United States Air Force
January 1954:I entered the Air Force at Duluth, Minnesota January, 1954. Then they promptly sent me from 40 degrees below zero to 75 degrees at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas for basic training.
March 1954:After basic, it was off to Lowry Air Force Base, Denver, Colorado for Basic Electronics training, then Radar repair school. That was one of the best nine months of my life. Denver is a wonderful city and I love it to this day.
January 1955: From Denver, I was sent to Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin, Texas, the capitol of Texas. At that time Austin had a population of 125,000 about the same size as Duluth. Today, Austin is over 500,000 and Duluth is 85,000. I was stationed at Bergstrom from January 1955 until July 1957. During those two years, I married Maria Ramos. Also Strategic Air Command (SAC) converted Bergstrom Air Force Base to Tactical Air Command (TAC). I was on the road again and transferred to Lake Charles Air Force Base, Louisiana.
July 1957:Arriving in Lake Charles a couple of weeks after hurricane Audrey, I was hit with a double whammy-- weather and cultural shock. I found the cajun people to be absolutely wonderful with a great zest for life. At Lake Charles my first two daughters, Alana and Vivian were born at the Base hospital. Lake Charles Air Force Base had been renamed Chennault Air Force Base in honor of the WW II General of the Flying Tigers Fame. One month after arriving, the entire Wing was sent on Temporary Duty (TDY) to Brize-Norton Aerodrome outside of Oxford, England. A tour of 100 days on the Government was fine with me. I remained at Chennault Air Force Base until May,1964 a flurry of base closings had been started. My next transfer was to Larson Air Force Base, Moses Lake, Washington.
May 1964:We arrived at Moses Lake during the night. The only other time I had been to Washington was when I was eleven years old and had taken a train trip that took me through Washington State. You can imagine my surprise when I opened the motel drapes the next morning to find desert and not the beautiful green woods I was expecting!!! The 561st Strategic Missile Squadron was located in the Pre-historic Columbia River bottom-pure desert. During that tour of duty I made friends with several B-52 Tail Gunners. I had been in my grade so long without any hopes of promotion because my field was top heavy, yet undermanned. So I went to personnel and dug through the Regulations and found a way out! If I became a B52 Tail Gunner I could get one of three choices of Base assignments! What a deal!! I'd be on the first team, drawing flight pay, etc. After it was approved, I was on my way back to Bergstrom Air Force Base. You see, the Air Force had given Bergstrom back to SAC once again!
January 1965:At Bergstrom, I wound up in the 486th Bomb Squadron. What was very memorable was surviving the Survival Training at Stead Air Force Base outside of Reno, Nevada .Then on to B52 Combat Crew Training at Castle Air Force Base, Merced, California. The training was challenging but fun. With only a class of three, one classmate was from Mather Air Force Base, California. After graduation, he headed straight to Guam's Andersen Air Force Base to catch up with his Wing, already on Guam. During our schooling at Castle, the use of B52's started in Vietnam.I managed to upgrade in my new specialty within a year and became a member of a great crew. In September, 1965 daughter number three, Michelle, came along. Fast forward to October of 1966 and the Air Force in their infinite wisdom and indecision gave Bergstrom Air Force Base back to --you guessed it-- TAC again. So I was sent to a double (the first and maybe only) B52 wing at March Air Force Base, California, the home of 15th Air Force.
October 1966:By the end of October, my crew was one of three sent to Guam as 007 augmentees. Oh joy! I did three TDY's (from 1966 to 1968) in support of the Vietnam conflict, ending with 113 Combat Missions. We were the first flight to land at U-Tapao AFB in Thailand, and after the USS Pueblo incident among the first to fly out of Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. I always wondered about that. It seemed a little convenient for the Air Force. You see missions from Guam had twelve hours flying time; and missions from Okinawa had eight hours more or less depending on the target in SouthEast Asia. I knew then it was time for me to make a change. So, I stopped flying and went into Photography. That decision turned out to be one of the best I ever made. I did my On-the-Job Training (OJT) and upgraded within a year. A year after leaving flying, my fourth Daughter was born, Raquel. My boss got orders for the United States Air Force Academy. Assignments for the Academy is always from the top 10 percent of the Air Force. After a very short time, my boss said he needed me there. So it was off to Colorado Springs and the Air Force Academy.
