BOOMER by Tim Engel (smallest ebook reader txt) 📕

when the nightmares ended, but it was a relief when they did. Because waking up from this bad dream left you feeling spent!

SPACE RACE
1957 was a year when we lost a race. It was the year that the Russians launched Sputnik. We actually lost the beginning of the race. The space race. Sputnik was the first earth orbiting satellite. In the midst of the cold war, we were absolutely uncomfortable with this situation because it meant that the Russians, the Communists had gotten the upper hand in the next frontier. Both of us had been working with rockets and ICBMs but to have a device orbiting the earth opened new realms of concern in terms of surveillance, secrecy, and potential weapon delivery. Sputnik was Russian for elementary satellite.
The launch unshered in all kinds of activity, including political, technological, military, and scientific developments. The sputnik travelled at 18,000 miles per hour and took 96.2 minutes to complete and orbit. It emitted radio signals which were tracked by amateur operators throughout the world. The satellite’s signals lasted 22 days until the batteries failed. 9 weeks later Sputnik fell from orbit and burned up upon entering earth’s atmosphere.
This victory for Russia quickly became a source of propaganda. It looked like a big win for Russia and a defeat for America. This was a one two punch to America. First was the surprise – this happened completely without the knowledge of the American intelligence network. In addition, there was the fear and panic of the American public. Will we be able to defend ourselves? Why didn’t our leaders know about this? What can we do to catch up?
America was embarrassed and this may be just the thing that pushed America to go for the moon landing. It was just 11 years later when America would plant the stars and stripes in the lunar dust.
The space race is well chronicled in the book “The Right Stuff”. Or at least part of it! The old timer pilot with the southern drawl and chewing Beeman’s is Chuck Yeager. Of course he also wrote an auto-biography. In that book he mentions a fellow test pilot named Russ Schleeh. In my wildest dreams, I never thought I would have the opportunity to work with someone of this stature. Chuck relates some hilarious stories about he and Russ and how they would go fishing for the golden trout and something about bears along the High Sierra.
Russ was a test pilot and eventually found his way into the the DC-10 Program Office at McDonnell Douglas. It just so happens that I found my way into this same Program Office in 1981; two years after hiring into the factory in Long Beach, California. Russ was a legend. He had pictures on his office wall showing him flying captured Nazi aircraft during/following WWII.
I really enjoyed getting time in Russ’ office, listening to his stories. About flying these aircraft. He was also one of the pilots of Jack Northrup’s original flying wing. He was flying the test bird where the nose gear collapsed and a fire broke out. In the ensuing wreck, Russ broke his back, but managed to drag himself out of the wreckage. He also fought with the fireman who was putting the fire out as he wanted the “bloody thing to burn to the ground.” Did I mention that Russ had broken his back in the crash? And he was then fighting with the firefighter in the hopes the flying Wing would burn into a molten puddle. That’s how tough Russ was. He also later raced boats and was quitge an athlete. I believe Russ was part of our marketing for the military side of the house. We ended up winning the KC-10 Tanker contract and subsequently built and sold 60 examples. The Air Force was very happy to get them. And there are still 59 flying today.
Erick Partrich
Erick lived right around the corner on my way to school I would stop and hang out with Erick. He’s the one who owned the violin. And he’s the one who told me that a violin is priceless. I couldn’t fathom it. Erick was what I would call a ‘cute’ kid. He had chubby cheeks. But we had common ground. We both went to Riley Elementary. We were the same age. I passed his house on the way to school. And he had a brother who hung out with my brother. Since Lakewood grew up nearly overnight and lots of young couples bought homes and set up housekeeping nearly all at once. I suppose it was inevitable that there would be lots of kids living in close proximity that were the same age. So Erick and I were pretty good buddies. He liked my green Schwinn Stingray bike. I would sometimes give him a ride to school. My Stingray was like the sportscar of the bicycles. I thought this bike was so cool. One day Mom came home with a green and blue example of the type in the big cavernous trunk of the 59 Chevy.
Holy smokes! Stingrays!!?? I believe Mom said she got the money from her Credit Union. I was very grateful. So was Tom. We loved our parents very much and still do. Mom got us these bikes because she loved us.
