Friday, November 02, 2007

I Just Had To Add Something

I stole this from Allen.

LINK

Who borrowed it from somebody who calls himself David.
Paul Tibbetts has died.

David has a splendid note on his mission, more eloquently stated than I could manage. So I’ll steal a portion of it:

Tibbets was responsible for much more than simply piloting the plane…

He was selected, after nearly a year of scrutiny from the brass, to effectively plan, organize, train, and execute the entire mission. He spent months selecting the right people, training them, preparing them, all from the secrecy of a “from scratch” military base in the barren desert of Utah, and had to enforce such strict security during this time that it nearly cost him his marriage. He had to coordinate the engineers, the pilots, the navs, the bombardiers, the mechanics, the janitors, the medics, and so on. He had to ensure that no one leaked a word about the project. He had to fight powerful brass and “higher ups” that didn’t know about the mission that he had been charged with, in order to secure hardware, personnel, and materials. He had to devise & test every possible scenario, dropping test bombs over & over to ensure that the “Real Thing” would detonate at precisely the right altitude. He had to select the precise date, location, and route. And, in the end, he had to lead the mission on that August day and give the order to drop the bomb. His preparation and leadership ensured that the mission was executed flawlessly.

To which I would simply add, “And he was thirty years old.”



For an adrenaline rush on the subject CLICK HERE and turn up your sound.

Yeah, it looks like I'm back to posting again.

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