In Celebration of the 35th Year of earning my wings: Accolades to The Glenn Martin Company, builder of the WW II B-26 Maruader Bomber, to Peyton Magruder designer and Stephen Spielberg archivist

B-26 Marauder built by the Glenn Martin Corporation
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)

It's time to celebrate my 35th year of earning my wings at Gansner Field in Quincy, California. 

Just five years ago, I celebrated my 30th anniversary of earning my wings by recalling my first flight at Chico Municipal Airport and then completing my training under two crop duster pilots, Tom Rahn and Johnnie Miller, operators of Sugarpine Aviators.

Today, I would like to pay tribute to a World War II 'hero', the B-26, Marauder, a  Twin-Engine Medium bomber designed by Peyton Magruder, then built by the Glenn L.Martin Company and first used in the Pacific Theater in early 1942, then in North Africa and finally in Western Europe.

5,288 of them were built by the Glenn Martin Corporation between February 1941 and March 1945 at a cost of $102, 000 per plane.

They were known for their high survival rate. The Marauders flew on over 130,000 missions and had a loss rate of LESS than 1 per cent, the lowest of any USAAF bomber. 

"Above All"-- they were  instrumental in destroying the Nazi war machine.

Stephen Spielberg

Click on the above you tube video to watch 1945 footage 

of B-26 Marauders in flight with soaring music

(courtesy of the Steven Spielberg Film and Video Archive, 

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum)

Kudos to the AOPA PILOT MAGAZINE on its  feature article  B-26 Marauder: World War II's Unsung Hero , Mastering Martin's Marauder  in its September 2015 issue. (click here to read)

Earning my Wings: My First Flight

That's me above with Cherokee Cruiser PA 28-140 (2+2), N8387C at
Chico Municipal Airport in May, 1978

2009 marks the 30th year since I earned my Private Pilot's wings at Gansner Field, Quincy, California in Plumas County with Tom Rahn, my instructor and Johnnie Miller, CEO of a crop duster business and Certified Flight Examiner.

My inaugural flight was at Chico Municipal Airport (CIC) on my birthday May 24, 1978. I flew Cherokee Cruiser 140 N8387C (November 387 Charlie). My logbook simply records: 1.5 hrs, dual, up Deer Creek.

My instructor is the first of many instructors I will have over the course of the years. He is tall, lean and fair haired. He boasts that his other students include TV Soap Opera stars who have moved to Chico from New York. He introduces me to Teal Nichols, a good looking well built blond lady. (Teal is a member of a group of 14 adults and 15 children who left New York in 1961 to avoid the fallout from a nuclear holocaust in the east, which never happened). I later learn that he is building time for his commercial license and that his real motivation is flying large jets.

An aerial view of Lassen Peak, locale of my first dual flight

Deer Creek is a scenic route that that follows Route 32 as it winds upward from Chico to Chester (near Mt. Lassen National Park, scene of a 1914-1915 volcano). The average altitude of the terrain is 3000 feet so we fly at 5500 feet The California terrain is awesome and Lassen Peak is stark dominant!

We logged 1.5 hours. As pilot in command, my instructor controlled all aspects of the flight from the initial check and visual inspection of mechanical systems, propellor, fuel tanks, oil level,
pitot tube, ailerons, flaps etc of the plane while still tied down, followed by firing up the engine, checking the basic instruments, magnetos, electrical readings, tuning radios, then radio communication to the tower requesting permission to taxi into position to hold and then tower command to take off. It was a sunny, clear day with little wind and my first takeoff is awesome: first pushing the throttle full forward to accelerate to lift off speed with rotation at 70-80 knots and then climbing out at 90 knots until we reach flight attitude.

Total cost $49. A great introduction to flight

Look for my next post in this series: The Cherokee Cruiser as The Time Machine and then followed by a blog on earning my wings .

Earning My Wings at Quincy, California: Lessons Learned

Quincy California 'Snow-Bowl' with Airport in Center

Airport is 80 miles from My Former Home in Paradise

Johnny Moore, Manager of Sugarpine Aviators in Quincy

in a Photo Dated 1967 at Benton Airport in Redding, Ca.

"We do get a number of you flatlander wanna- be pilots at our Sierra airport" beamed Johnny Moore, crop dusting pilot, Alaska bush pilot, fire bomber pilot, author and Manager/Owner of the Sugarpine Aviators Flight School at Quincy, California's Gansner Airport-- on my first meeting with him.

