The more things change...

Your humble Rumbler is prowling the museums of DC this week...saw this gem at the new Air and Space Museum out by Dulles Airport. That's Hap Arnold, telling it like it was...errr, is. Reality stinks, but until we get serious about self sufficiency with drilling and nuclear power...along with all the good stuff like conservation and green tech, but let's be honest - the latter stuff is a drop in the bucket for our needs.

Also saw this beautiful bird:

Yes, that is THE Enola Gay. It is the only plane that is protected by plexiglass on the walkway above the plane. I guess that keeps the crunchy granola types from throwing monkey feces at the plane because they FEEEEEL somebody else's pain. But I know people whose uncles and fathers were in the invasion fleet headed towards Japan when Hiroshima went down. They would not be here today were it not for this warbird and the thousands of people behind the scenes that made her and her mission possible. I also know that despite the unspeakable horror of what happened at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, lives in total were saved. An invasion of mainland Japan would have killed thousands more Japanese and thousands more Americans if this had not been done.

Next up is this beaut:

The SR-71 Blackbird. It was technology like this that made the Soviets realize they were hosed. God bless the Skunkworks...let us all pray that there are still brilliant minds at work on projects like this because they save lives!

Last stop, one of those planes near and dear to Rumbler's heart, the F-14 Tomcat:

I have fond memories of being in an amphibious task force in the North Atlantic being shadowed by the Soviets. They sent out a couple of "Bear Delta" long range surveillance/bombers that were approaching the main force when out of the west...came a roarin' and a thunderin' like was never heard! Two Tomcats came screaming in at wave top, rose and intercepted the Bears, forcing them to turn away. It was awe inspiring! God bless those fabulous men in their flying machines.