A 96-year-old Salina World War II veteran will take off on a “Dream Flight” later this week. Bob Cook, who served as a paratrooper, will get a chance to takeoff in a biplane and soar over and around town.

Dream Flights is a non-profit organization established and dedicated to honoring seniors and military veterans. Through donors, community support, and volunteers, the foundation provides “Dream Flights” in a Boeing Stearman biplane, the same aircraft used to train many military aviators in the late thirties and early forties.

Cook’s “Dream Flight” is part of the organizations “Operation September Freedom”. Organizers say they launched   “Operation September Freedom” to celebrate WWII veteran and give them the plane ride of their dreams. Billed as “the largest barnstorming event in U.S. history, and the first and only Dream Flight Tour dedicated to honoring the men and women who fought in the war that changed the world”, it began August 1st and goes through September 30th.

Cook’s “Dream Flight” is scheduled to takeoff from the Salina Regional Airport at 9:00 Thursday morning. Anyone who would like to show him support is invited to gather at Fossett Plaza at the airport.