Air-Minded: Counting My Squadrons

I completed four operational flying assignments as a pilot in the United States Air Force. My career, with its balance of operational and staff assignments, was more or less typical for USAF pilots of my generation. What was different … and I’m sure it was nothing more than happenstance … is that the flying squadrons my family and I called home were not only low-numbered ones, but came in ascending numerical order: from the 8th Flying Training Squadron to the 32nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, then on to the 43rd TFS and finally the 44th TFS. How many USAF veterans can say that?

Tell Me Another One

The salesman told Donna not only will we not have to rinse dishes before putting them in the new unit, we shouldn’t, because the dishwasher it’s to work best with dirty dishes. Uh-huh. Tell me another one, appliance salesman.

Air-Minded: Get Your Motor Runnin’ (Updated 11/6/19)

I’ve been thinking about the different methods of starting aircraft engines. Today you start almost all aircraft piston engines the same way you start your car: by turning on the ignition and engaging an electric starter motor. Of course this wasn’t always the way. In the beginning you had to hand-prop them. If you own […]

Air-Minded: PASM Photoblog XVIII

I don’t know why, with my fighter and trainer background, I should be drawn to this old Buff, but it fascinates me and I come back to it again and again.

Air-Minded: PASM Photoblog XVII

It’s been four months since I last posted a Pima Air and Space Museum photoblog. I volunteer every Monday and always bring my camera. What I’m saying is that I’ve taken a ton of photos since my last update. Not all the ones in this post are mine, but most are.