The Q-View

A half-empty kind of guy, I would not have been shocked to die before I could enjoy retirement.

Serendipitously, the opportunity for immortal irony presented itself when my sons and wife booked me on, and paid for, a B-17 flight on MY first official day of retirement–the day my former colleagues reported back to work.

Imagine the example my fellow English teachers could have used: “Yeah, he was killed in the crash of an airplane older than he was; after working all those years to retire comfortably, he never really landed there.”

Chuckle.

But we landed safely.

And the experience was awesome.

Ever since I became enamored of the B-17 through the old TV series, “12 O’Clock High,” based on the movie of the same name, starring Gregory Peck, I have read extensively of the B-17’s role in World War II.

The B-17 was a heavy bomber lovingly referred to as “The Flying Fortress”.

(By the way, 12 o’clock high refers to a position of common reference. For example, fighters coming in at “3 o’clock” would be level with the plane, to the plane’s right.”)

I took a 30-minute flight out of Hazelton with nine other fanboys. Aboard the “Nine-O-Nine”, we sat on the floor of the waist for takeoff, under the gun placements on either side.  In the air, we “toured” the plane, visiting the radio compartment, the bomb bay, the cockpit, the bombardier’s position in the nose, and the top turret.

The view from the number one item on my bucket list was spectacular.

I will expound in future entries.

If I don’t die first.