I hear you. B-52s have great charisma. I love that they put little wheels near the wingtips to prop them up. Another favorite of mine is the F4 Phantom. I don’t know what it is about those machines but you just can’t help but like them.
***Another favorite of mine is the F4 Phantom.***
We used to refuel them from our KC-135 over Korea.
I’ll never forget it. We were flying from Okinawa to Taiwan, refueling the F-4 over Korea, then to Taiwan. I was sick as a dog with a head cold.
At 30,000 feet, my head was still at ground level and I was miserable. Then my ears popped and I had relief. We landed in Taiwan, and my head was still at 30,000 feet. I was more miserable.
Buffs used to be stationed at the now closed Amarillo AFB. It was neat driving down the road and seeing row on row of their big tails sticking up.
On another note, I just streamed a documentary about the development and operation of the Thunder-chief (Thud) in Vietnam. The pilots loved them but they were largely wasted by the ridiculous ROE coming out of the Johnson White House.