#neverliberal #nevermarxist
If you want to send a message, B-52 gets it heard .... er, well, the first time, after that, they're deaf and the internal organs are turning to mush from the concussion.A couple of planes I have great respect for, AWACS, AC-130 Spectre Gunship, B-52 Bomber & A-10 Warthog. We got something for everyone!
I grew up near this little out of the way place called Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio. Back then, WPAFB was one of the AF's primary testing grounds for many new designs, and it was also the largest single air force base in the world. Sonic booms at my house were a daily thing, usually several times a day. (My mom hated 'em, said they made the house dusty.)Dad used to load up the car and drive us all out to one of the perimeter fences beyond one of the main runways at the base. (Can't do THAT today.) Back then it was almost a parking lot, a gravel area made by parking cars. The planes taking off would roar overhead, and my oldest sister, who I always suspected had a few screws loose, burst into uncontrollable laughter. We used to take popcorn and snacks and soft drinks.... it was our cheap family night out.The B-52 was, of course, the Big Cajuna then, as now. Hard to believe that this design, which first went into service the year I was born, is still a front-line flyer. Even the newest B-52 in existence is 55 years old. Now just think about this for a moment. Fifty-five years before BUFF went into service, the Wright brothers were still playing with gliders.
A great museum there, in Dayton! We visited it 3 years ago, time to go back.... one of my kids dropped and broke my beautiful Blue USAF cup, a working-man's size cup. There is something about flying, we did the same thing at Ohare, park outside the chain link fence and watch them take off & land. Since the NAVY flies over our place in the late after noons, I love to 'check them out', see if they're running after-burn.Flying is fun, fun, fun.... it's the takeoff and landing that scares the hell out of me.
Yup, it's always the parts where the airplane and the Earth get together that make flying really damned interesting. What's the old saying...? "Any landing you walk away from is a good landing."I'm just about an hour away from what used to be called "the Air Force Museum." Now I think it has a fancier name. Just this past year they opened their fourth "hangar," really a HUUUUGE building connected to the first three, for displaying more planes. (When I was a kid, most of the bigger aircraft were on display outside in the weather. The original museum was quite small.) Let me know when you're headed this way, and Mrs. Tbone and I will meet you there!
Wait, you remarried?
Yep. One year ago TODAY. Life is good.
TB We just had our 50th wedding anniversary on 10/28/2017.
That's great! I heard the secret to a long happy marriage is, "Don't argue, just dicker", seems to work for us.