Wichita is in the shop...

I still want one, but only becuase I'm a Wichita native. It's funny how I grew up there and never once heard about this ship. It's more of an Airforce town. Goes by the "air capital" becuase its economy used to rely very heavily on the aircraft industry. It was home to Boeing, Cessna, Raytheon, Beechcraft, and Textron Aviation. Unions got spoiled and chased all that out of town by going on strike every year. There's still a little left but all the big plants are gone. I think Spirit Aerosystems still does a little there. It's also home to McConnell AFB where they used to have F4 Phantoms, F16 Falcons, B1 B bombers, C 135 tankers based there. Its still a refeuling wing but I don't know the new variation of tanker these days. The airshow was badass! I saw the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels there along with all sorts of kick ass planes they would have on display. It was free too. Atleast until 9/11, then it all changed. They still have an airshow but not near as cool as it used to be. Now you gotta pay money to get in, also it's not on base anymore. Still has cool planes though,  ut no Blue Angles or Thunderbirds. Wonder if the comemorative flag looks like the Wichita flag? It looks loke the bottom middle board in the pi ture below. These boards were painted by a buddy's mom. He's a proud local and skater who made up a skate company with a local theme. The nun board is a Carrie Nation tribute, who trashed a bar in Wichita at one point during her Prohibition crusade. The law didn't do anything about the drinking even though it was illegal at the time so she took the law in her own hands. The Joyland board is a tribute to the old local amusement park that has now closed down. Think you can still find a video of the joyland rollercoaster on youtube. It was one of the last old wooden coasters in operation until it closed down. Didn't mean to get so off track.

Aviation anecdote: On a work trip our client was an elderly gentleman who used to fly B-47s and B-52s for SAC. I said jokingly that he might have crossed paths with Jimmy Stewart. Turns out, he flew with Stewart on several occasions, ferrying Stratojets from McConnell to somewhere in California. It was fun to listen to him retelling the stories, as my dad and I probably watched the movie Strategic Air Command (featuring Stewart of course) a dozen or so times.

What irks me is that I really want Wichita. Shes one of the most decorated cruisers in US history, and served basically everywhere. I simply can't justify $50 on a sub par premium, though.

I don't know, after reading the LWM review, I'm intrigued.

Yeah but that guy could take a rubber dinghy and a box of rubber bands and do 100k damage.