:18:01
He said, "Westmoreland,
I-I see you have a new job.''
:18:07
He said, "I hope you appreciate
that this new assignment...
:18:13
is filled with opportunities,
but fraught with hazards.''
:18:17
And indeed, uh,
this was a prophetic statement.
:18:42
It can be described much like, uh...
:18:44
a-a-a singer doing an aria...
:18:49
that's totally into what he's doing,
you know, totally feeling it.
:18:52
He knows the aria,
and he's experiencing the aria.
:18:55
And he knows his limits, and he knows
whether he's doing it and doing it well.
:19:00
Flying an aircraft
can be a great deal like that.
:19:02
What's a race driver feel like?
:19:04
Why does a guy want to drive
in the Indianapolis 500?
:19:07
I guess, perhaps, the risk of dying,
:19:10
being killed is part of it
that makes it thrilling.
:19:16
[Floyd] I can tell when the aircraft
feels right, when it"s about to stall.
:19:20
I can tell when I can"t
pull another fraction of a pound...
:19:24
or the airplane will stall,
flip out and spin on me.
:19:28
I would follow a pathway on something
like a TV screen in front of me...
:19:31
that would direct me
right, left or center--
:19:33
follow the steering,
keep the steering symbol, uh, centered.
:19:36
I'd see a little attack light
when we'd stepped into attack.
:19:40
I could pull the "commit'' switch
on my stick,
:19:43
and the computer took over.
:19:45
A computer figured out the ballistics,
the airspeed, the slant range...
:19:49
and dropped the bombs
when we got to the appropriate point,
:19:51
in whichever kind of attack
we"d selected,
:19:53
whether it was flying straight and level
or tossing our bombs out.
:19:58
So it was very much of
a technical expertise thing.