Maryland Etc. Trip: Dover Air Force Base (3.31.24)

David has loved airplanes ever since he joined the Air Force during the Viet Nam War.

 As we drove to Lewes, Delaware on March 31, 2024, we stopped at Dover Air Force base to see its air museum.  

Dover AFB is also the spot where presidents come to honor servicemen who have died in wars abroad and have just reached their native soil.

From the fence by the museum, we could see the area where servicemen's remains are brought, and where the presidents come to honor them.

We climbed inside several planes and looked at many more.  My favorite was a cargo plane so big that six buses could be parked in its hold.  As Dave and I walked through the huge plane, I thought of Rebekah Flindt's mother, who was a sergeant in the Air Force, with responsibility for loading people and things onto big cargo planes.
 

The sheer size of this plane is shown by how small Dave looks next to its wheel!

The guides within the planes were retired Air Force servicemen who had actually served on the planes they now led tours through.

This veteran had loaded the planes, trucks, and tanks onto the largest cargo planes.  I remember the author Stephen Ambrose's analysis of why the American army beat the Germans in Europe--the Americans' mid-level leaders, including sergeants and lieutenants, were better.  They were given more authority than the German mid-level leaders, which made them fast and flexible.  I bet this former sergeant was that type of man.