Stingrays
At some point I became the fastest Stingray / bike rider on the block! How could this be? Perhaps it was because I had the energy to make it happen because I was not involved in any organized sports! The Stingray had a banana seat and the high rise handle bars and small wheels. It was like a chopper. They’re still making copy cats of this bike. We would have races up and down Hayter. One of our favorites was to ride up Hayter and around the ‘loop’ of high end homes at Lakewood Country Club and back for time. The quickest was the ‘man’ for the day. I think it took all of about 5 minutes or so. But you had to be careful, because you were crossing streets that ran east and west.
We kept these bikes for years and they survived our move to Lynwood. There I would ride my bike with Bruce and help him with his paper route. I rode it until a fateful day parked in front of Clark’s drug store. I didn’t have a lock on the bike that day and it disappeared! It was stolen. Another loss of innocence!
DISNEYLAND
The Magic Kingdom opened the year after I was born. 1955. As early as I can remember, we started going to Disneyland. There’s not doubt in my mind why. Mom and Dad loved us very much and wanted us to enjoy the best. Disneyland was way cool . The most fun. Mom even made a song up about Disneyland. She’ll still sing it today if you ask her! Disney Disney Disneyland, Disney Disney Disneyland… I think she got more excited about the place than we did. Whenever we climbed in the car to ‘play’, we would pretend we were going to drive to some destination. Well, you’ll never guess where we would eventually decide to go…DISNEYLAND!!
As a child I remember just loving the place. I wanted to be there. At the end of a 12 hour day at Disneyland when I was completely exhausted, I didn’t want to leave. I figured when I grew up I would end up working there. Later on much of my family would work there – at least the Romanoffs did.
My favorite souvenir was a helium balloon. Mom and Dad would always oblige me. There was something magical about a helium balloon. It was another reality. Something that floats…defies gravity! How the heck does that work? If my balloon would last until the next day, Dad would help me apply chromium tape so that we could track that sucker twice as long. Until it was on the edge of space, I thought!
I loved Disneyland so much that I would dream about the place. I shared this much later with a Psychology Professor while I attended Compton Community College. She was into para-psychology and suggested I was dreaming about a life that was false…made up of false fronts; facades. I let her have her say and then concluded that I had always just loved Disneyland. There was nothing to the façade. She also liked to hold people’s watches and determine what was going on in their lives, or tell them their future. I never got into that line of thinking. I guess I wanted objective evidence.
Disneyland was ultra cool. Now there are websites, twitters, blogs, apps…you name it…about Disneyland. From the moment you stepped on the property there was stuff to enjoy. Take the parking lot – you were parked in Mickey A4 or Minney B7 or Goofy G9. The scene it conjures up is when in National Lampoon’s Vaction the Griswolds parked their car and began to sprint for the gate. Because you just couldn’t wait to have the big FUN!!
I also think the reason we went was because Mom and Dad loved it. I mean, Mom enjoyed anything that would make us happy. And Dad liked trains and DL had trains. He also like American Indian culture and they had that at DL as well! They had the cool train that ran around the whole park. I know Walt Disney had a kick with this one. And it’s still there today. It’s not a white knuckler by any means, but when you climb on the train you smell that special aroma of the steam train and get the motion of the real train. And you ‘explore’ the various lands within DL; including the land of the dinosaurs. And then there’s the train in Fantasy Land – Casey Jr’s Circus Train. Dad loved and collected HO Scale trains. He also bought us trains.
As a kid I never remember getting tired when we went to DL. We would get there when the gates opened, and stay until they kicked us out. We would get our money’s worth, because we could only afford to go once a year. I don’t think there was anything like season passes in those days. If I hadknown about it, I would have saved up all my money to purchase an annual pass and then gotten there at least once a week by hook or by crook.
Some of my favorite attractions were the flying saucers, Swiss Family Treehouse, the canoes, the paddle wheeler, Tom Sawyer’s Island, the Matterhorn, and the Pirates of the Caribbean. The flying saucers are now long gone. But I remember them well. You sat in the middle of a large saucer and grasped handles on either side. You were strapped in (I believe). Then they would turn on the air, and your saucer would ‘take flight’ and you just had to lean one way or the other to float