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