B-36

I had a very strange memory strike me suddenly the other evening.

When I was 7,

I had been sent to stay with my Uncle..in 1959.

The reasons are still unknown to me.

When you are a kid--shit just happens.

My parents liked to drink and fight and sometimes

just for variety's sake they would fight and drink.

If i think about the why--something in that no doubt played a part.

It did forever.

My uncle was in the Air Force his whole life and i stayed with him and his family

at Bradley AFB in Massachusetts for a while.

He was a Sargent in the Strategic Air Command.

One day while i was there, my Uncle drove me out to the hangers

and took me around and inside a Convair B-36,SAC nuclear bomber.

I was amazed by two things--first that an adult would actually

think of doing something for me...just for me...that had never happened before--

The second was how awesomely cool the huge B-36 was.

The largest combat aircraft ever built the ten engine B-36 was the only

aircraft at that time that could carry the 1950's automobile sized

nuclear and hydrogen bombs.

It was designed to attack Russia from high altitude 

flying from bases in the United States, the first true 

Intercontinental bomber,

and the last prop driven US military bomber. 

I remember being in awe that it had a kitchen, bunks, thousands of switches and

analog gauges, a tunnel with a rolling cart that ran from the

front flight compartment to the rear crew compartments 

which didn't scare me at all when i rode it.

The B-36 was manned by a crew of 16.

It smelled inside of leather, oil, aftershave and unfiltered cigarettes.

This memory was created during the cold war....

We were being taught to duck and cover in school.

That was supposed to, help us survive a nuclear bomb attack.

No Shit.

We were told the Strategic Air Command was the only thing that could save us.

I'm sure i thanked my Uncle afterward--i think?

I didn't actually speak much then.

Over the years I hadn't forgotten this happened, I always remembered it--

but it drifted away somewhat...

but when the re-memory struck me,

I wound up stalking the B-36 on the net.

 I found an old, out of stock, model of the B-36 on Amazon from the 1970's

offered by a private seller.

It, like the real thing,  is huge (when assembled)---wingspan over three feet.

It is supposedly tough to build properly according to reviewers.

I am going to build it and hang it flat against one of the

side walls of the nerd cave...when done.

Building aircraft models is not necessarily my forte.

The best i can say is

I'm doing it for the memory.

"Parenting isn't just parenting your own child."

Lewis Black