Aviation Writer Walter Boyne does it again--Supersonic Thunder

The second book in the jet-age trilogy, Supersonic Thunder, is a great read.

I have been a big fan of writer Walter Boyne for many years. He is one of the few aviation writers to succeed as both a fiction and nonfiction writer, and I've read almost everything he's ever written over the course of the last thirty years. Boyne knows whereof he speaks---he was a jet fighter pilot in the fifties and also the director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I got acquainted with Walt a few years ago, when I sent him a copy of my book Untold Valor, and Walt was good enough to read it, blurb it, and recommend it to the company that eventually published it, Potomac Books. My admiration for Walt's writing precedes the fact that he helped me out as a fellow writer, so this is, I hope, an unbiased review of Walt's latest book, Supersonic Thunder.

If you enjoy great aviation historical fiction, I can think of no one who does it better than Walter Boyne. In his latest, Supersonic Thunder, Boyne continues following the saga of the fictional Shannon family as they witness the continuing development of the jet age in America. Also followed are developments in England, France and Russia. Special projects covered in this, the second in the trilogy, include the race to build an SST, the competition between Douglas (soon to be McDonnell Douglas) and Boeing for the passenger jet market, the beginnings of the space program (including Sputnik and Gemini), the U-2 spy plane program, the SR-71 Blackbird, the development of the first super-carrier--the Boeing 747--and much more.

If you have never read a Walter Boyne book, you have missed out on perhaps the best aviation historical fiction in the world. Boyne's series on World War One and Two, the Eagles Trilogy, is simply magnificent. He also did a book on the Wright Brothers, 'Dawn over Kitty Hawk', and a fictionalized history of the Air Force, Wild Blue. Boyne has also written literally dozens of works of nonfiction. Perhaps his most acclaimed is 'Beyond the Wild Blue', a history of the United States Air Force.

I'm a big fan of Boyne's work, and have been for several decades. If you've never picked up one of his books, I urge you to do so.

Walt has a personal website at http://www.air-boyne.com/index.htm. Check it out!

Order Supersonic Thunder here: http://www.amazon.com/Supersonic-Thunder-Novel-Jet-Age/dp/0765308444/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-0080273-1490215?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1189974774&sr=8-1

The final book in the trilogy, Hypersonic Thunder, will be out in the fall of 2008. I eagerly await its publication.

Pioneer Lady Pilot Passes away at 85

Women's aviation pioneer Caro Bayley Bosca died at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Community Hospital of pancreatic cancer. Here is a story her surviving brother said he tells everyone about her.



By the early 1950s, Robert Bayley had seen his sister fly, of course.


Both had learned before World War II, and while he had served as a flying instructor with the Army Air Force during the war, she had ferried military planes around the country with the Women Airforce Service Pilots.


After the war, when Bayley came home to Springfield, Caro took up with other "WASPs," living in a Miami, Fla., apartment they called the Wasp's Nest.


Soon, she was into aerobatic flying, and when her touring troupe flew into Richmond, Ind., for a show Bayley decided to go see her perform.


"Richmond didn't have much of an airport then, it was really a field," said Bayley, who is 89.
At the show, "they strung a rope ... maybe up about 20 or 30 feet" in the air at a spot near the runway - a spot where wheat or hay was growing.


Roaring in her stunt plane, "she came down in front of the crowd upside down, went under that rope, and dangled her hand out as if she was grabbing at the grass," Bayley said.


On a return pass near the crowd, "she was waving grass in her hand," he said.


"She had that crowd convinced" she'd plucked it from the ground. Bayley said.


"Actually she'd gone out and put it in the plane before the act," he added. But that didn't lessen her brother's respect for her daring even by a width of a blade of grass.


"I always tell people I can fly upside down fine," said the retired attorney, "as long as I have a good 5,000 feet under me.


"Caro had less than 5 feet when she did that," he said. "It scared the hell out of me."
Added Bayley, "I think she was terrific."

