Testimony of Pilot -Series
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 [...]
Missmus Bismus #4: Epilogue
Testimony of Pilot# 26 I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable. — Viktor Frankl All I claim to know is that laughter is the most reliable gauge of human nature. — Feodor Dostoyevsky At the ‘Prom’ – Mike ‘Manny’ Bader, Kent Bader, Ed ‘Boris’ Beakley, Paulette Beakley The four part Missbus Bismus series is based on memories brought on by the Christmas season and particularly those of 1972 during the Vietnam War. I’ve tried very hard to center the writing [...]
Missmus Bismus #3: Shangri-La…found
Testimony of Pilot# 25 The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow. Socrates The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter. Mark Twain Shangri-La is a fictional place sought and wished for by many, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. He describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley amongst high mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. USS Midway and Airwing Five had deployed seven weeks early because of the North [...]
Missmus Bismus #2: The Ornaments
Testimony of Pilot# 24 Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas USS Midway in San Diego Harbor. Photo by Sandi Whitteker. Remembered Sky was introduced on September 15th of 2012 and the first post included the introductory piece of Ghosts Of Christmas Past written for Christmas 1999 in relation to the upcoming first meeting over the holidays with “Frenchy”- fellow Naval Aviator and my future son-in-law. Ghosts offered the words of writers like James Michener and Herman Wouk as Christmas “ornaments” collected over a career and love affair with flying and Naval Aviation. Originally sent along the old-boy naval aviator e-mail chain, it was [...]
Missmus Bismus #1: The Ghosts of Christmas Past
Testimony of Pilot# 23 “It is required of every man,” the Ghost returned, “that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!” Jacob Marley (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens) Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas The back wall in Boris’s toy shop, the domain of Elvis the Elf, fixer [...]
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: The Silver Waterfall
Testimony of Pilot# 22 Stephen Crane once said that he wrote The Red Badge of Courage because reading the cold history was not enough; he wanted to know what it was like to be there, what the weather was like, what men’s faces looked like. In order to live it he had to write it. This book was written for much the same reason. Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels Few battles have received more research, attention and words by historians and authors than Gettysburg and Midway. Each stands as an un-argued hinge and view-port to the nature of that war, [...]
Testimony of Pilot: The Little Things
Testimony of Pilot# 21 No matter what they might tell you, people do not enter into aviation by chance. Some may leave, but those that stay have dreamed and they come to comprehend the gift that came out of the dream. Boris The purpose of the Testimony of Pilot series is to provide an anthology of stories of aviation, particularly those often referred to as TINS (“this is no shit” ) – a term of endearment for true events or at least those with only minor aviator-can’t-help-it embellishment as contrasted with fairy tales and “once upon a time.” The focus [...]
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 [...]
Testimony of Pilot (19): Chapter 3 Ending -Such Men and Women
Testimony of Pilot# 19 “… They leave this tiny ship and fly against the enemy. Then they must seek the ship, lost somewhere on the sea. And when they find it, they have to land upon its pitching deck. Where did we get such men?” As the closing post in testimony’s Chapter 3 – Where did we get such men? – the purpose is first, to add to the collection a fairly well traveled but I think spot on piece The Fighter Pilot, by an unknown – obviously Air Force – author;and second, to provide some discussion of the characterization [...]
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Testimony of Pilot -Series
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 [...]
Missmus Bismus #4: Epilogue
Testimony of Pilot# 26 I never would have made it if I could not have laughed. It lifted me momentarily out of this horrible situation, just enough to make it livable. — Viktor Frankl All I claim to know is that laughter is the most reliable gauge of human nature. — Feodor Dostoyevsky At the ‘Prom’ – Mike ‘Manny’ Bader, Kent Bader, Ed ‘Boris’ Beakley, Paulette Beakley The four part Missbus Bismus series is based on memories brought on by the Christmas season and particularly those of 1972 during the Vietnam War. I’ve tried very hard to center the writing [...]
Missmus Bismus #3: Shangri-La…found
Testimony of Pilot# 25 The comic and the tragic lie inseparably close, like light and shadow. Socrates The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter. Mark Twain Shangri-La is a fictional place sought and wished for by many, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by British author James Hilton. He describes Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley amongst high mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – a permanently happy land, isolated from the world. USS Midway and Airwing Five had deployed seven weeks early because of the North [...]
Missmus Bismus #2: The Ornaments
Testimony of Pilot# 24 Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas USS Midway in San Diego Harbor. Photo by Sandi Whitteker. Remembered Sky was introduced on September 15th of 2012 and the first post included the introductory piece of Ghosts Of Christmas Past written for Christmas 1999 in relation to the upcoming first meeting over the holidays with “Frenchy”- fellow Naval Aviator and my future son-in-law. Ghosts offered the words of writers like James Michener and Herman Wouk as Christmas “ornaments” collected over a career and love affair with flying and Naval Aviation. Originally sent along the old-boy naval aviator e-mail chain, it was [...]
Missmus Bismus #1: The Ghosts of Christmas Past
Testimony of Pilot# 23 “It is required of every man,” the Ghost returned, “that the spirit within him should walk abroad among his fellowmen, and travel far and wide; and if that spirit goes not forth in life, it is condemned to do so after death. It is doomed to wander through the world—oh, woe is me!—and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness!” Jacob Marley (A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens) Missmus Bismus, Feliz Navidad, Merry Christmas The back wall in Boris’s toy shop, the domain of Elvis the Elf, fixer [...]
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: The Silver Waterfall
Testimony of Pilot# 22 Stephen Crane once said that he wrote The Red Badge of Courage because reading the cold history was not enough; he wanted to know what it was like to be there, what the weather was like, what men’s faces looked like. In order to live it he had to write it. This book was written for much the same reason. Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels Few battles have received more research, attention and words by historians and authors than Gettysburg and Midway. Each stands as an un-argued hinge and view-port to the nature of that war, [...]
Testimony of Pilot: The Little Things
Testimony of Pilot# 21 No matter what they might tell you, people do not enter into aviation by chance. Some may leave, but those that stay have dreamed and they come to comprehend the gift that came out of the dream. Boris The purpose of the Testimony of Pilot series is to provide an anthology of stories of aviation, particularly those often referred to as TINS (“this is no shit” ) – a term of endearment for true events or at least those with only minor aviator-can’t-help-it embellishment as contrasted with fairy tales and “once upon a time.” The focus [...]
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 [...]
Testimony of Pilot (19): Chapter 3 Ending -Such Men and Women
Testimony of Pilot# 19 “… They leave this tiny ship and fly against the enemy. Then they must seek the ship, lost somewhere on the sea. And when they find it, they have to land upon its pitching deck. Where did we get such men?” As the closing post in testimony’s Chapter 3 – Where did we get such men? – the purpose is first, to add to the collection a fairly well traveled but I think spot on piece The Fighter Pilot, by an unknown – obviously Air Force – author;and second, to provide some discussion of the characterization [...]