People
December 7, 1941 – a day for remembrance and teaching
Good Saturday morning December 7, 2024. . . Over the last 32 years I have asked my students of all ages what happened on this day in History and I have found that as the years went by fewer and fewer of them knew what this date meant or even what Pearl Harbor was all about. Very discouraging. History is something that you need to remember so you will not make the same mistakes again. I fear we are still doing that today. Skip Leonard.. The List This day in Naval and Marine Corps History 1941 – In [...]
Fight’s On: The Aviator Cancer Examination Study (ACES) Act – H.R 4886 > H.R.530
Testimony of Pilot #37 On October 15, 2021 Commander Thomas ‘Boot’ Hill, Navy F-4 and F-14 fighter pilot, passed away from esophageal cancer. A-6 pilot Capt. Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly died from melanoma of the brain on 16 March 2014. Randy Anderson, Navy F-8, F-4, and Air Guard F-105 pilot died from Glioblastoma – brain cancer – 0n 4 Dec 2007. Randy was my best friend out of college and roommate for the first half of flight school, until he got married and we went off to two different air stations for advanced flight training. ‘Snako’ and I were in the [...]
Last of the Few
Group Captain John Hemingway, now 104, was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. He is the last known surviving member of the group Sir Winston Churchill famously described as “the few”.
Hymn to a Humble Hero
Testimony of Pilot # 35 https://youtu.be/mgkqWsGGUwY
National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day -Reflections
Testimony of Pilot #34 War and remembrance No matter the old, “smart” decision makers No matter the politics Or “statecraft” of the DC pundits It was our war We fought it Some lost years Some lost lives Some lost family As young’uns we never set out to buy but still … We own it Band of brothers and sisters WE SHALL EVER BE National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day is today, March 29th, and it is also the 50th Anniversary of this special memorial observance. This is the purpose: “As we observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we reflect [...]
Against All Odds – Killing MiGs in the Korean War with Naval Aviator Royce Williams (Part 2 of 2)
Testimony of Pilot #33 Will he finally receive the Medal of Honor? In San Diego Harbor on the USS Midway, now a museum ship , Capt. Royce Williams (USN, Ret) stands next to an F9F Panther with the silhouettes of four MiGs under the cockpit. The aircraft and its markings are there as a tribute to the man who downed at least four Russian MiGs in an extraordinary 35+ minutes on one mission on Nov. 18, 1952. For over half a century his achievement was classified; nobody knew what he did that day over the skies of Korea. If you [...]
Against All Odds – Killing MiGs in the Korean War with Naval Aviator Royce Williams (Part 1 of 2)
Testimony of Pilot #32 On Nov. 18, 1952, Royce Williams became the top-scoring carrier-based naval aviator and the top-scoring naval aviator in a Navy jet of the Korean War. A signed print by prominent military aviation artist Stan Stokes displayed on a wall in the home of the veteran Royce Williams depicts a U.S. Navy F9F-5 Panther fighter jet, which was the plane Williams flew in a dogfight against seven Soviet MiG-15 fighters. (Charlie Neuman/For The San Diego Union-Tribune) On Nov. 18, 1952, during the Korean War, Navy Lt. Royce Williams, along with three other pilots from his fighter squadron, [...]
Of tin gods and STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Testimony of Pilot #27 There are much safer and more bountiful ways to proceed successfully through life than jumping into a “tin” fast mover, looking for fun and adventure playing with the clouds or screaming down some riverbed at 100 feet with your rear end on fire. This is strikingly and soberingly true when you are called to do for real what you’ve been trained for, war from the air. This post is for the wives who wait… sometimes in vain… for the return of their tin gods from that charge into the fire. These women most assuredly were and [...]
A Gift of Wings – Forever Young
Testimony of Pilot# 23 Be courageous and be brave And in my heart you'll always stay Forever Young, Forever Young, Forever Young Rod Stewart Throughout our lives we receive multiple gifts, many simply because we are loved. But for aviators, we must love first, pursue a dream, and finally, through diligence earn the gold or silver wings. Only then will come the exposure to so many gifts over time. However, the wings are not the gift, rather they bestow special gifts upon the wearer, not the least of which is a never ending pursuit of perfecting the gifts - the [...]
Testimony of Pilot: Pilgrimage of Honor
Testimony of Pilot# 20 On the evening of 10 January 1973 , VA-115 “A-rabs” aircrew Lt. Mike “Mondo” McCormick and Ltjg. Alan “Arlo” Clark, were catapulted from the USS Midway, flying “Arab 511.” They were on a single plane low level SAM and Radar Suppression mission in support of B-52’s on a bombing operation over North Vietnam. That night Mondo and Arlo would become the last Intruder Crew to make the ultimate sacrifice in that long war. This January 10th on the anniversary of the shoot down of his father, Col Tad Clark (USAF) returned to the crash site to [...]
