"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
What was (and might have been)
When I tell visitors about the Pima Air & Space Museum’s F-14 Tomcat, I always work in a few words about women in military aviation. The Tomcat seems like the right place to introduce the topic: first because the US Navy, along with the US Army, led the way in training woman aviators in 1974, a full two years before […]
President Eisenhower mobilized hundreds of troops to enforce federal law and prevent rule by lynch mob in Little Rock. Yes, Virginia, there once was a time when presidents were courageous.
During most of the years I flew fighters and trainers for the USAF, I never paid much thought to the disposition of aircraft on the ramp. We parked them when we were through with them; if maintenance needed to move them around on the ground afterward that was their problem. I was of course aware of […]
In lieu of solving the nation’s problems and revealing brilliant new insights on life, I’ll share a few photos I took today while wandering around the outdoor exhibits at the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona, where I work as a volunteer docent. I’d heard the restoration team would be moving several aircraft […]
It’s time I posted more photos from the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona. As a volunteer tour guide, I’m sometimes able to visit parts of the museum visitors don’t get to see. There’s always something interesting hidden away. These two Japanese Kamikaze planes, for example. Until recently only the fuselages have been visible, […]
The American military’s T-Birds are all long retired, but many countries around the world still fly them. They may not be glamorous or fast, but they played an important role in the early jet age, and I write this post in tribute.
“Remember the couple from England who were here last month? I took them on a hike to the ruins of the Japanese internment camp on Mount Lemmon.” “There was a Japanese internment camp on Mount Lemmon?” That’s how the conversation went, me being the dummy who didn’t know about the camp. I’ve lived at the […]
In past Armistice Day blog posts I’ve quoted some of Dad’s WWII letters from the Pacific Theater, where he was a gunner aboard an oiler, a minesweeper, and an auxiliary repair ship. Looking back through these documents, which I have saved on a computer file, I came across a letter I sent my father in 1995, when I was posted to Nellis AFB, Nevada to help run the Nevada Test & Training Range.