Robert Thomas Watson Sr. served on the front lines of the Cold War.

The decorated Air Force pilot, a three-war veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, would fly a bomber far above the Arctic Circle — and wait. If war with the Soviet Union was to break out, Watson was one of the handful of men trusted to unleash the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

High aloft over the North Pole for hours at a time and tasked with such awesome responsibility, one wonders what manner of thought passed through his mind.

His daughter, Judy Jackson, doesn’t have to wonder. She knows. It’s a treasured family story: Watson called his kids from more than 5 miles up to let them know he’d spied Santa Claus.

That was the kind of man he was.

Those were the kind of details he noticed, and did something about — deliberately, quietly, patiently, as was his way.

Watson, an officer and a gentleman who retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1969, died on Labor Day at the age of 93.

His unique collection of Air Force memorabilia is neatly tucked into his basement workshop in Post Falls, where he meticulously built a model of every plane he flew for Uncle Sam, starting out in the Army Air Forces. Then, for good measure, he also built every other Air Force plane.

He crafted scores upon scores of miniature fighters, cargo haulers, spy planes, trainers, tankers and heavy bombers, all to the same scale, many with custom-fabricated parts to make them just right. They’re displayed in custom-built shelves. A handful are specially painted, just as Watson flew them, right down to his name on the side (his workshop has a painting bay he designed and built. It’s also outfitted with a stereo, intercom system and a land line). Next to each plane is a card with the precise model number and other details about the aircraft.

“He did everything to perfection. Exact scale and size, everything was measured,” Judy said. “He would spend hours and hours down there, cutting his own parts with soda cans or wood. His art was perfection. His art was to be precise as possible. His love of planes was his life.”

All told, Watson flew 13 planes during his career, including the B-52, from bases in Kansas, Texas, Ohio and elsewhere. He and his wife, Florence, moved to Post Falls in 1970. He had a second career as an Idaho State Trooper and later became a certified flight instructor. He wasn’t one to sit still.

As his family closes his estate, selling the furniture, organizing treasured keepsakes and handling the myriad other tasks of winding down a long life, they’re looking for a home for Watson’s models. A place where they will be appreciated and taken care of, perhaps a school, museum or military installation.

“Poppie’s attention to detail was second to none,” his grandson Chanse Watson said. “The collection deserves to be in a place that it will not only be taken care of, but enjoyed as well.”

To the left of Watson’s stone fireplace is a mesmerizing painting of the Wright brothers’ wood and canvas plane wafting through the sky, bathed in rich, golden sunshine. It’s the kind of painting you look at and then look at again. It’s small but seems larger.

“[Watson] painted that,” son-in-law Doug Jackson, also an Air Force veteran, said. “I’m telling you, the guy could do anything.”

If you know of a potential home for the collection, contact Chanse, the managing editor of the Shoshone News-Press, at 208-660-4860 or [email protected].