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People
December 7, 1941 – a day for remembrance and teaching
Good Saturday morning December 7, 2024. . . Over the last 32 years I have asked my students of all ages what happened on this day in History and I have found that as the years went by fewer and fewer of them knew what this date meant or even what Pearl Harbor was all about. Very discouraging. History is something that you need to remember so you will not make the same mistakes again. I fear we are still doing that today. Skip Leonard.. The List This day in Naval and Marine Corps History 1941 – In [...]
Fight’s On: The Aviator Cancer Examination Study (ACES) Act – H.R 4886 > H.R.530
Testimony of Pilot #37 On October 15, 2021 Commander Thomas ‘Boot’ Hill, Navy F-4 and F-14 fighter pilot, passed away from esophageal cancer. A-6 pilot Capt. Dave ‘Snako’ Kelly died from melanoma of the brain on 16 March 2014. Randy Anderson, Navy F-8, F-4, and Air Guard F-105 pilot died from Glioblastoma – brain cancer – 0n 4 Dec 2007. Randy was my best friend out of college and roommate for the first half of flight school, until he got married and we went off to two different air stations for advanced flight training. ‘Snako’ and I were in the [...]
Last of the Few
Group Captain John Hemingway, now 104, was a fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain. He is the last known surviving member of the group Sir Winston Churchill famously described as “the few”.
Hymn to a Humble Hero
Testimony of Pilot # 35 https://youtu.be/mgkqWsGGUwY
National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day -Reflections
Testimony of Pilot #34 War and remembrance No matter the old, “smart” decision makers No matter the politics Or “statecraft” of the DC pundits It was our war We fought it Some lost years Some lost lives Some lost family As young’uns we never set out to buy but still … We own it Band of brothers and sisters WE SHALL EVER BE National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day is today, March 29th, and it is also the 50th Anniversary of this special memorial observance. This is the purpose: “As we observe the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we reflect [...]
Against All Odds – Killing MiGs in the Korean War with Naval Aviator Royce Williams (Part 2 of 2)
Testimony of Pilot #33 Will he finally receive the Medal of Honor? In San Diego Harbor on the USS Midway, now a museum ship , Capt. Royce Williams (USN, Ret) stands next to an F9F Panther with the silhouettes of four MiGs under the cockpit. The aircraft and its markings are there as a tribute to the man who downed at least four Russian MiGs in an extraordinary 35+ minutes on one mission on Nov. 18, 1952. For over half a century his achievement was classified; nobody knew what he did that day over the skies of Korea. If you [...]
Against All Odds – Killing MiGs in the Korean War with Naval Aviator Royce Williams (Part 1 of 2)
Testimony of Pilot #32 On Nov. 18, 1952, Royce Williams became the top-scoring carrier-based naval aviator and the top-scoring naval aviator in a Navy jet of the Korean War. A signed print by prominent military aviation artist Stan Stokes displayed on a wall in the home of the veteran Royce Williams depicts a U.S. Navy F9F-5 Panther fighter jet, which was the plane Williams flew in a dogfight against seven Soviet MiG-15 fighters. (Charlie Neuman/For The San Diego Union-Tribune) On Nov. 18, 1952, during the Korean War, Navy Lt. Royce Williams, along with three other pilots from his fighter squadron, [...]
Of tin gods and STEEL MAGNOLIAS
Testimony of Pilot #27 There are much safer and more bountiful ways to proceed successfully through life than jumping into a “tin” fast mover, looking for fun and adventure playing with the clouds or screaming down some riverbed at 100 feet with your rear end on fire. This is strikingly and soberingly true when you are called to do for real what you’ve been trained for, war from the air. This post is for the wives who wait… sometimes in vain… for the return of their tin gods from that charge into the fire. These women most assuredly were and [...]
A Gift of Wings – Forever Young
Testimony of Pilot# 23 Be courageous and be brave And in my heart you'll always stay Forever Young, Forever Young, Forever Young Rod Stewart Throughout our lives we receive multiple gifts, many simply because we are loved. But for aviators, we must love first, pursue a dream, and finally, through diligence earn the gold or silver wings. Only then will come the exposure to so many gifts over time. However, the wings are not the gift, rather they bestow special gifts upon the wearer, not the least of which is a never ending pursuit of perfecting the gifts - the [...]
Testimony of Pilot: Pilgrimage of Honor
Testimony of Pilot# 20 On the evening of 10 January 1973 , VA-115 “A-rabs” aircrew Lt. Mike “Mondo” McCormick and Ltjg. Alan “Arlo” Clark, were catapulted from the USS Midway, flying “Arab 511.” They were on a single plane low level SAM and Radar Suppression mission in support of B-52’s on a bombing operation over North Vietnam. That night Mondo and Arlo would become the last Intruder Crew to make the ultimate sacrifice in that long war. This January 10th on the anniversary of the shoot down of his father, Col Tad Clark (USAF) returned to the crash site to [...]