'Fat Mac'

The country from here to there is impressively green. The taller peaks are still hoarding this year's snow and it seemed every stream is running snowmelt. Even the desert is green for the moment. Is this a beautiful country or what?

Marta's husband Richard has spent a lifetime tending to our nation's intercontinental nuclear-tipped missiles, first as an airman and currently a civil servant. Touring the Hill AFB Museum with Richard for a guide was most enlightening. Hill Air Logistics Center has been the responsible agency for procuring and maintaining the Minuteman One and Two as well as the present day Peacekeeper. Richard has been involved all the way. With each artifact on display he could tell us what it did, why it was made the way it was and how it was controlled. Missiles, like any other mechanical conveyance, demand regular inspection, maintenance and repair to be accomplished. Then they have to be transported to the site where they hide underground, set up vertically and placed in the "hole." All that takes special equipment, much of which is now obsolete, so it too is also on public display.

The country's nuclear missile arsenal is mostly out of sight from the public and that is the way it is intended to be. However, for anyone the least interested in what we have and what it is doing to keep us safe it is well worth a trip to Ogden to see, touch, and learn about some of the hardware keeping us safe. You and I paid for it so we indeed have a vested interest.

Also on the tour, I spotted a familiar face in their Aviation Hall of Fame. He was Col. Willard R. Macfarlane, hometown Ogden, Utah. I knew him as one of my doolies, an underclassman at the Air Force Academy. "Fat Mac" was truly one of the good guys. I remember him as an excellent student, possessing a good attitude about learning military discipline and in general one of those people that is excited about life. After leaving school I paid little account of his life until about 1974 when I read of him, then a test pilot, setting eight world time-to-climb records in the then brand new F-15. His highest and best record was climbing to 12,000 meters in just 59.38 seconds and that from a standing start!

By then, Mac had flown a couple tours in Vietnam, one in the F-4 and the F-104 and another in the A-1E. He had also flown the Hawker Hunter with the Royal Air Force, taught tactics to German fighter pilots and completed the USAF test pilot school.

I was always intrigued how they did it. First off they calculated just how much fuel was required to climb to the required altitude. Then it was full throttle including afterburner until the desired fuel weight was attained. At that point explosive bolts loosed the hold-down chains. Accelerate, lift off, gear and flaps up and keep pulling the nose up until completely inverted, we call it an Immelman, roll out to right side up, accelerate, nose up until inverted again roll upright, accelerate, nose up flying perfectly vertical until fuel exhaustion at the desired altitude where the engine flat quit. Then it was a no-power glide back to the big long airstrip at Grand Forks AFB, N.D. from which he had just departed. Wow, what a ride! I'll bet he landed with a huge grin on his face every time.

For Mac and his two other Major helpers, the eight world records earned them the MacKay trophy for the most meritorious military flight of the year in 1974. His name is engraved there just above my own. The Colonel is now deceased but it was still great to salute his picture there surrounded by the other Utah Air Force heroes and honor the memory of a great man that I will forever call friend!

Last week, I wrote of a desk clerk that had been doing an impressive job meeting the public at Front Range Airport near Denver. Checking their Web site www.ftg-airport.com I found that there is more to the story. Turns out that about the time my column was printed Erin had presented a special flag to the Chairman of the Front Range Airport Authority. I quote:

"Erin's assignment was in Kyrgyzstan, where she ran the airport that moved military personnel into and out of Afghanistan for their tours of duty. 'I thought of Front Range Airport often while I was there and I very much appreciated your thoughts and prayers and the care packages you sent to my troops,' Reilly said.

She presented a U.S. Flag to Commissioner Pace for the Airport and read a certificate of authenticity:

'On 11 February 2009, on request of Capt. Erin Reilly, dedicated members of the United States Air Force flew this flag over Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in your honor. It flew on board a KC-135R stratotanker during an operation; ENDURING FREEDOM combat refueling mission. Let all who look upon it see a symbol of freedom, a standard of justice, and a promise to remember those who died for us.'

Chairman Pace sincerely thanked Erin for the Flag and for her service to our country. Everyone in the room stood before Erin with honor in their hearts and applauded her."

Like I said before our young men and women who leave our communities to serve in wars around the world are special people. The members of the Nebraska National Guard, 1195th Transportation Co. that we recently gave a great send off deserve our daily prayer that they too will return safely to us.

That is the way I saw it.