We have survived the 2012 Defenders of Liberty Air Show at Barksdale Air Force Base.  

The day started out overcast and hung over from last night's soaking rain but by 11:30 this morning the skies were clear blue and we had a breezy, crisp day with temps that never broke 70 (I don't think).

Barksdale has been doing this air show thing for so long now they have got it down to a science.  They do a great job getting the masses of people on and off base and corralled into the areas where they ought to be - and NO WHERE ELSE.

We arrived around noon and it wasn't long before we met up with friends:


That's my buddy Rose in the driver's seat.  I taught one of her sons several years ago; she has two wonderful boys who are serving their country right now and she's very proud of them both.  Rightly so.

We also met up with our friend Joy (left) who is our regular "bar guard" and good friend who keeps everyone at Hangar 2 in line:


Joy has a heart of gold and I know that's a cliche, but she really does.  She takes care of her "GI"'s and would do anything in the world for you.

After we got our beer and hot dogs it was time to walk around and look at planes.  Well, not planes yet; we started with vintage Jeeps:



This is a far cry from my Jeep:


...but I'm rather partial to that machine gun.  Road rage would have no limits.

There was a fly-by demo with a bomb drop simulation.  I missed the great fire shot but I managed to get the smoke:


That one included lots of loud booming noises.

This is the B-25 "Mitchell" named "The Yellow Rose":


I'm developing an affinity for airplane nose art.  With all the vintage planes we've seen over the years, I'm developing quite a collection of nose art photos:


We got to look inside the belly of a B52 at the landing gear; I can't imagine how those guys keep all these wires and cables straight.  Amazing:


Meanwhile, the Black Diamond Jet Team was performing.  For better pictures of all that you have to go to the professionals.  The Shreveport Times has two great photo galleries here and here.



I love the B52.  You just can't get the scope of this plane in a photograph - it's just huge.  HUGE:



More Black Diamond:



Back to nose art, here's an AC47, "Spooky":



Here's the nose art:


And look what's waiting to take off:



Is that not beautiful?!  And look at this:


The B52s!  RAWR!  Lined up in a row.  Love it.

For a few dollars you could get your picture taken in (part) of an A7 Corsair II and guess who had a few dollars?


Boys will be boys.  The nose art was cool:



Here's a mean looking chopper:


Another of my favorite planes is the F4, mostly because it makes GREAT jet noise.  This is a lame clip but I just love jet noise:



I saw several signs like this...:


...but really, I love jet noise.  The louder the better.

One of the best parts of the day, to me, was the Heritage Flight.  The F4 and the P47 joined up and did a flyby together: the old and the new.  My dad flew P47s and I'd be lying if I said I didn't have real lump in my throat and a tear behind my sunglasses when those two planes came by.  I couldn't talk for a minute or two.  I totally felt my dad's presence there.  He would have loved it.



The P47:



Well, then The Thunderbirds were up and I quit taking pictures.  I got one, but then I just had my eyes in the sky.

It was a glorious day and a huge kudos to Barksdale AFB for the great job they do every year in putting this  together.  There was a huge crowd there today but everyone got in and out without any major problems.

One day I'm going to go out there and just do a post on Air Show Fashion.  I will never figure out why someone would wear spandex pants and spike heels to walk two miles down a flight line.  But I saw 'em.  I saw a girl in a short dress and 3" wedge heels, too.  Go figure.  Mummus, tank tops, blue jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts and puffy jackets.  I saw it all today.

But, the highlight was the airplanes and if you missed the show today, they'll do it all over again tomorrow!

When I was little I used to lay in bed at night and wrestle with the paranoid possibility that the house could catch fire and I'd have to decide what to save. I'd run through all the possibilities - my Barbies? my favorite clothes? my jewelry? my stuffed animals? Would I wake up my parents before or after I grabbed my stuff? Which neighbor's house would we evacuate to? This seriously would keep me going for hours. I was an insomniac at a very early age (I outgrew it).

These days it is easier to figure out what is important. Of course it is those things that can not be replaced. I have way too much clutter in my house, way too many things I could live without but just like having around. But I know, these days, that if my house caught fire and I had to grab just one thing (besides my child and my dog, of course) it would have to be these letters my father wrote when he served in World War II.

Just about all of them are to his mother - he wrote to her several times a week. For the entire time that he served and was away from home, his daily life is chronicled in these letters. His fears for the future, his romantic dilemmas (my mom was not yet really in the picture), his longing for home, anecdotes from around the air base, what movies he saw and what he ate for dinner. They are all handwritten, of course, in his now familiar rambling script. I can imagine him in his barracks hunched over a desk, or propped in his bunk dutifully writing to his mother. His "voice" comes through loud and clear and when I read them I see my father in a completely different way than I, of course, knew him. He is, for those few moments, young, vulnerable, and impressionable. He was envious, curious, and ambitious. He was human.

Dad has been gone for 20 years now and I know, in case of fire, I know that these can NEVER be replaced. I have been trying for years to figure out a good way to preserve them. Nothing brilliant has ever hit me. So they sit in a shoebox on the top shelf of my closet, easy to get to in case I have to.