MIG 21

Underneath an old MIG 21 at the B52 Museum in Doi Can street. It looks to me more like a rocket than an aeroplance - a sort of cigar-shaped thing with short wings and an absolutely tiny hood for the pilot to look out from. It is surrounded by bits and pieces of a B52 that landed on the surrounding area of Ngoc Ha village after being shot down in May 1972.

My landlady was living in Hai Phong at the time. The 1972 bombing was more intense there and her school was destroyed - effectively ending her education at age 16. She was lucky not to be there at the time - a bit like those people who were late for work in the WTC on 9/11.