Aircraft COMMANDER

I have been thinking about an incident that took place during the 50th Anniversary celebration for the B-17. I was part of the team that put all that together in 1985 and the night before the big show I was on the flight line at 1800 and directed the parking of a KC-135. After getting it backed into the slot, the pilot deplaned and assembled the crew. They then converged on the number two engine while she stood in front of it about 50 feet out. They opened the cowl panels and launched an attack on the problem while she stood her ground for at least an hour and a half. She never budged while they did the repair. They finally reported to her and she inspected their work and ordered the cowl closed.
While she was supervising all this we welcomed a B-52 that landed about an hour after she did and we parked it next to her KC-135. When she was satisfied that her airplane was fixed, she walked over to the B-52 pilot who was standing patiently by his aircraft and embraced him. It was near dark by now and I thought , "Man! Why wasn't the Air Force like that when I was in 42 years before." We learned later that they were man and wife and she had refueled his B-52 on the way from Alabama so that he could perform a training mission on the way to Seattle. I have always thought that what I witnessed that evening was the ultimate in devotion to duty and country first, and self second. That girl was the epitome of the term, " AIRCRAFT COMMANDER". She wasn't simply the one in the left seat. She executed the very essence of her Captaincy and there was no doubt that she was in charge of her airplane and crew. The best thing about it was that she was a beautiful little blonde !
Switches

 

That would make a nice film but I think that I saw the true story that evening and I doubt that Hollywood would do it justice. That evening I commented to my number one son, one of four, who also was part of the Boeing celebration crew that I couldn't believe that the B-52 pilot was only 27. He looked at me and said, " Dad! How old were you when you were in the USAAF during the war?" I had to think about that one for a second and remembered that I was about 10 years younger than that B-52 pilot when I joined the reserve.
Switches

 

You really know how to hurt a guy. Well, if the last one was produced in 1962 , I was 36 and had worked for Boeing for 12 years by then, two of them on the XB-52, YB52, and B52A. The PILOT would have been 4 years old from my crude calculations. This is getting to be unreal.

 

I must be losing it. The celebration was in 1985 and the B-52 pilot was 27. 1985 minus 27 comes to a birth date of 1958. The last B-52 was built in 1962 (I think). 1962 minus 1958 equals 4 (I think) . It don't really matter, I'm an ol' fart, and that damn B-52 is going to out live me. I think that airplane is one of the wonders of the world. Still in operation after after its first flight a little over 57 years ago. Now let's see; that was 1952 and I had been working there since 1950 so if we divide the adjacent of the square root of the opposite angle of Pie squared over the root of the problem and extended over the curvature of California at the latitude of the first governor , we have two years...right? It boggles my head sometimes when I start thinking (I can still do that sometimes) so far back. Awful lot of stuff has happened and I did a few things that I can BS about but I make up most of it.
Switches

 

I've seen that and I think it is absolutely great!