28 August, 2012

Profile 70: BEGINNING - B-52G of the 77th BS (sort of)


It's begun, (gulp)...

If you've never seen one take off and fly, it's an awesome sight.

Gangly, huge and wickedly lined, the thing smokes its way across the sky;  a defiant, angry pterodactyl soaring for a fight.  Last week, such an experience happened to me and I caught myself holding my breath as if not to attract her awful attention.  I would have been tempted to look away had it not been so awesome

There is no doubt; the B-52 is a war bird of the darkest order.

And the one I'll be doing is one of a dark time, too - Cambodia, 1973.

This project will be delicate as it exposes the difficulty of learning history through sound-bites and movies alone. Controversy abounds, duty prevails and somehow, the most unimaginable evil of the 20th Century will still rise out of a land that felt the whole of the B-52's fury.

This is war.

(gulp)

Photo:  U.S. Air Force, Tech. Sgt. Robert J. Horstman