high schools and then back down to six,” he says.

Steingraber is an excellent example of an Arlington Heights veteran whose sense of service continued after his time in the military.

Steingraber prizes his time in the military and is supportive of military personnel serving today. His grandson Charlie was recently fighting with the Marines and is now attending Harper Community College.

“You see and learn about a lot of things in life in the military,” says Steingraber. Steingraber is rightfully proud of the hard work he has done for his family, community, and country.