November 1971:Running the Photographic Lab for SMSgt Don Bellows was great. It was interesting to see how different the Academy was from the rest of the Air Force. For instance, the permanent party Dining Facility (no mess hall for us) had the best food I have ever had in the Air Force as well as several dozen other places I've been. Upon making Master Seargent, I decided that at 20 years in the Air Force was enough for me and the smart thing was for me at the age of 37 was to retire. So we left Colorado and headed back to Austin. We left January 4th, 1974-the coldest day it had been the whole time I was stationed at the Academy.
My B-52 Tail Gunner Self portrait | 280K B52 Bombs Away Movie
A B-52 In-flight refueling shot from a KC-135 Tanker
This link is to the Boeing B52 History page.
* * * * B52 Gunners Site * * * *
| george holmes, photography, photographs, fine art photographs, digital photography and digital photos, digital photography, fine art, fine art photography, fine art photographs, digial photographs, Photoshop photos, web site design, web site photography, web site photographer, photograph for sale, art for sale, art photographs, art photography, fine art photography, Austin, Tx |
|
Photography and photographs, fine art photographs, digital custom photographs with custom art photography, Photoshop and photography, ultrachrome digital prints.
George Holmes web site designer. Photography and photographers and photographic art for sale. Color photography. George Holmes is a fine art digital photographer. Black and white and color digital photography by George Holmes. Featuring experiemental and color and black and
white photography and digital photography. Traditional and digital photographic prints by George Holmes. Web site design Austin and black and white photography and digital photography, art photography and art photograph. photography art for sale and photography for sale online.
Web site photography and web site photographs, digital photography. Photographer George Holmes, offering fine art photography and digital photography. Digital photo prints using Photoshop. Digital darkroom Web site designer and photographer.Product photographer for web sites and web site design. George Holmes Web Site Design. Online photography, online photographs for sale. Austin web site design Austin, black and white photography, digital photography, art photography, art photograph, photography, art for sale, photography for sale online, Austin photography. Web site photography, web site photographs, digital photographs and photography. Web site designer and photographer. Product photographer for web sites and web site design. George Holmes Web Site Design. . Online photography, online photographs for sale. photography and photographs, fine art photographs, digital custom photographs with custom art photography, Photoshop and photography. George Holmes Color photography . George Holmes is a fine art digital photographer.
Color digital photography by George Holmes. Featuring experiamental digital photography. Digital photographic prints by George Holmes, PhotoArtNetGallery. Web site design Austin and digital photography, art photography and art photograph. photography art for sale and photography for sale online. Web site photography and web site photographs, digital photographs and photography by photographers. Photographer George Holmes, offering fine art photography and digital photography fine art photography. Digital photo prints using Photoshop. Digital darkroom . Web site designer and photographer. Product photographer for web sites and web site design. George Holmes Web Site Design. Online photography, online photographs for sale. Austin PhotoArtNetGallery, web site design Austin, digital photography, art photography, art photograph, photography, art for sale, photography for sale online, Web site photography, web site photographs, digital photographs and photography by photographers. Web site designer and photographer. Product photographer for web sites and web site design. Online photography, online photographs for sale. I have made my living from photography since 1969. Starting in the US Air Force and continued through the Texas Governors Office then for 18 years as the Photographer of fine Art at the University of Texas' Jack S. Blanton Museum of Fine Art.
While I did struggle in the beginning (and still do on occasion) over the issue of whether digital photography was "real" or "legitimate", my fears have been put to rest by the extraordinary flexibility that digital photography allows. In the past, when I would see a particular shot in my mind, I often found myself saying "This would be such a good shot, if only...(the power lines weren't there, the trash can wasn't in the way, etc.). Now, with the power of digital, I'm able to create those "perfected" scenes. And the fact is, all photography, even from its earliest days in the 1800's, has employed some brand of enhancement to achieve the final result, whether it be dodging and burning (lightening and darkening specific areas), bleaching, or toning.
In the end, whether the tool is a camera, a paintbrush, or a pencil and paper, the main goal of any creative person, is to express their vision and to, hopefully, create an image that is visually appealing. |
|
