Off we go, into the wild blue yonder...

October 18, 2006 8:12 AM

The Air Force finally went and got themselves a proper memorial. Although he’s now deceased, the man who designed it also designed some other buildings around town. It’s a unique structure, with time-tested big lead balls to compensate for the wind. On opening day, a ‘sky-parade’ of old and new aircraft paid tribute, flying overhead in sequence. Some like it, some don’t.
posted by matty (40 comments total)

I like it.
posted by wabashbdw at 8:15 AM on October 18, 2006

That's a beautiful memorial.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 8:20 AM on October 18, 2006

It reminds me of the St Louis arch.
posted by mkb at 8:37 AM on October 18, 2006

thats tasty. so smooth and elegant.
posted by lemonfridge at 8:39 AM on October 18, 2006

Damn that blogger and his description of it as "claw-like". Now that's the only thing I can see in the long-distance views. Like a giant Wolverine digging his way out.
posted by smackfu at 8:43 AM on October 18, 2006

I like it too. Actually it kind of makes me think of the kind of thing Star Trek would have put next to their academy or federation headquarters or something. But I like it anyway.
i wish it had been dedicated by someone more appropriate than Bush
posted by hattifattener at 8:55 AM on October 18, 2006

It's necropolistastic!
posted by MaxVonCretin at 9:01 AM on October 18, 2006

Ah nice. I heard about this on the radio and was dying for some pictures. There were some really schmaltzy quotes in that story.

"It's jest... yer look up and it sweep out, an dere's de sky... which is us."

[barf]
posted by scarabic at 9:04 AM on October 18, 2006

It has a cooly graceful sense of detachment, wholly appropriate for the military branch which does its mass killing from a tidy, antiseptic distance.
posted by MaxVonCretin at 9:05 AM on October 18, 2006

"Like a giant Wolverine digging his way out."

Doesn't that make it cooler?
posted by afu at 9:15 AM on October 18, 2006 [1 favorite]

It's entirely apposite that Bush spoke at the dedication of a memorial to fallen airmen because during Vietnam he was bravely risking his life by flying drunk around southern Texas.
posted by rhymer at 9:19 AM on October 18, 2006

Anything that requires big lead balls to counter-balance against wind when erect gets my respect.
posted by hal9k at 9:30 AM on October 18, 2006

"...wholly appropriate for the military branch which does its mass killing from a tidy, antiseptic distance."

Wow, that took longer than I thought! I was expecting the "mass-murders memorial" to be in the first five comments. You people are getting slow. As an Air Force vet my opinion is...meh. I think it's a bit too spartan.
posted by MikeMc at 9:46 AM on October 18, 2006

I know this is fairly conventional dedication-sprechen, but listen:

A long blue line of heroes has defended freedom in the skies above. To all who have climbed sunward and chased the shouting wind....

There is nothing you can follow that with that won't stop me laughing, then holding my head—and then probably writing it all down to submit to the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.
posted by adoarns at 9:53 AM on October 18, 2006

It's excellent - elegant and simple, uplifting, inspiring.
Frankly it's surprising to me that this has been produced by the armed forces - people who aren't known for their subtlety or lightness of touch. Props to them for recognizing a good piece of design
posted by Flashman at 9:57 AM on October 18, 2006

I think it resembles missiles or rockets launching. After all, the Air Force is the custodian of most of the US nuclear arsenal, as well as all space-based military technology.

It is right across from the side of the pentagon that got hit on 9-11, for all you conspiracy nuts.
posted by Pastabagel at 9:57 AM on October 18, 2006

You know also, it looks vaguely islamic to me - a triumvirate of mighty crescents. tee. hee.
posted by Flashman at 10:00 AM on October 18, 2006

I think it's a bit too spartan.

There is more to it than just the spires, need to see the whole site.
posted by stbalbach at 10:06 AM on October 18, 2006

It has a cooly graceful sense of detachment, wholly appropriate for the military branch which does its mass killing from a tidy, antiseptic distance.

Whew, for a second there I thought the Navy and Marines had airplanes too.
posted by a3matrix at 10:11 AM on October 18, 2006

looks like an elephants' graveyard to me
posted by marvin at 10:14 AM on October 18, 2006

It's one of those rare abstract symbols that made sense to me as soon as I saw it. The similarity to the Thunderbirds' "bomb burst" formation is striking.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 10:18 AM on October 18, 2006

Nice memorial, and a good example of why one shouldn't read blogs by people who don't identify themselves, write poorly and pretentiously and have nothing to say.
posted by QuietDesperation at 10:30 AM on October 18, 2006

Damn that blogger and his description of it as "claw-like". Now that's the only thing I can see in the long-distance views. Like a giant Wolverine digging his way out.

