Stories from the Etchings on My Mind, Learning to Fly
THE BEGINNING. Living in the Mid-West in the late 20’s and 30’s, southern Illinois to be specific, our main news source was word of mouth for local news and newspapers […]
Author Archives: Ben Phillips
Rambling’s, Memories of Growing Up
My parents were married in Nashville, Illinois on 12 Sept. 1917. My brother Charles Hobart was born 26 Oct 1918. I was born 20 Jan. 1921, and my twin brother […]
Life at Ashley, Illinois 1925-1938
My family lived in a seven room frame house on the north end of town. There were six of us; my parents, my older brother, the twins, my brother and […]
My love affair with the “tall tails!” Flying the Big Bombers
How many sweethearts or love affairs can one man have or expect to have in his short life time? How many times can he look at someone or something and […]
Aircraft Vs. Snakes – OR- Snakes on a Plane!
We’ve all read stories or have heard of conflicts between aircraft and many different forms of wildlife, but how about SNAKES? Who has ever heard of an aircraft problem with […]
Learning to Survive! Strategic Air Command Survival School
Shhhhhhhh! Quiet!! See him there? Down by the road! My two companions froze as we strained to see. It was nearly midnight with only a sliver of moon lighting […]
You Aint Nothing But a Hound Dog! (The Hound Dog Missle)
The 1960’s were great years. Elvis was king and was constantly belting out his “hits” and packing more and more money off to the bank. One song he made very […]
An Unexpected Flying Experience, Decompression!
Have you ever been unexpectedly whomped across the chest with a club? While at night? While at 36,000 feet? While piloting a B-52 eight engined jet bomber? Well I was, […]
My Life In SAC – The USAF Strategic Air Command
“Aaaaaarrrrooooooogah, Aaaaaarrrrooooooogah, Aaaaaarrrooooooogah” came blasting through the building. It was two o’clock in the morning this time, when that raucous electrifying blasting klaxon horn announced that an aircraft launch message […]
The Day I Became A Millionaire
THE DAY I BECAME A MILLIONAIRE How well I remember that day in 1948 when I was given $75,000,000. (yes that’s 75 million dollars) in good old American greenbacks. For […]
Stories and memories of Col. Francis Harold Potter, USAF (1921-2009) 