Air Show--September 2013

It is a well known fact that I am a nervous flier; terrified is actually closer to the truth.
I cling to the armrests of my seat as if I will somehow keep the plane aloft by sheer will. I watch the engines, fulling expecting them to burst into flames at any moment. I keep an eye on the wings, certain I see them trembling, preparing to sheer off and fall to the earth 35,000 feet below.

Yet even in my deep fear, I love it. 

I love flying into the morning; the dark globe slowly turning to gold as the sun rises. Rising above the earth reminds me of my smallness; 35,000 feet has a way of doing that. Flying helps me see God's handiwork from a different perspective. I flew above a thunderstorm a few years ago on my return from Romania. Lightning was crackling out the tops of the clouds thousands of feet below me. I realized that down on the ground somewhere over America, people were hearing the thunder boom, and were scurrying for shelter from the rain. What they didn't know existed in the midst of the storm was the calm above. There was no storm surrounding the plane, only a calm, indifferent blackness even further above in space, and a deep blue horizon as the sun began to set.

I have come to terms with the fact that I will always be a fearful flier, or at the very least, extremely nervous. But that fear does not hold me back from my love of flight.
As Leonardo Da Vinci said,  "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."  

My dad and I attended the annual air show in Halls, TN in September. World War II is always well-represented, and I get to wander to my heart's content amongst the old warbirds, chatting with the pilots.

B-17 Flying Fortress

I always forget how tight the World War II planes are until I clamber up the ladder and attempt to walk through the aircraft without getting a concussion. I don't know how the men managed during the war. I'm 5'8, which is tall enough I usually have to resort to crawling through some portions of the planes; many of the pilots and crew in World War II were over 6 feet tall!

This is a B-17 bomber crew job for which I would most definitely not volunteer.

The ball turret gunner would climb through this hatch to reach the underbelly of the aircraft.

The gunner would then spend the rest of the flight in the capsule as flak and shells exploded all around.

North American P-51 Mustang

Of all the airplanes used in World War II, the P-51 has the most distinctive sound, in my opinion. It was a formidable opponent in a dogfight, with a maximum speed of 437 mph at 25,000 feet. With a long range, they were lifesavers for the bomber crews who were being decimated by the Luftwaffe. Once the P-51 came on the scene, the bomber crews were protected because the Mustangs could stay with them deep into enemy territory and escort them home after each mission.

If an airplane could be classified as beautiful, it would be the B-17.

B-17 Flying Fortress

"Nobody who has not been up in the sky on a glorious morning can possibly imagine the way a pilot feels in free heaven."  - William T. Piper

This pilot took his plane straight up and let it stall out. The plane tumbled end over end, plummeting to earth, until he gunned it and roared out of the stall. It was the most skilled flying I'd ever seen.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew --
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

- John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

The Missing Man Formation is an aerial salute performed in honor of the members of the armed forces who did not return from battle; it is most often used in memory of a fallen pilot. When the Missing Man aircraft pulls up and out of the formation, climbing towards heaven as the remaining planes continue on, I blink back tears every single time.