Operation Mincemeat to Unveil Replica of Aircraft Flown by Real-Life American Pilot

Tony- and Olivier Award-winning musical Operation Mincemeat announced that the Golden Theater, where the show performs, will unveil a replica of the aircraft flown by Willie “Bill” Watkins—the real-life American pilot, and only American, featured in the show—to celebrate Fleet Week and America250. The replica will be unveiled on July 7.

Watkins, born on May 9, 1920, was a flight officer in the US Army Air Corps USAAC and flew a P-39 Bell Airacobra aircraft. He died in service on December 25, 1943, in Italy, at the age of 23.

Written by Tony Award nominees SpitLip (comprising David Cumming, Felix Hagan, Natasha Hodgson, and Zoë Roberts) and directed by Robert Hastie, Operation Mincemeat is the improbable true story of a covert operation in 1943 that turned the tide of WWII.

The current Broadway cast features Brandon Contreras as Charles Cholmondeley and others, Jessi Kirtley as Jean Leslie and others, Tony Award nominee Julia Knitel as Ewen Montagu and others, Jeff Kready as Hester Leggatt and others, and Amanda Jill Robinson as Johnny Bevan and others. Understudies are Robert Ariza, Allison Guinn, Sam Hartley, Gerianne Pérez, and Lexi Rabadi.