Harold “Tiny” Harned began his life in aviation when he was 17.

Douglas Aviation had airplane manufacturing facilities in Santa Monica, Calif., and in 1942 the Atchison, Kan., native and longtime Newton resident was barely out of high school when he was crafting the wings of bombers such as the Douglas A20 “Havoc.”

“I was only there for six months, but I was building planes that were used in North Africa and Italy,” Harned said at Nelson Manor Friday while looking through a book filled with memorabilia from his life.