Group Pays for World War Two Vets to Go See the New WWII Memorial

The following article was online from the Hartford, CT Courant Newspaper, written by Jim Farrell on September 15, 2007. The photo is by John Woike.

'American Warrior' Group Pays The Bills To Honor Dwindling Group Of Heroes

RUSSELL INZINGA gives Hayden Griswold a trim as the two World War II veterans swap stories Thursday morning at Inzinga's Manchester barber shop. Inzinga, 85, served in the Merchant Marine and Griswold, 85, in the Army.

As a member of the Merchant Marine, Russell Inzinga made 18 trips across the Atlantic aboard the E.B. Alexander, which delivered troops to fight in World War II.Now 85, Inzinga is proud of his service and excited about yet another trip - this one today, when he will be among 100 World War II veterans flying at no charge to Washington, D.C., for a day of touring and reminiscing."It feels good to be recognized," said Inzinga, who has spent 57 years as a Manchester barber and still works 30 hours per week. "I still have my health, fortunately, but there are not a lot of us veterans left."

Dubbed Connecticut Honor Flight, the trip is sponsored by American Warrior, a charitable group founded recently by Christopher Coutu, 31, who spent three years in the Air Force and is now a member of the state Air National Guard."I'm excited for them, and for their generation," said Coutu, who works as a financial planner in Niantic.After arriving at Reagan National Airport at about 10 a.m., veterans will visit the World War II Memorial, which opened in 2004 in to honor the 16 million Americans who served and the more than 400,000 who died in that war. Scheduled stops after lunch include the Vietnam and Korean war memorials. After flying back to Bradley, the veterans will be bused to Norwich for a celebration in Franklin Square that is to include patriotic music.

"I'm really excited," said Melvin Stevens, 83, of Bloomfield, who fought with the U.S. Army at the Battle of the Bulge and received two Purple Hearts."I came within a heartbeat of being wiped out three or four times," said Stevens, who noted that he has never been to Washington and feels blessed to have survived the war.Traveling with the veterans will be 50 volunteer guardians, who are paying $300 for the day and are responsible for helping with comfort and safety issues.Stevens said he would be accompanied by his son, Paul, who recently retired from the Air National Guard.

Edmond Grandahl, 88, who served with the Army Air Corps, said he has been to Washington on business but never to sightsee. Grandahl worked in the manufacturing industry for years but is now retired, and is keeping busy by pursuing a master's degree in history at Central Connecticut State University."It's a real treat to get to go down there so we can appreciate all of the sacrifices, especially of those we've lost," said Grandahl of West Hartford.According to Coutu, there are about 72,000 World War II veterans in the state, but more than 7,000 die each year. Coutu said he decided to create American Warrior in part because his grandfather's brother, Edward Coutu, was moved into a convalescent home."I said, `This is not the way it should be,'" said Coutu, adding that he has a close relationship with Edward Coutu, 89, who will be on today's trip.

For Inzinga, the trip is especially meaningful because mariners of the Merchant Marine were not officially recognized as veterans until the late 1980s."For all those years, we weren't getting any benefits at all," he said.Inzinga said his first Atlantic crossing was memorable because, after dropping off 12,000 U.S. troops in Scotland, the ship picked up 7,000 Canadians and sailed in a convoy toward Sicily. While in the Mediterranean Sea, the convoy was attacked by German planes. Inzinga said that while his ship was unscathed, another in the convoy was damaged and had to be beached.Part of the intrigue about Saturday, Inzinga said, is the possibility of meeting another crew member from the E.B. Alexander, or perhaps someone who traveled on the ship."I'm looking forward to seeing someone that maybe I saw before," Inzinga said, adding: "The day will be over before you know it, but I'll remember it for a long time."Another trip to Washington for veterans is being planned for the spring.

For more information, visit http://www.americanwarrior.us/.

Last Game of the Season

There's something bittersweet about the last baseball game of the season. On Monday night, I went to the Single-A Minor League Idaho Falls Chukars' playoff game, which they lost and were thus eliminated by the Orem Owlz. The air had the crisp, pre-frost tang of early fall, and the season's end served as a reminder that time passes, and that we must make each day count.

