For some reason the rest of my #26 didn’t post. I explained that my dad was a cold war USAF vet. He described it simply as, “the sound of freedom,” which was a more than adequate expression for me :-)
Hope you don’t mind, I have my own “Sound of Freedom” story. My kids were young, during Desert Storm. The images of Israeli families sheltered in sealed rooms, wearing gas masks, permeated the media. U.S.M.C.A.S. El Toro was nearby, and when the FA-18’s thundered by, overhead, my neighbors and I agreed, that was the sound of freedom. Some of us would even salute them, as they passed. POSTSCRIPT: The base closed about 1998, I sure miss those good neighbors. Thanks!
My Father worked at Eglin for nearly 35 years. Sometimes when he was working the night shift, he would let me spend the night. I would get to walk around and look over all the planes in the King Hangar.
Before that he worked in the basement of building 100. During that time Eglin was a SAC base. This was during the late 50s or maybe early 60s.
One night while I was there, they had a B-52 scramble. I am not sure how many there was but it was around 6. Each one had 8 engines. You can imagine the roar.
My uncle was a 47 pilot in the day. They moved all the time. There were SAC and TAC bases all over the nation. People now simply can’t imagine the numbers. In our region I knew of Carswell, Altus, Reese, Little Rock, McConnell, Tinker, Clinton-Sherman, Perrin, Sheppard, Victoria, Blytheville, Forbes, Schilling, Amarillo, Dyess, Webb, Waco, Goodfellow, Bergstrom, Ellington, the San Antonio complex. Some were training, SAC, TAC, MAC or ALC. Once, we lived close by and visited the base often when I was a child.
We had of course been taught duck and cover in school and knew what the air raid warning sirens sounded like. Of course we never knew when they were simply being tested or if it was for real. Somebody’s in charge in our little town did I’m sure and it may have been in the paper but we didn’t know it. My Dad was a shelter manager as well. We spent some weekends in the shelter on drills. Anyway, we kids knew we were at “Cold War” and were told that it could turn hot just any day.
When visiting the base a time or two the klaxon at the alert bunker went off and the bombers would scramble to MITO and leave in a cloud of smoke. My aunt said that if nothing happened in three hours we were safe. Later in life I learned she would call Mom whenever my uncle left and tell her that if nothing happened in three hours we were safe.
It did sound like freedom but it also sounded like protection and the bomber and fighter pilots were knights protecting the realm.
You might enjoy this: http://www.airforcebase.net/usaf/joeslist.html
Interesting, in 1060 there were no bases in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Kentucky or Conneticutt.