He continued: "We will take you to proficiency and your ticket in just a few days."

I found these statements bewildering and confusing! I must admit, I was incredulous based on my experiences until now! Read on and, hopefully you'll understand.

I was at a loss for words. I had no idea what he was talking about. You see, all I knew was 16 months had elapsed since I had started on my private pilot's license journey on my birthday May 24, 1978 and I felt I was getting nowhere fast.

Yes, my instructor at Chico Airport was competent (he was flying charter) and guided me on my first solo flight on July 8th (what a super feeling!), my first dual cross county on August 11th: CIC/Chico, CCR/Concord, Hayward, Oakland, Napa and CIC) logging 3.9 hours with the logbook notation: 90 day-OK. This was followed by my own Cross Country solo on August 11th in 387 Charlie: CIC. Lincoln, Woodland and then CIC, ( 2.6 of tachtime). Then two more solo short cross country flights with my August 20th one totalling 4.9 hours. Only my long Cross Country lay ahead of me. I was buoyant.

Wow, with such accomplishments under my belt, I thought I would be ready to go for my private pilot's checkride in another 30 days. In fact on October 4th, I completed my 5.7 hour Long Cross Country from Chico to Fresno to Hayward back to Chico.

But then, a strange thing happened: though I was flying with my instructor three times weekly through February 1979 and accumulating a staggering 90, yes, ninety hours of flight time, I was getting nowhere fast; or, as my instrument instructor Al Stockstead of Eugene, Oregon was fond of telling me: 'You don't need to bore holes in the sky."

(BORING FOR ME, INDEED)

I recall one training session at Willows Airport where we practiced cross wind landings (35-45 MPH winds blowing across the runway) for 90 minutes. Though my instructor, with much concentrated effort, was able to land our trainer consistently, I failed in four attempts. Naturally, I came away disheartened.

After all, I was responsible for the predicament I was in: I loved flying, I was naive and, above all, flying was inexpensive then... so I suppose I stayed with him much longer than I should have. On July 8, 1979, after doing some VOR tracking and short field takeoffs, I made up my mind to locate another instructor. As luck would have it, I chanced by Quincy Airport where I had been transacting some business; here I met Johnny and his assistant Tom Rahn; I took a flight with Johnnie and liked him immediately.

I spent a week at Quincy Airport early in October, flew twice daily with Tom. Withing four days, they certified me and voila, I earned my wings. I mean to say I earned my wings the hard and long way.

Johnny and Tom later explained to me that my instructor was using my flight time to build up time towards his ATP rating so he could fly big planes for the big airlines. Teaching me was secondary to his career. And this explains, my increasing frustration after flying with him.

At Sugarpine Aviators Flight School, I realized that teaching came first and my instructors imparted their love, devotion and precision mountain flying to me. Their student focused work ethic was so evident that I came away not only with my 'ticket' but a love and appreciation of my skills.

Within 6 months I owned my own plane: A Piper PA-28-181, Archer II with dual Navs/Coms, DME and low tach and engine time.

How is that for turning things around! Learn from my experiences, check out your instructor first. Be sure his main preoccupation is you --the student! If not, continue your quest for a full time instructor.

And, secondly, don't sweat the time. Though you can get your ticket in as little as 40 hours, 60-90 hours is perhaps more realistic. So hang in there as I did.....it's well worth it.

Image source (1)

Image source (2)

As a post script: Johnny has published three books: his first is Breaking Into Agricultural Aviation, which he autographed for me. His second is a classic on his aviation experiences entitled I must Fly which makes for fun, hilarious and serious reading

My blogs on aviation include articles on: A Salute to All American Veterans, The Plane: The Ultimate Time Machine, The P-51 Mustang: 65 Years Later and its World War II Flying Aces, Chuck Yeager's 86th Birthday Flying Feat, Doolittle's Raiders Celebrate 68th Reunion, Lindberg Earns The Congressional Medal of Honor, The New Biomass Alternative Avgas Pioneered by Swift Enterprises Ltd. Coming up shortly articles on Frank Luke, World War I, US flying ace, Jackie Cochran, first aviatrix to break the sound barrier and Glenn Curtiss, aviation pioneer and founder of Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, now part of Curtiss Wright Corporation. Stay tuned.

