Tag Archives: Cuba

Oak Trees

Posted on October 10, 2022 by Joe Clark

Often I have said, “I am busier than a one-legged sailor in an ass-kicking contest.” It is not an excuse; it is merely one reason I have not been writing as often as I should. There has been a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Life in General, Personal | Tagged Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Cuba, death, friends, Guantanamo Bay, life, Oak Trees, one-legged sailor, retirement, Social Security | Comments Off

Dawn, October 23

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Joe Clark

It is amazing, the things you think about when you are awake at three in the middle of the night. Fifty-three years ago this morning at dawn, a section of RF-8 Crusaders streaked across the Cuban skies to record the … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, Flying, History | Tagged Commander William B. Ecker, Cuba, diplomacy, Fidel Castro, Lieutenant Bruce Wilhelmy, Light Photographic Squadron Sixty-two, MacDill AFB, military assault, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, naval blockade, Nikita Khrushchev, nuclear fallout, October 16 1962, overthrow Castro, President John F. Kennedy, RF-8 Crusaders, single-engine single-seat jet pilots, Soviet ballistic missiles, The Cuban Missile Crisis, the Soviet Union, the United States, U-2, US Secretary of State Dean Rusk, VFP-62 | 4 Comments

Coming to America

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Joe Clark

Sometimes, my mind will drift back to the 1950s. What an exciting time! We were in Cuba and it was during the time Castro was fighting Batista. At first, my father was happy Castro prevailed, but then we fled. He … Continue reading →

Posted in Life in General, Personal | Tagged American moms, Batista, Castro, Cuba, Cuban fathers, I Love Lucy, my grandfather, my mother, Tampa, the 1950s, The Little Rascals, The Three Stooges | Comments Off

It’s Not About the Flying, It’s About Relationships

Posted on November 15, 2014 by Joe Clark

We fly. There are many reasons we fly. We fly for enjoyment, to learn new things, to travel, to have fun, to sight see, and more. But the most important thing about the flying really has nothing to do with … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged airplanes, camaraderie, Cessna 170, Cessnas, co-workers, Cuba, discipline, Flight instructors, flight training, Florida, flying, friends, friendships, hangar parties, Hangars 9 and 10, learning to fly, memories, open cockpit biplanes, pilots, relationships, sleeping under the wing, Southern drawl, student pilots, taildraggers, training aircraft | Comments Off

Hurricanes and Emergency Diverts

Posted on November 10, 2013 by Joe Clark

Thirty years ago this month, I checked into my first operational squadron in Gitmo. They gave me the “gouge” about flying in the Caribbean, including divert/bingo information for any reason when we could not return to Guantanamo. I gathered up … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flying, History, Life in General, Personal | Tagged A-4 Skyhawk, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cuba, discipline, divert/bingo information, flying, friends, Gainesville, Gitmo, Hurricane Kate, hurricanes, Hurricanes and Emergency Diverts, Jamaica, judgment, Kingston, Marines, memories, military service, Navy, Norman C. Manley International, old friends, professional pilots, the Caribbean, The Gators, the “gouge”, Weather guessers | 2 Comments

Life Only Began Yesterday

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Joe Clark

It was a moment one can only describe as profound. We were driving northeast on Pacetti Road thinking about the recent visit of the grandkids. All of a sudden, the realization hit us like a runaway logging truck hurtling down … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Life in General, Personal | Tagged Cardenas Cuba, centuries, Cuba, decades, England, grandkids, Highway 16, instant “connections”, Life Only Began Yesterday, lifetimes, Pacetti Road, Saint Augustine, Saint Johns County, Spain, Tampa, the age of 30, the loss of a friend, the Pacettis, the passage of time, the passing of a grandparent, the Triays | 2 Comments

Sleep, Food, Water, and Performance

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Joe Clark

I have taught about the relationship between a pilot’s need for proper rest and flying for a long time. Corollary to having the proper rest is eating right and proper hydration. It is a complex equation, and I was pleased when … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flight Instructing, Flying | Tagged Air Force, airplanes, airspeed, altitude, Cuba, discipline, flying, judgment, memories, military service, Navy, pilots, professional pilots, sailors | 2 Comments

41st Anniversary of Airport Screening

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Joe Clark

Forty one years ago today, the US instituted airport screening at New Orleans’ Moisant Field, now known as Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Prior to 1968, the hijacking Of US airliners was very rare. In the two years leading … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Aviation History, History, Life in General | Tagged 41st Anniversary of Airport Screening, Airport Security, Athens, Beirut, Cuba, Florida, flying, Havana, Hezbollah, hijacking, Islamic Jihad, judgment, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, New Orleans Moisant Field, non-confrontational compliance, professional pilots, Rome, September 11 2001, the Middle East, TWA flight 847, United 93, US Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem | 2 Comments

A Lesson in Ricochets

Posted on April 28, 2011 by Joe Clark

One day, the weapons instructors introduced us to the technique of firing live rounds. Now this is a little different from going down to the rifle range and learning to shoot; what we were going to do was learn how … Continue reading →

Posted in Aviation, Flying, Life in General, Personal | Tagged A Lesson in Ricochets, airspeed, altitude, Cuba, discipline, experienced instructors, firing live rounds, flight training, flying, friends, Guantanamo, guns pattern, inexperienced pilots, judgment, learning to fly, learning to shoot, live fire exercises, Marines, memories, military service, Navy, never overfly the target, pilots, professional pilots, pushing 540 knots, sailors, salty lieutenants and lieutenant commanders, student pilots, TA-4J Skyhawk, the weapons instructors, tracer rounds, tracers ricocheting in all directions | 4 Comments

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

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Tag Archives: Cuba

Dawn, October 23

Coming to America

It’s Not About the Flying, It’s About Relationships

Hurricanes and Emergency Diverts

Life Only Began Yesterday

Sleep, Food, Water, and Performance

41st Anniversary of Airport Screening

A Lesson in Ricochets

Manned Spaceflight Turns 50

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