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Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
Yep, I've been seeing them for as long as I can remember. I'm actually a couple of years older than the plane. I watched as it carried the X-15. I saw them bomb Vietnam. I saw them star in movies about the Cold War. Now it looks like they might outlive me.
One of my favorite BUFF stories involves a famous...no, legendary actor. Jimmy Stewart set his acting career aside and joined the Army Air Forces in World War 2, flying a full set of missions in B-17s. After the war he remained in the Air Force Reserve, and in the movie Strategic Air Command there's a scene in which he's being checked out in the B-36, which had a cockpit big enough to set up cameras in. In the scene the flight crew suddenly get up and go for coffee, leaving Stewart alone flying the plane. I watched that movie a couple of times before I found out the scene was real, and Stewart really was alone with the camera crew flying the huge bomber.
During the Vietnam War Brigadier General James Stewart went along for observation rides with the B-52 crews, and experienced at least one close call. |
Holy crap. Never saw a Jimmy Stewart movie I didn't like. Knew he was a reservist, always had a ton of respect for him as an actor, saw (and loved) the movie Strategic Air Command, but had no idea of the connections. Learned something new, now off to go do more research on it. Thanks for sharing this, you just made one of my childhood heroes bigger than life.