Simon snapped shut his locker and slung his gym bag over his shoulder. The walk to the library was short but he wished there was some other place he could go. His shoulder bones ached from swimming practice. Moreover, the weight of his gym bag made it worse. Couldn’t he just go home by himself, he wondered. Sure, the walk home was long, but lying on his own bed was so much better than waiting forever in the library. He walked out of the gym and the afternoon sun’s rays glared painfully bright, blinding him for a second.
In the distance, a group of older boys was playing basketball, their voices raised in unison as one player made a quarter throw shot. Simon stopped, raising an arm to shield his eyes from the sun.
“Hey kid, wanna play?” one …show more content…
It wasn’t however the man that held his attention but the picture on the opposite page. The North American P51 Mustang! His grandfather used to tell him stories of his adventure with fighter jets during the war. The P51, he said, was designed as an escort fighter for WWII bombers. It blasted enemy trains and ships in Western Europe and destroyed Axis defenses before they even knew what was coming.
The next page drew Simon’s breath away as he raised his eyebrows in awe at the sight of the B-29 Superfortress, what his grandfather called the deadliest of all fighter jets. Advanced in design, the B-29 was equipped with four engines, a fully pressurized fuselage, central fire control systems, and remote-controlled machine gun turrets. The most famous B-29, Simon couldn’t forget, was the Enola Gay, the one that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 and the Bockscar which dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki three days later.
“Cool!” Simon gasped. His grandfather told him stories of the war like he’d never thought before. Listening to him always made him imagine himself in flight, swinging the plane himself, aiming for his target. He felt his heart skip a beat as his grandfather’s words ran back to …show more content…
But yes, despite the risk of getting shot down, it was one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever experienced. One moment, you’re on land going at about 150 miles per hour and then all of a sudden, you feel this surge of speed, with the sea eighty feet below you! It’s so incredibly unbelievable!
One page after another, Simon’s eyes danced with excitement, as they feasted on the fighter jets the Allied and Axis forces used in WWII. His heart raced when another page showed in full color the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, nicknamed the ’Jug’. Simon remembered his grandfather saying that the Jug was a heavyweight, three feet wider and four feet longer than the P-51. Yet, it moved fast and tore enemy warplanes and ground targets to
In the distance, a group of older boys was playing basketball, their voices raised in unison as one player made a quarter throw shot. Simon stopped, raising an arm to shield his eyes from the sun.
“Hey kid, wanna play?” one …show more content…
It wasn’t however the man that held his attention but the picture on the opposite page. The North American P51 Mustang! His grandfather used to tell him stories of his adventure with fighter jets during the war. The P51, he said, was designed as an escort fighter for WWII bombers. It blasted enemy trains and ships in Western Europe and destroyed Axis defenses before they even knew what was coming.
The next page drew Simon’s breath away as he raised his eyebrows in awe at the sight of the B-29 Superfortress, what his grandfather called the deadliest of all fighter jets. Advanced in design, the B-29 was equipped with four engines, a fully pressurized fuselage, central fire control systems, and remote-controlled machine gun turrets. The most famous B-29, Simon couldn’t forget, was the Enola Gay, the one that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945 and the Bockscar which dropped the second bomb on Nagasaki three days later.
“Cool!” Simon gasped. His grandfather told him stories of the war like he’d never thought before. Listening to him always made him imagine himself in flight, swinging the plane himself, aiming for his target. He felt his heart skip a beat as his grandfather’s words ran back to …show more content…
But yes, despite the risk of getting shot down, it was one of the greatest thrills I’ve ever experienced. One moment, you’re on land going at about 150 miles per hour and then all of a sudden, you feel this surge of speed, with the sea eighty feet below you! It’s so incredibly unbelievable!
One page after another, Simon’s eyes danced with excitement, as they feasted on the fighter jets the Allied and Axis forces used in WWII. His heart raced when another page showed in full color the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, nicknamed the ’Jug’. Simon remembered his grandfather saying that the Jug was a heavyweight, three feet wider and four feet longer than the P-51. Yet, it moved fast and tore enemy warplanes and ground targets to