In article , Wright1902Glider
says...
At first it resembled a horizontal stick with a small dot in its center. As it
got closer I could see that it was a B-52 beginning to bear down on Ellington
Field. About 2 minutes later, the old girl roared passed at what appeared to
be 300kts and 200' AGL. Reaching the end of the runway, the pilot pulled up
and banked over to what looked like a knife-edge turn as he went around. Black
smoke poured out, and the engines resembled the smoke stacks of a
turn-of-the-century steel mill. All of this was followed by the requsite
ear-shattering roar and rumbling earth.

Round the pattern it went, and then landed amid yet another cloud of smoke. Its
wingtip wheels dragged in the grass, kicking up dirt as it teetered across the
taxiway. As it rolled up the ramp, it got closer and closer to my tent. Just
as the nose of the big plane began to pass in front of me, the pilot swung
around. I found myself hanging onto the canard of my fragile pile of sticks,
staring directly up at the nose of the monster... not 30 feet away.

As the pilots powered down the engines, the beer wagon pulled up with a load of
cold ones for the guys that piled out. Much to my surprise, they grabbed a few
brews and headed straight for my tent. There were a few "Wow, Cool!"'s as the
crew of the BUFF checked out my ship, and then one of the pilots reached under
his flight patch and produced a 1903 silver Dollar. "My dad gave me this when
I graduated from flight school", he told me, "so I'd never forget how far we've
come in 100 years and how much work it took to get here."

Two days later this show wrapped up with what has to be one of the best
experiences of my life. My folks and sister drove in from Lafayette, LA, and
were my guests all day Sunday. My dad had been a helicopter A&P for 32 years,
and had been on dyalisis for nearly a year. He hadn't been able to walk more
than a block or two in months, but that day he walked the entire length of
flight line, revisiting many of the aircraft that we had seen together at
airshows in the early '70's. Later that afternoon, I came back from lunch just
in time to hear him talking to one of the spectators. "Yeah, my son built this
himself..." Priceless.

There's a photo on my website of the nose of the B-52, shot from the cockpit of
the Wright 1902 glider.

Great story .When I used to visit my son when he was stationed at Barksdale AFB
I just couldn't help but look up at every Buff that went by in the pattern. My
kid was used to it but for me it was a thrill to see them so low. Then I got to
inspect one and sat in the left set another thrill. It was hot kinda smelly and
I was sweating like a pig but I loved it!!!

Good job

See ya

chuck S