February 2014: a month of discoveries with spotlight on Wikipedia's Daily featured Article on John F. Bolt Flying Ace

February  2014.

 What a fabulous month of discoveries for me.

The major story has been the ascendancy of President Vladimir Putin to near Godlike status as master politician especially  in an around the Crimea and  Ukraine and, secondly, his major grand opus,  the $52 Billion over- the- top investment in the Sochi Winter Olympics

Coming Soon : More on this late- breaking and continuing saga of Mr. Putin's global aspirations and his containment by the west.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia

from Wikipedia

Another  major discovery has been an  amazing posting by Wikipedia on its daily featured article page for February 26, 2014.

John Bolt in the cockpit of his F-86 Sabre in July, 1953

Courtesy of Wikipedia

The featured article which suddenly appeared on my laptop  (perhaps emailed  to me) was on John F. Bolt (1921-2004), a US military pilot who was the only US Marine to achieve ace status in two wars  (World War II and the Korean War)  and was also the only Marine jet fighter ace.  A flying ace is a pilot who is credited with shooting down a number of enemy craft during aerial combat and this number has varied.

In the case of Bolt,  he is is credited with six victories in the Pacific Theater of Operations, during  World War II.  In the Korean War in 1953, he flew  F-86 Sabres into "MIG Alley" an area along the northern border of North Korea. Here, he scored another  six victories.

What fascinates me is how Wiki knew about my interest in aviation, or put another way, how did we connect via  John Bolt!?!

I have posted dozens of blogs on aviation including many articles on earning my wings and aviating my own plane and it is possible that Wiki mined my blog for information.

On the day I took title to Piper Cherokee 1029H 

 Oroville Airport, Oroville, California

Secondly, six days earlier, I had just blogged about ice-skater Victor Ahn who took the gold medal for Russia in the short track. Indeed, he was the first athlete to win two gold medals representing two different countries. This double feat is indeed reminiscent of  Bolt's status as double ace.

A third possible reason for Wiki's reaching out to me is that I make frequent donations to this wonderful resource.

There are currently 4,463,066 articles in the English Wikipedia. Yes, I repeat over 4 million articles on every conceivable subject. 

To place me in the company of John Bolt is a mismatch. My low- time flying experience as a civilian pilot with less than 500 hours cannot compare to this ace who has accumulated hundreds of hours of training and actual combat experience.

 I was born too late to realize my persistent dream of defending my country as a World War II naval combat pilot.

All of the above leads to a fourth reason for wiki's friendly visit. Perhaps they had discovered my blog on Aerobatics over Portland, Oregon, which followed, tucked away as it were, an article I posted thanking my many flight instructors over the past 30 years. (click to read).

Well, Wiki did find me and I believe we are all the richer in knowledge......

To find this month's  queue (lineup of featured personages day by day),  click here and then click on this Month's Queue on the right side of the page under Featured Article Tools.

I hope you have as much fun navigating and then discovering the many, many other resources of  this website.

Kudos to Wikipedia!

Keep on flying Wikipedia

and may your online encyclopedia

(and daily featured article)

encircle our humble globe

with treasured info for us to probe!

Jack Sanoff, A Mentor for all Ages: The Ninth Transformative Event, Part III

Inspirational role model and mentor Jack Sanoff and I reconnect in November 2010 in San Ramon, CA, celebrating a 40 year plus relationship

In essence, Jack taught me several arts simultaneously: cold calling, selling and renewing. There was 'me'-- the product of an Ivy League education with three degrees under my belt and my mentor a product of the great depression, a native son of Newark, New Jersey whose real-life education began at age 17. He had an easy way of 'schmoozing' the client catching them off-guard with a joke or two and before I knew it, he pulled out a renewal agreement and signed them up for another year. He made the sale look so easy... and what really impressed was his massive portfolio of ads in a huge leather- bound three ring binder organized by category beginning with the letter 'A' for Air Conditioning specialists and Auto Dealers with dozens of ads pasted up on black paper with a cellophane cover around each page. The book must have weighed 15-20 pounds. 

