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My February birthday fund-raising campaign for this website, Behind the Black, is now over. Despite a relatively weak initial three weeks, the last week was spectacular, making this campaign the second best ever.

 

Thanks to every person who donated or subscribed. It continues to astonish me that people who can read my work for free like it enough to donate money voluntarily. Words cannot express my appreciation for that support, especially in these uncertain times.

 

If you have been a regular reader and a fan of my work and have not yet donated or subscribed, please consider doing so. I take no ads, I keep the website clean from pop-ups and annoying demands (most of the time). Thus, I depend entirely on my readers to support me. Though this means I am sacrificing some income, it also means that I remain entirely independent from outside pressure. By depending solely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, no one can threaten me with censorship. You don't like what I write, you can simply go elsewhere.

 

You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are five ways of doing so:

 

1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.

 

2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
 

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Last Super Fortress B-29 takes to the air

An evening pause: A bit of World War II history is saved by volunteers so that it can fly again.

Hat tip George Petricko.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

  • Frank

    Thanks George and Bob.

    I grew up on the base at China Lake where this plane sat it the desert. A few of us base kids would ride our bikes out to the boneyard (avoiding the security guards) and play WWII in them, taking turns in the pilot seat and as gunners. Some of the big bombers still had radio logs, headsets, microphones, and all sorts of pieces that made the game even more real for this 8 year old kid. All we had to add were the sounds of the engines and cannons as we fought the enemy in the skies.

    Its wonderful to see Doc restored and flying again. Thanks for bringing back the memory.

  • Joe

    Tough and sturdy in use, fragile with time and disuse, these are rare birds indeed! What the Enola Gay and Bockscar did to help end WWII saved so many lives for both America and Japan, and what the B-17’s and their crews did for Europe! These bueatiful aircraft should be preserved, they are national treasures..

  • Mitch S.

    Nice to see.
    Funny how the reporter was awed by it’s size. Guess he never saw a B36!
    Brings to mind the last time a B29 was brought back to flying condition… almost made it!
    (heartbreaking)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u4YBwjQTds

  • Frank

    Thanks for that Mitch.
    I value seeing the dedication and sacrifice of these men towards a noble goal, even if it wasn’t achieved.

  • Steve Earle

    Thanks for the Link Mitch S. even though I can’t bear to watch it again….

    All that effort and even a man’s life. And all to satisfy a boyhood fantasy, so sad.

    Even the first time I watched the program (and I didn’t know yet how it would end) I remember yelling at the TV: “Cut the damn thing up and fly the pieces out to a nice dry hangar somewhere you idiots!!”

  • ken anthony

    My stepdad was an A&P mechanic that once worked to restore a B-17. That thing was so tiny inside that a bigger person couldn’t fit in it’s stations. He found it very satisfying to work on something you could appreciate seeing after you were done. He was born in 1930 and could tell you any WW2 aircraft by the shadow it put on the ground.

  • Steve Earle

    I know there’s at least one more intact B-29 sitting on the bottom of Lake Mead…..

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1948_Lake_Mead_Boeing_B-29_crash

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