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When I Grow Up …

  • James Fallows
  • February 3, 2015

Darth Vader vs. Casper the Friendly Ghost, on an airport tarmac

The flight line this afternoon at KSBD, San Bernardino International Airport (James Fallows)
The flight line this afternoon at KSBD, San Bernardino International Airport (James Fallows)
I was traveling by small airplane in Southern California today, in preparation for an upcoming series of reports in our American Futures project. I was feeling like Mr. Cool as I brought in my beloved Cirrus SR-22, after a landing, toward the elegant Luxivair terminal at the former Norton Air Force Base, now San Bernardino International.

And then I pulled up next to … this craft, the Darth Vader-looking thing above. (Next to which mine looks like Casper the Friendly Ghost. I will have to paint some shark teeth on it.) This ominous other plane said “U.S. Air Force” on the side, yet in hipster black-on-black lettering that made me wonder.

That is all. Tomorrow back to “Chickenhawk” updates from the news and from reader mail.

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