I recall this park on 19th, in San Francisco, having a war plane installed... (We lived some thirty miles south, on 'the Peninsula', just on the northern border of what would become 'Silicon Valley', some decades later...).
Growing up in a 'Stop the War' culture, I've developed a very, seeming dispassionate, 'interesting outlook on the Warriors themselves vs the need for War, esp in the Modern Era'.
(Of course, it's always been the Modern Era, for those swimming in their own times...).
I like weapons; the efficiency of a well developed Katana or M1911 Automatic is an achievement of human engineering.
That will likely be seen out of context, but there is more to it: I dislike causing others harm.
Taken at face value they seem at odds, but I've worked it out, internally, for myself.
The Fighter Jet was a very interesting part of the backdrop of my youth (although I seem to recall there being an earlier airplane there, way back when...). *
Here are some links to the history and subsequent life of said Machine of Destruction, according to some, and Tool to be Used as Intended, by others..
http://blog.sfgate.com/thebigevent/2012 ... hoto-91087
http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/art ... 521798.php
The Pacific Coast Air Museum had just two aircraft on display when the Navy called in early 1993. An old war plane needed to be moved, and the military wanted the fledgling Santa Rosa museum to pick it up. "I remember saying to somebody, 'I hope it's not that old airplane on 19th Avenue,' " remembers Lynn Hunt, a museum board member who was there. "And it was. In even worse shape than we remembered."
*
Ah hah: "There were three planes at the Larsen Park playground: A World War II recon camera plane (from 1959 to the mid-60s), a Navy FJ-Fury jet fighter (1967 to the early 1970s) and the F-8 Crusader in 1975. The F-8 was removed in 1993; officials said they didn’t have $40,000 for a lead paint abatement and restoration."
I think
this is the type of plane I recall:
http://www.boeing.com/resources/boeingd ... 80x436.jpg
Lastly, doing a perfunctory Google Search for links and stuff to fill in my spotty memory (I was a kid, and stuff's happened since then...), I came across the following:
I’m going to take a break from local landmarks for a month or so and do some other things on The Big Event. I’ll come back in late May/early June with your lost landmarks request list, and a follow-up on the Hamm’s Brewery sign. <---
(If you've seen the film 'Sneakers'. you've seen the (failed) negotiations, including a VW Karmann Ghia, at the former Mills Brothers Coffey location... In the local vicinity was the afore mentioned Hamms Brewing sign.)
s'cuse me, in a bit of a metaphorical way, "I'll be in ma bunk...".