100th Bomb Group Holds Reunion in Nashville

A great-looking group of guys---veterans of the 100th Bomb Group, pose for a group photo at their annual reunion in Nashville, Tennesse last week.

The 100th Bomb Group (H) held its annual reunion last week in Nashville, Tennessee. Joe O'Leary, son of a 100th BG airman, took many excellent photos of the reunion, and I asked permission to share them on this blog. Joe generously agreed. Here is the link for this slideshow. Enjoy!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=gkuknur.4hr1s42n&Uy=d9i7tl&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=546196637268_654534144111

My friend Les Poitras also attended, flying to the reunion with a crewmate of his late grandfather. Les had a wonderful time.

My friend Les Poitras with Fortunato Carello, 350th Squadron Navigator, at the reunion.

After returning, Les got an email from the old commanding officer of the 390th and later the 100th, Thomas Jeffrey, who did not attend the reunion but was obviously with the vets and their families in spirit. Gen. Jeffrey writes:

Gen. Thomas Jeffrey, commander of the 100th Bomb Group, 1944.

"Greetings! Best wishes to the 100th Bomb Group reunion attendees! Wish I could be here to swap tall tales!

We are still hanging in here. We're ALL hanging in here; we're all still here, some just floating a little higher than before. As the old song says ".You take her up and spin her, and with an awful tear, your ship folds up, your wings fall off, but you will never care, for in two minutes max another pair you'll find. and dance with Pete and the angels sweet, and you will never mind." Well, never mind this old age stuff. We'll get through it, we always have. We're tough, made of strong fiber and all of my colleagues of yesteryear proved it - showed what they were made of. We're all steadily turning over the great 100th Bomb Group Foundation to younger members with new ideas, a fresh outlook, and a desire to be a part of it. And that is as it should be. The proud tradition carries on. And we are pleased.

Thank you for carrying on, thank you for cataloging the history, and keeping the memories alive.

I raise my glass to you all!

Maj. General Thomas S. Jeffrey Jr.
Commanding Officer
100th Bomb Group (H)"

Gen. Jeffrey with Glenn Miller before Miller's last concert of his life, at Thorpe Abbots, England. Miller perished shortly after playing this concert for the 100th Bomb Group.

Remembering September 11, 2001

In memory of the nearly 3,000 innocent civilians who died six years ago in New York City, Washington, D.C. and rural Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Typical Americans doing an honest day's work--fathers and husbands, wives and mothers, sons and daughters. Their crime--being Americans.

The incredible evil of that day--and the heroism of the people who confronted it--will never fade from memory. I spent the day watching the Trade Centers fall on live television with my classes of 14-and 15-year-olds. While many sporting events were cancelled that day, the high school soccer team I coached had a double-header that night, and we played it. It still amazes me anybody could focus on the games after the terrible slaughter we'd all witnessed.

The Falling Man, icon of the attack on the World Trade Centers, fell to his death at 9:41 on September 11. The man, 43-year-old Jonathan Briley, worked in the Windows of the World Restaurant at the top of the Trade Center.

Jonathan Briley

He was only one of thousands. Here below are the rest....

Never forget. And God bless them all.

Idaho State University Football

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

Today my son Matt and I went to the home opener for Idaho State University's football team. Idaho State has about 12,000 students, including Matt, who is a sophomore this year. Idaho State is located in Pocatello, Idaho, about 50 miles from Ammon, just the other side of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.

Idaho State played a smaller school from Oregon and won easily. The school, Southern Oregon, is in the town where my parents live, Ashland, Oregon. Small world.

Idaho State is one of the few college football teams to have an indoor stadium. It's called Holt Arena.

I forgot my camera, but here are some shots from a game last year.

I am more of a baseball and soccer fan, but enjoy the occasional football game.

Below, the exterior of the Holt Arena. Pictured are Matt Morris and his buddy Pedro 'Pepo' Mena. Both are currently sophomores at Idaho State.