Monthly Archives: July 2011

Funny Gator Stories

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Joe Clark

Can there be such a thing as a funny gator story? Well, yes. Of course. An older Floridian, Ray, who spent part of his childhood growing up in Saint Augustine tells the story of his grandmother’s front porch and “George.” … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General | Tagged a big cat-eating lizard, a big fuzzy lovable gray tabby, a juvenile alligator, California, Dudley, eagles, Funny Gator Stories, hawks, older Floridians, rge enough to eat a cat, Saint Augustine, The Alligator Farm, the Sunshine State, ’gators | Comments Off

Flying From Here to There

Posted on July 30, 2011 by Joe Clark

One challenge I enjoyed most learning to fly was flying from one place to another. In the aviation business, they call this flying cross-country. It truly is a great challenge and immensely fun. It is also a fascinating science. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying | Tagged charts, checkpoints, flying cross-country, Flying From Here to There, following directions, going from point A to point B, GPS, instruments, most fascinating navigators, navigation at sea, navigational instruments, printed timetables, rudimentary sextants, the ancient Polynesians, the Hawaiian Islands, the Pacific Ocean, when technology fails | 5 Comments

Downed Raptors

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Joe Clark

The Air Force Times reported on an interesting development this week on July 27. According to the AF Times, the entire fleet of F-22 Raptors in the Air Force inventory has not flown since May 3, 2011—the result of problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flying | Tagged a complex machine, aircraft life support systems, Anchorage AK, Captain Jeff Haney, cognition, Downed Raptors, F-22 Raptors, hitting trees on landing, hypoxia, liquid oxygen (LOX), military O2 systems, OBOGS, On-Board Oxygen Generation System, pilots, system concerns, the 525th Fighter Squadron, The Air Force Times | Comments Off

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Joe Clark

Another of the great writer-flyers from World War II was a Frenchman by the name of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Unlike the youthful Bert Stiles profiled yesterday, Saint-Exupéry was relatively older—especially for serving as a combat pilot. Saint-Exupéry is the author … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, History, Life in General, Reading, Writing | Tagged a silver identity bracelet, airline companies, an airmail pilot, André Prévot, Antoine Saint-Exupéry, author, combat operations, dehydration, F-5B reconnaissance aircraft, finding his place as a wordsmith, Flight to Arras, gathering intelligence, hallucinations, L'Aviateur or The Aviator, Marseille, navigator, Night flight, pioneering flights, Riou Island, the fastest flying time from Paris to Saigon, the Free French Forces, The Little Prince, Wind Sand and Stars, World War II | Comments Off

Bert Stiles

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Joe Clark

Yesterday I wrote about the bomber bases in England, left crumbling today 66 years after the end of World War II. Mentioned in the blog, was the loss of talent resulting from the deaths of many. Specifically, I said I … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Writing | Tagged 505th Fighter Squadron, a feature writer, a writer ahead of his time, B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers, Bassingbourn England, Bert Stiles, captured, dogfight, Estes Park, exceptional writing, flying the B-17 into combat, Hanover Germany, Hitler’s war effort, killed in action, missing, P-28s, P-47s, P-51D, P-51s, Serenade to the Big Bird, Tar Heel, the 91st Bomb Group, The Eighth Air Force, the Royal Air Force, The Saturday Evening Post, US Army Air Corps, V-1 buzz bombs, V-2 rockets, W.W. Norton & Co., World War II, World War II bases, wounded | Comments Off

I Woke in England

Posted on July 26, 2011 by Joe Clark

I woke this morning at 0530 and could not sleep any longer. I did not wish to disturb my wife, so I got up and started working. When I looked at the computer, I had forgotten to close Google Earth. … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, History | Tagged B-17 and B-24 heavy bombers, Bert Stiles, captured, Google Earth, Hitler’s war effort, I Woke in England, killed in action, missing, P-28s, P-47s, P-51s, The Eighth Air Force, the Royal Air Force, US Army Air Corps, V-1 buzz bombs, V-2 rockets, World War II bases, wounded | Comments Off

102 Years Ago Today

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Joe Clark

A little after four o’clock in the morning this day 102 years ago, 30 year-old Louis Charles Joseph Blériot, an engineer and early French aviator, was nursing a badly burned foot. He and two other early pilots, Hubert Latham and … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History | Tagged 102 Years Ago Today, a 25-horsepower Anzani engine, a very rough landing, Blériot #VIII, Blériot #XI, Blériot-Aéronautique Aéronautique, Calais France, Charles de Lambert, crossing of the English Channel, Dover England, Hubert Latham, Louis Charles Joseph Blériot, Société Pour Aviation et ses Derives (SPAD), Société pour les Appareils Deperdussin, the airplane would never fly again, the Daily Mail, the Musee des Arts et Metiers | 1 Comment

Taking a Moment

Posted on July 24, 2011 by Joe Clark

Sometimes, you reach a juncture where you realize you have spent too much time working on life’s minutiae. That is when you will probably stop, step back, and look around. Then you might hear someone say, “It’s time for a … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal | Tagged a grin wider than a propeller, a Southern boy, birthdays, giant sunflowers, light-hearted joking, Raptor-Man, Taking a Moment, taking it in stride, the good in life, the next 60 years of living, the original optimist, the spinning blue-green asteroid, too much time working, “It’s time for a break!” | Comments Off

It’s Another Year

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Joe Clark

Well, until today, I was older than my best friend, Paul. Today, he is as old as I am. Unfortunately, we both went over the hill a long time ago. In other words, we are a couple of old fa… … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History, Life in General, Personal | Tagged a damn Yankee, a lifetime of gratitude, Alberto Santos-Dumont, barnstormers, biplanes, gypsy pilots, in the fifth grade, It’s Another Year, It’s [a] old Southern joke!, my best friend Paul, my only interest was jets, over the hill, the Demoiselle, the First World War, the summer of 1986, the Sunshine State, the War Between the States, ultralight airplanes | 1 Comment

The Last Landing

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Joe Clark

It is difficult to fathom what has happened to our space program. Yesterday, with the landing of Shuttle Atlantis, the United States no longer has a manned space flight program. Many of us are truly appalled. For the first time … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation History, History, Life in General | Tagged a failure of common sense, across the shores, Alan Shepard, beyond the horizon, ending the space program is a big mistake, Freedom 7, further exploration of the universe, into the depths of the seas, into the skies and beyond, manned space exploration, national security implications, Shuttle Atlantis, the end of the Shuttle Program, the International Space Station (ISS), The Last Landing, the United States no longer has a manned space flight program, the universe, this blue-green marble rotating around the fiery sun | 2 Comments

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Monthly Archives: July 2011

Funny Gator Stories

Flying From Here to There

Downed Raptors

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Bert Stiles

I Woke in England

102 Years Ago Today

Taking a Moment

It’s Another Year

The Last Landing

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