 After a month of training with Jack in the Bay Area, serving accounts in Emeryville, San Francisco and Berkeley, I heard that there was an available sales territory north of Sacramento; so with my few belongings packed into a U-Haul securely fastened to my vintage Mercedes, I headed north and took up digs first in Old Shasta, California; in short order, I became Jack's man covering the North Valley selling ad space in Redding, Yreka, Red Bluff, Weaverville, Eureka, Arcata, Crescent City, Susanville, Chico, Quincy, Placerville, Sacramento, Nevada City, Auburn, South Lake Tahoe, Reno and Gardnerville (Nevada). In no time, I was able to save enough to buy a Sierra foothill home in scenic Paradise (CA), replete with outdoor swimming pool, two car garage, three bedrooms, two fireplaces and, of course the towering pine trees. It became the perfect weekend retreat for me. Jack continued to be there for me via the 1-800 phone number directly to the office in Hayward. And we spoke daily, sometimes twice. He was always ready with a list of new business from the McCords weekly of new businesses registrations. 

 We were Jack's men, the Magnificent Seven, who covered Northern California from Fresno north to the Oregon border: Derek S. , Kenny U. , Howard G, Hal S., Elton S., Harry L. and yours truly. We would meet twice a year at Hayward when the big brass would come up from LA to hold a sales/awards meeting. Our residences were far flung from Fresno, to Monterey/Carmel to Novato to Mount Diablo, to Sacramento. (It was thrilling to attend these meetings flying from Oroville to Hayward airport in my Cherokee Archer II-- earning my wings and time machine by being one of Jack's guys!)

 Jack would send out monthly sales blasts often pitting one salesman against the other for top performance. After a hard month of turning 6-8 deals (with his help) it was great to have my performance heralded in the bulletin (with a courtier character blowing his trumpet at the top). And there was always a $250-$500 bonus, to boot. Did Jack ever learn to pit me against his other hot-shot salesman!?! When I left Jack to open up the Dallas/Fort Worth office in the mid-80's, I knew that I owed so much of my success to him and because of him. Thank you Jack, you are a man for all seasons in my book!

   Sadly, I learned that Jack had recently passed away. 

Image source (1)

Harold I. June: A June Man Who Co-Piloted Admiral Richard Byrd's Plane Across the South Pole

Stamford's Tribute to Harold I. June on June 26, 1930

Harold I. June, The Stamford Man Who Piloted Admiral Byrd

Across the Antarctic's South Pole

What better way to initiate on-- June 1, 2010 -- my tribute to Stamford's finest than remembering a local native and attendee of Stamford High School, Harold I. June (12 February 1895-22 November 1962) ; he was honored 80 years ago this month on June 26, 1930 by the City of Stamford with a grand motorcade, speeches, lunches, dinners, etc.

Born in Stamford in 1895, he attended Bangall (country school ) 1902-1906 and completed ninth grade at age 11 and attended Stamford High School for one year. Thereafter, he followed a technical/vocational career as a machinist for a local firm, The Mianus Motor Works and became their salesman and road repair man at age 15, based in Providence, Rhode Island.

From 1912-1917,, he became engineer for Harold S. Vanderbilt including all the Vanderbilt boats. and then in 1919 became Vanderbilt's chief engineer.

Requesting transfer to Pensacola Air Station, in 1922, he earned his Aircraft Radio Operator and Radio Theory and Instruments qualification in 12 weeks. Then in 1923, he finished first in a class of 60 aviation pilots (only 38 finished).

We will fast forward his career to November 29, 1929. (Richard Byrd had established a base camp called "Little America" on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica in 1928 and scientific expeditions were conducted by snowshoe, dog-sled, snowmobile and airplance, of which there were three) Copiloting and acting as radioman, June, accompanied by Byrd and pilot Bernt Balchen and photographer Ashley Mckinley, flew the Ford Trimoter, the Floyd Bennet, to the South Pole and back in 18 hours and 41 minutes. According to Wikipedia:

"They had difficulty gaining enough altitude, and they had to dump empty gas tanks, as well as their emergency supplies, in order to achieve the altitude of the Polar Plateau. However, the flight was successful and it entered Byrd {and June} into the history books. After a further summer of exploration, the expedition returned to North America on June 18, 1930.

Here is a letter sent to June by Mayor William Graves, Mayor of Stamford upon his return to the United States.

The author is deeply indebted to the Stamford Historical Society for much information contained herein and as a source for the images.

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Click here to view the author's adventures in earning his own wings and a list of other blogs on various aviation topics.