A friend dropped by today. She has a new guy. I think she wanted to introduce him to us. After the usual formalities and joking around I asked Him what he did.
He now works for a software company. He is Retired Air Force.
Me - “Oh, retired Air Force”. “What did you do?”
Him, reluctently – “Pilot and aircraft commander in B-52s”
Me – “Great. I’m a programmer too. And over there I just hung a new…… say what?”
Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.
This fellow is a retired B-52 Stratofortress pilot.
It all fits. He is a very nice guy, late 50s to late 60’s (can’t tell). He’s military. You can see it.
I don’t know that much about B-52s, but I know enough to tell that this guy was the real deal. I. didn’t want to press any questions, but it all fit. He knew what he was talking about. (well, the H model had this….)
He and I jawed about aircraft for about an hour or so. And he shared some anecdotes about flying the B-52.
I don’t think I came off as a complete idiot, but it isn’t every day that you try to impress a B-52 pilot with your latest re-model on the house.