When Penguins Flew And Water Burned
By Jim Clonts, available thru Lulu.com
Jim was a Navigator and eventually a Radar Nav and Instructor Nav on B-52 G and H models with the 596th BW at Barksdale. His time in the Air Force ran from 1989 to 1998, meaning he started out near the end of the Cold War with SAC, went off to fly missions over Iraq during Desert Storm, then dealt with the uncertainties of an Air Force career prior to 9/11.
While he stays upbeat with the Air Force, you can pick up the frustrations of a guy who probably would have done the full 20 year tour if things hadn't changed so much, something I also experienced with the Navy.
The book is a great insight of what it felt like to be a B-52 crewdog and answers a lot of questions if you ever wondered about the folks who stood Nuclear Alert watches for one week every month. There's lots of meat for the Tech Geeks in terms of the plane and its missions balanced with a really good view of what made these guys tick.
