[Junior]

When my dad was stationed in Washington, D.C., back in the early '70s, my mom would take us to Wheaton Regional Park to allow the four of us to burn off some energy. They had an old Air Force fighter jet that had been gutted and turned into playground equipment. We'd climb through the engine nacelles (which still had some carbon in them, so we come out a little grayer than when we went in) run up and down the wings and the fuselage, and the bravest would inch their way along the sloping nose to grab the pointy thing in the front.

It's probably gone now.

[caseinpoint]

We couldn't get to the plane but we could swivel the guns on the anti-aircraft guns and sit on the chairs at each side of the gun and have a great time. We could crawl all over the really big tank but the hatch was welded shut. There was a gun barrel about nine inches in diameter which seemed to me to go about fifteen feet or so which we could slither out on as far as we dared. It was a fun time which I guess helped our patriotism? I'm a little hazy on the details of the various war machinery. By the way, I am a girl and I loved it as much as any of my guy friends.