01.14
I had some time today and decided to mosey around Mather Field which was once known as Mather Air Force Base.
I found myself near the “Alert Pad” where, although I didn’t realize it at the time, B-52s would sit waiting to be loaded with nuclear bombs to drop on the USSR.
What I found was Area 2, which was apparently a park. It must be the only part of the former airbase left untouched since the Air Force left in 1990.
It was creepy. Standing in the weeds I imagined kids playing under the shadow of the Alert Pad. I wondered if their mom’s watched them, chatting with other Air Force moms, while their dad’s were busy with their flying machines. As I stomped through the over-grown brush, I wondered if the mom’s were worried at all… worried about the dads, about where they’d live next, worried about the mission that the dad’s had while at the Alert Pad.
Did they all wheel around and stare when the plumes of smoke rose on the horizon when that B-52 crashed on takeoff in 1982?
But that’s all gone now. Nothing but weeds and dead trees. I wonder if the kids who drank from that fountain 30 years ago remember.
I grew up at Mather AFB from 1979-1987. I played at AREA 2 picnic area all the time as it was not far from the base housing chapel. I drank from that very fountain, played on the slide, had family gatherings under that very pavilian. We watched the alert crew come and go and the planes come and go. You are very right in wondering what the wives and children were thinking. I have so many memories of Mather and would love to share more of them.