Oh, you mean the Awakening.
posted by skynxnex at 11:08 AM on October 18, 2006

I think it really craps up the already uninspiring skyline of the area. It draws attention to the ugly concrete slab behind it (Navy Annex or Fort Myer?). I agree with everything in the 'some don't' link.
posted by peeedro at 11:13 AM on October 18, 2006

Here's the view from Hains Point, where the Awakening is found.
posted by peeedro at 11:16 AM on October 18, 2006

Whew, for a second there I thought the Navy and Marines had airplanes too.

The Air Force solution to that problem doesn't involve changing their memorial.
posted by smackfu at 11:20 AM on October 18, 2006

peeedro, the buildings behind it are the Navy Annex. To call them uninspired is....well, giving them too much credit.
posted by inigo2 at 11:56 AM on October 18, 2006

peeedro, thanks for the picture. Nothing I had seen to date showed what it looked like from a distance.

My thought is that it's something I'd expect to find at the Air Force Academy rather than the capital (well, NOVA). The blogger was right, though, in that it evokes the missing man formation as much as the "bomb burst". It's probably political that they went with the bombast as the official interpretation rather than, you know, a memorial. It's also stupid that just like the Vietnam memorial, they had to shlock it up with a completely uninspired statuary.

All things considered, though, it could have been much worse. This could have been the Pentagon Memorial.
posted by dhartung at 12:27 PM on October 18, 2006

adoarns, I think that line of the dedication was a paraphrasal reference to this poem.
posted by pax digita at 12:52 PM on October 18, 2006

I don't mind it appearance-wise, but the thing is so crazily taller than everything else in the area that it is always peeking over other things. Which might be okay if it weren't so odd and dull when you only see the top bit.

The wolverine thing is clever. I think it looks like some war of the worlds thing just clawing its way up from under the ground, getting ready to put down those feet and rise up.
posted by phearlez at 12:53 PM on October 18, 2006

I think it is elegant and beautiful.
posted by Ynoxas at 12:55 PM on October 18, 2006

It looks like a giant rack of lamb. It just needs some little paper hats on the tips of the ribs.
posted by Joeforking at 1:14 PM on October 18, 2006

Washington is really making an industry out of memorial architecture. What was shocking and brutal about Maya Lin's move in the Vietnam Memorial is lost now - it's all elegance and beauty. Not that that's bad, it's just simply part of the canon now; the emotional power of it is, I dunno, Hollywoodized through a DC filter. To me, the only original memorial I've seen in a while is the Towers of Light. Oh, and also the Aids Park in SF has some interesting resonaces. But DC political organization would likely be bold enough to undertake a memorial project as evanescant as either of those.
posted by DenOfSizer at 2:00 PM on October 18, 2006

To me, the only original memorial I've seen in a while is the Towers of Light.

They weren't that original.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:01 PM on October 18, 2006

Hard to judge from pictures, but mostly it seems wrong for the urban backdrop. (Not a lot of wild blue yonder in DC, if you know what I mean). And a little overwhelming up close.

Have to visit to see if these objections hold up in reality. Meantime, thanks for the post.
posted by IndigoJones at 5:21 PM on October 18, 2006

I think it's lovely and fitting.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 6:31 PM on October 18, 2006

I drive past it all the time. I think it's ugly. It looms over the skyline as you drive past it on 395. There's no context for it, it's not a place you expect to see a memorial. It's looks like a random claw in the middle of no where.
posted by empath at 9:33 PM on October 18, 2006

Thanks to Empath for verbalizing what I was struggling to. I commute past it. It's not that its ugly, but it couldn't be more poorly placed. I debated bringing my family to this on Sat., largely because I wanted to see all the aircraft, but ultimately opted against subjecting the 2 year old to it, for many reasons. bonus though, I'm pretty sure I saw a stealth bomber in flight that afternoon, on the alternative outing, which happened to be near andrews. the sight of that in flight, nearby, loosens one's bowels.
posted by Dr. Boom at 10:37 PM on October 18, 2006

I forgot to mention that. I didn't know about the dedication and saw the b2 flying over head and almost drove off the road.
posted by empath at 5:27 AM on October 19, 2006

I forgot to mention that. I didn't know about the dedication and saw the b2 flying over head and almost drove off the road.
posted by empath at 5:27 AM on October 19, 2006