... it was always most exciting when pa would take me with him onto the flightline at elmendorf air force base ... we'd stop at the security station where he'd show his badge and exchange words with the guard on duty ... (of course, such conversation usually included the exchange of "wheelin' and dealin'" items) ... pa would then clamp a checkered safety flag on the roof rack and say to me, "duck down until we're out away from the maintenance hangers" ... what a joy it was to see up close the machines of my dreams ... noisy b-47s, low-slung b-57s, "connies," c-97s and kc-97s, arrow-like f-102 "delta daggers," and, sometimes, a glimpse of a super-secret early version of the rc-135 spy plane ... here, warming up its pratt and whitney radials, is one of my favorites, a c-47 "skytrain" ... over 10,000 of these planes were manufactured ... it is remarkable that although the last c-47 left the factory at the end of world war II in 1945, to this day there are still a great many of these airplanes around the world flying regular passenger and cargo routes ...