This air show had it all

Explosions, fire, smoke, the throaty roar of a Rolls Royce Merlin in a P-51, the whine of high power jet engines, fighters with afterburners; the Offutt Air Show had it all! Ann, grandson T.J and I took in as much as we could stand under perfect blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds. The huge crowd was amiable and the occasional whiff of grilling hamburgers and brats added to a festive atmosphere. For me it brought back wonderful memories of when I was on the other side of the venue and helped put on the display of hardware that I so loved while on active duty.

I find it a bit poignant that the Air Force crewmembers of today are still flying many of the same airframes that were getting a little long in tooth when I retired 29 years ago. Sure, the old airplanes have been upgraded and modernized, a bit, but automobiles build in the 1950s time frame are considered classics and not expected to soldier on day to day like we expect the KC-135 (built from 1957-1964), the B-52-H (built in 1964) and yes even the Navy's P-3 submarine hunter aircraft (same era) that I walked around and touched this weekend.

Of course, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with the venerable old airframes were brand new half-billion-dollar copies of F-22 stealthy and extremely capable fighters, the best in the world today. On second thought, it is darned sad that our airmen of today can't have the more capable equipment that it would be possible to field except that our politicians divert the necessary funds to social programs created to get the voters to keep them in office. End of commercial!

We walked through a huge C-17 cargo aircraft being proudly displayed by an instructor crew from the schoolhouse at Altus, Okla.

One of the best jobs that I ever had was teaching pilots to fly the KC-135 tanker at SAC's school on Castle AFB, near Merced, Calif. Like most of the bases where I was stationed, Castle is now closed, but still home to a wonderful Cold War Aircraft Museum. Parked close by was an even more huge C-5 aircraft, the one that will comfortably accommodate six Greyhound buses driven on two abreast, plus seats for more than 100 passengers on a second deck. More important in today's world, they can tuck eight Blackhawk helicopters inside or two Abrams tanks (like came through McCook on the train last weekend) close the doors fore and aft, take off and land a continent or an ocean away half a day later. I am talking big! The crewmembers on that one were "citizen soldiers" of the West Virginia National Air Guard at Spartanburg, W.Va.

The Air Force is proudly today's most integrated service with both the Reserve and the National Guard flying the same mix of front-line aircraft as the active duty folk.

In my own experience, my tanker Squadron "adopted" the Milwaukee Air National Guard Squadron, who were in the progress of converting to KC-135's from their old K C-97Ls, I found the Guard pleasantly easy to work with and superbly competent. With almost 30 years experience on the same aircraft since then I suspect that they are even better today. Nebraska's Air Guard was represented with a KC-135R and crew proudly on display.

No matter which airplane I approached, and found a crewmember to visit, I was immediately accepted as "one of them" when I admitted that I too had once stood where they were standing that day. There is just something about the bonds formed on active duty that sets the brotherhood (now sisterhood is appropriate too) apart from the general population. For me it is a wonderful feeling to be accepted as one with the capable personnel who are keeping the old and the new flying today.

The Army, the Navy and even the Marines were represented with personnel and equipment on display. Sailplanes, old cars, you name it, all seemed to be present on a pleasant Nebraska day.

Also at Offutt the Commemorative Air Force (used to be Confederate until they got politically correct) and other similar organizations had displays of significant aircraft from our proud past. All those aircraft are beautifully restored and proudly displayed by an army of volunteers. Included was a B-17, the quintessential World War II bomber. There was a C-54 -- the civilians called them the DC-4 airliner -- made famous by saving Berlin from a Russian take over during the Berlin Airlift. The wonderful old DC-3, the first real airliner, was represented in military dress as an AC-47, "Puff the Magic Dragon" from Vietnam. I flew it as a plain Jane C-47 and loved the old girl. I also spied a Douglas B-26, a B-25 and quite a few other war birds.

The sky was seldom quiet. A parachute demonstration team came from the Air Force Academy. At least six aerobatic pros demonstrated their nearly unbelievable skills. There was a "dog fight" between a genuine MiG-15 and an F-86. A heritage flight of an F-15, a P-51 and an A-10 Warthog all flying in formation. The climax of the day and the whole open house was a full performance by the superb Air Force Thunderbird demonstration team.

The justification for the expense of putting on a great show is the public relations largess that helps keep our volunteer ranks full. Another motive is to show off the hardware and professionalism of our military personnel in a display of thanks to the wonderful taxpaying civilian populace. For me though it all tweaked a ton of great memories.

Part of the reason for the trip to Omaha was also to "help" my granddaughter move into a university dormitory room. There were plenty of parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles present Sunday afternoon to help the new freshmen settle in and start their new college careers. That rite of passage has significantly changed since I got on a train by myself at McCook's Burlington Depot only to return back home for a first time visit a year later.

That is the way I see it.