Category Archives: Life in General

More Books About Flying

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Joe Clark

After finishing yesterday’s blog about books on the subject of the Doolittle Raid, I began thinking of other books written of flying that all serious pilots should read. There are so many great novels and historical accounts written of flying that once … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flying, History, Life in General, Personal, Reading | Tagged a very unconventional life, Beryl Markham, British East Africa, England, Ernest Hemingway, flight training, flying, friends, great novels and historical accounts about flying, inexperienced pilots, judgment, Kenya, learning to fly, memories, More Books About Flying, mountains, Mt. Kilimanjaro, one of the most talented writers ever, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, professional pilots, student pilots, taildraggers, West with the Night, writers | 3 Comments

Flyboys

Posted on April 16, 2011 by Joe Clark

OK, have you seen the movie, Flyboys? If not, why not? You call yourself an aviation aficionado, right? Well then, you have to see this movie. The amazing thing about the movie is not the story, but story of these … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General | Tagged airplanes, American flyers, aviation aficionados, Flyboys, flying for France in World War I, Frank Buckles, full-scale Nieuport 17s, gone west, Holden MO, Lafayette Escadrille, military service, open cockpit biplanes, original time schedules, pilots, Robert Baslee of Airdrome Aeroplanes, taildraggers, the 103rd Aero Squadron, the Escadrille Américaine 124, the movie Flyboys, the US Army Air Corps, The Valiant 38, the War to End All Wars, Verdun on May 13 1916, World War I, World War I aviation | 2 Comments

Uncle D’s Swift

Posted on April 15, 2011 by Joe Clark

D was a different kind of pilot. For one, he owned a Globe Temco Swift, powered by a 125-horse Continental. The Swift was a gorgeous airplane; she had tapered wings, a round tail, and pronounced dihedral. I will always remember … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged 125-horse Continental, a different kind of pilot, a man of action, a tinkerer, airplanes, an airline pilot, D, flight training, Florida, flying, friends, Globe Temco Swift, groundlooped, he could fly anything, he was an ATP, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, no tailwheel experience, one of the prettiest airplanes ever built, pilots, professional pilots, taildraggers, the airplane was crashed, The old codgers, the shenanigans, Uncle D’s Swift, vacation traveling by car, years of reconstruction, “Ya’ll ought not do that” | 3 Comments

The Shuttles

Posted on April 13, 2011 by Joe Clark

It is difficult to hear the Space Shuttle program has reached the end of the run. After a 30-year span, NASA will retire the remaining vehicles – all of which will go to museums around the nation. Discovery, the oldest … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General | Tagged Atlantis, Captain Kirk, Challenger, Columbia, Commander Dick Scobee, Commander Rick Husband, David Brown, Discovery, Endeavor, Enterprise, Gene Roddenberry, Gregory Jarvis, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Los Angeles, Michael Anderson, NASA, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, the Air and Space Museum, the California Science Center, the First Teacher in Space, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Navy's aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, The Shuttles, the Space Shuttle program, the Starship USS Enterprise NC-1701, the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, William McCool | Comments Off

Manned Spaceflight Turns 50

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Joe Clark

Fifty years ago today, the Soviet Space Program launched Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin into a singular orbit around the Earth in their spacecraft, Vostok 1. The space race was on and Russia was in the lead, having flown an orbital … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life in General | Tagged a dangerous dose of possible nuclear annihilation, advancements in artificial limbs, Air Force, airplanes, Alan Shepard, computers, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, Cuba, enhanced radial tires for cars, Florida, Freedom 7, going back to the moon and on to Mars, improved baby foods, improved water purification, infrared ear thermometers, landing on the moon first, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), Manned Spaceflight Turns 50, Marines, military service, Navy, new technologies, President John F. Kennedy, Sputnik, Tang, Teflon, tempur foam (think Tempurpedic beds), the Soviet Space Program, Vostok 1 | 1 Comment

The Rhythm of Life

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Joe Clark

From the book of Ecclesiastes, came a folk song written in 1959 that became popular in the mid-1960s. It referred to every thing having a season. A time to sow, a time to reap. A time to work, a time to … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life in General | Tagged admire and respect strangers, adversity, an open mind, destined to go to war, Ecclesiastes, folk song, insurmountable sorrow and pain, Our place in the tide, patience, pleasurable days on the beach with those we love, protest war, The Rhythm of Life, the seriousness of adulthood, to every thing there is a season, to recognize flows, wide open eyes | 2 Comments

The Gracie Update

Posted on April 8, 2011 by Joe Clark

Here I sit, next to my number one proofreader and he is giving me hell for not reporting all of the facts. He says he needs a follow-up on Gracie’s trip to the vet yesterday. He has an inquiring mind … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal | Tagged A Bad Day for Gracie, a combat of wills, a great cat, an uneasy truce, Dave Barry, fickle feline!, getting old, hard not to laugh, having the last laugh, licking my wounds, little feline lips, Spike, surprised and speechless, taking a cat to the vet, taking a cat’s temperature, that awful day, tragically funny | 1 Comment

A Bad Day for Gracie

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Joe Clark

This is one of those blogs that falls under the category of life in general. Some things in life can be tragically funny. Everyone should read Dave Barry’s A journey into my colon—and yours. It’s a really important topic, one … Continue reading →

Flying the Ercoupe with Maurice

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Joe Clark

Down at the airport where I first worked as a flight instructor, my friend Maurice kept trying to get me to fly in his Ercoupe. For the pilots unfamiliar with the Ercoupe, it is a lovely little airplane powered by … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flight Instructing, Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged a slight wind right down the runway, airplanes, Cessnas, Ercoupe, flight training, flying, Flying the Ercoupe with Maurice, inexperienced pilots, judgment, landing in a crosswind, learning to fly, learning to fly in tailwheel airplanes, Maurice, memories, no rudder pedals, perfectly calm days, S-turning on final, slipping the airplane, taildraggers, take her around the patch, the limp windsock, the windsock, Time to fly the Ercoupe, training aircraft, watching a tailwheel pilot fly an Ercoupe | Comments Off

Today is Michael’s Day

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Joe Clark

Today Michael Monsoor would have been thirty years-old. He was born in Long Beach, CA and was the third child of four. Michael was a typical California kid, playing tight end on the Garden Grove High School football team. He … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life in General | Tagged a typical California kid, Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training, Coronado CA, Delta Platoon SEAL Team Three, discipline, Golden Trident, Great Lakes IL, he gave his life to save his fellow teammates, Iraq, military service, NAS Sigonella, Navy, Navy SEALS, Quartermaster “A” School, Ramadi, the Bronze Star, the Silver Star, the son of a former Marine, Today is Michael’s Day | Comments Off

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Category Archives: Life in General

More Books About Flying

Flyboys

Uncle D’s Swift

The Shuttles

Manned Spaceflight Turns 50

The Rhythm of Life

The Gracie Update

A Bad Day for Gracie

Flying the Ercoupe with Maurice

Today is Michael’s Day

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