I liked "Aim High" better

Random Wiki of the Day: The 64th Air Division (United States)

I know next to nothing about the Air Force.
Here is what I know about the Air Force.

1.Planes are cool, always. Shows about planes are cool. Being in a plane is cool. People who fly planes are cool.

2.Obviously I am not alone in thinking that all the coolest dogfight stories come from WW2, since there is an entire cable channel devoted to this.

3.Pilots are deceptively hot, which you don’t expect, ‘cause they’re short.

4.Pilots become astronauts, which is even cooler. Sorry, but all this crap of which military arm is the best is just that, crap. Because none of you GO INTO SPACE. NASA wins, hands down.

Yes, I know that’s not fair. And don’t get me wrong, I love planes. It’s almost like being outside the earth’s atmosphere. Almost. I understand the arguments that can be made for pilots having the more dangerous job. I mean, no one is shooting at astronauts. Yet.

When I think of the Air Force in WW2, I’m actually thinking of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain. I’m prejudiced to them. They have a better logo, number one. It looks like a commuter train ad.



The first image that comes to mind when I think of World War 2 planes are a bunch of little Tiger Moths being blown to pieces against the hot white sky and hot blue water of the Greek Mediterranean. It is Roald Dahl’s fault. He wrote an autobiography about his time in Africa with the Shell Company and then being a RAF pilot against the Italians, and its one of those autobiographies that defines an entire era for you. I’m in love with Roald Dahl. I used to be in literary love with Tom Robbins, which is so gross, it’s like admitting you used to be in love with Joey from New Kids On The Block. I remember my dad used to give me nasty looks when I talked about him as my "favorite writer". But then I grew up and realized that Roald Dahl is an epitome of a human being. Just AN epitome you know, since there’s lots of different ways to be a human being, but he’s my favorite epitome. So Dahl and fighter planes are inextricably linked in my head, along with queer little stories about snakes and olives.

I think one of the reasons we’re so obsessed with fighter planes during that War is that they looked like toys, they were just so damn cute*, whereas now they look like much less fun much less cute toys that are way more expensive and easy to break. It’s the same thing with cars. They stopped being fun for all but the most savvy of you when they had computers installed in them. Computers make everything just a little bit scarier, more breakable. We don’t feel any sense of control over computers, which is silly, cause they are still just plastic, but we don’t feel capable of fixing them ourselves and therefore if we were stuck on a desert island with a broken plane or a boat to get us off, we’d rather it be old. We might be able to fuddle through it then.
That’s how I feel about it anyways.

This particular division did most of their time in WW2, so my thoughts here aren’t completely random. And like I said, I know nothing about the Air Force. But it still makes me feel sad when I read the words “deactivated”. It’s like reading about a good old farm horse that was put down, even though you understand it was its time to go, and it’s not like you knew the horse personally. There's probably this huge hidden reserve of sentimental patriotism buried deep in my commie soul that I haven't even begun to tap. Scary thought.

Also, I think the dish in their crest is supposed to represent the short period when they were defending bases in Greenland and Labrador as part of the Northeast Air Command.
It's odd to think of Labrador as an actual place, isn't it?



*Maybe for her next stunt, Palin can dress as Rosie the Riveter and assemble a fighter jet!