Taken at the Air Force Memorial, a new monument built only a year ago.

This is one of three enormous steel monoliths rising 270 above the ground; the shape is meant to convey the Thunderbirds' "bomb-burst maneuver," with only three contrails depicted so as to represent the "missing man formation" used in Air Force funeral flyovers. They are filled two-thirds of the way up with concrete and have 1-ton lead balls in the top sections to prevent vibration. For more images of the memorial, see http://www.pbase.com/helenpb/image/86440027 and the two following images.