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Matt Larkowski's Boring Web Page
BUFF Pictures Page
Pictures from Diego Garcia and my time at Minot AFB, ND in the BUFF.
In my former life as a Navigator/Electronic Warfare Officer, I flew in
the mighty B-52H Stratofortress or "BUFF" (Big Ugly Fat !@#$%^). For
those of you who wanted a good picture of a B-52, here it is:
Among the many training sorties, one of the more interesting ones took us
over Canada on our way to Iceland. It was during the summer and because
of the high latitudes we were at, we had no more than a couple
hours of night time during the flight. This picture is at about 11:30 pm
local time 
Nothing is more essential, useful, and difficult to do well than
aerial refueling. Flying two large dissimilar and large aircraft to the
precision of a couple of feet is barely imaginable, but nonetheless is
routine and dependable. This photo shows what the approach
to the tanker looks like.
This is what it looks like when in "precontact" just before the refueling
boom latches into the receptacle on top of the BUFF. Notice the two
columns of lights on the bottom of the tanker. These lights aid the
proper positioning underneath the tanker. No picture exists when "on the
boom" because of the inherently dangerous aspects of mixing the potential
fuel vapors and the electronics of a camera--I wasn't going to chance it!
I was also deployed to Diego Garcia, about a thousand miles south of
India--just below the equator; this is the island. Notice the airstrip
on the left side. The town is on the top right tip of the left arm of the
island. The island is only about ten miles long top to bottom.
Me when I first got to Diego Garcia. I didn't have a tan yet--too bad,
but I did have my snorkel getup, my guitar, and the obligatory beer.
While snorkeling, I took several underwater pictures. This one's a
closeup of a parrot fish from the lagoon that the island sort of
surrounds. If you hold still and are quiet for a bit, you can hear
the "crunch crunch" as the parrot fish chomp on and eat the
corral--where do you think the sand comes from! There were supposed to be
reef sharks around there also but I couldn't find any so there are no
pictures of them. One of the guys with us caught one though and we had
lots of food to eat and he had a trophy for back home.
We did a jungle survival, evasion, resistance, escape (SERE) course while
at Diego Garcia. This picture is on the way back after it was
done--notice the beer. Also notice that I'm wet--there was no rain--just
the wetness
of the jungle crap we tromped through for miles. Every half-dozen steps
you would go through a cob-web. After a little while I was too tired to
wipe the cob-web off my face every time--I'd do it every couple hundred
yards or so. For those of you who have ever worn camouflage makeup, you
know how hard it is to get that stuff on OR off. As you can see, not much
was left after our little foray.
Me in the middle of my crewmates just before we left Diego Garcia in the
B-52H
This is a picture from the patio of my hotel room at Guam on the way back
to the states. It looks like a postcard, doesn't it?
I went on "vacation" (again) after I got back from Diego and flew this
plane to see a friend's wedding and take a few people on joyrides. It's a
Beech Sierra BE-23--workhorse of a plane--and the world's greatest pilot
with a solid tan solid abs and solid chest from doing nothing but
drinking, eating, and working out at Diego Garcia's 24-hour Gym. Oh,
yeah, lots of swimming and running, too.
