"No matter how cynical I get, I can’t keep up.” — Lily Tomlin
You really never leave
The Collings Foundation is a private non-profit that, among other things, tours the country with a fleet of WWII-era aircraft. Last weekend its Wings of Freedom Tour stopped at Marana Regional Airport, just north of Tucson, and I rode out to see the planes.
“Carry a barf bag whether you think you’re prone to airsickness or not,” my instructor pilot said, “because you never know.”
… all this happened 30 years ago, at a time when gay servicemen and women were actively pursued, identified, and forced out (usually with dishonorable discharges).
Sexual assault in the military continues to be a huge problem. Arizona Senator Martha McSally recently revealed that, as a young fighter pilot, she was raped by a senior officer. She called for the creation of a Department of Defense sexual assault task force, and yesterday acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan agreed to form one.
Hush Kit, “the alternative aviation magazine,” has published another piece of mine, this one about how F-15 Eagle pilots trained to face the threat posed by the Soviet Union’s then-new Su-27 Flanker in the late 1980s and early 90s, when I flew F-15s at Kadena Air Base in Japan.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Do you remember your first airplane ride?
If you’re doing something people need, it’s not menial or beneath you. Don’t disparage honest work.
In an earlier Air-Minded post, I wrote about the early days of aerial refueling and the initial development of USAF tanker aircraft and refueling methods. This post is about the USAF jet fighters, interceptors, and attack jets that depend on those tankers to get to where they’re going and back home again.