Harold Watson was raised as a Farm Boy on an Indiana farm but had a childhood dream of becoming a Fighter Pilot. There are more than 30 pictures throughout the book illustrating his path from Farm Boy to Fighter Pilot And Beyond. This autobiography addresses the hyphen that is often in tombstones separating the date of birth and date of death. There is a candid discussion of setbacks and successes of his nearly four score life, about a third lived serving in the USAF. His Air Force career began with graduation from the USAF Academy followed the next day by marrying Bette Jayne (B.J.) Douglas. During their 26-year career they served in 15 different permanent duty assignments throughout the United States and four foreign nations. It is an inspiring memoir that records a well-lived, exemplifying Life, Goals, Finishing Strong and Lessons Learned along the way. It offers fantastic lessons to anyone that reads it. Throughout the book there is a recognition of his support team, including his wife, family, peers, and Lord. In writing this book, Hal is passing the baton from past to future generations and emphasizing that it isn't where you start, it is how you handle both successes and challenges, and finish strong.
At age eight, God gave Colonel Lackey a vision of being a fighter pilot. Later, a photo of General Douglas McArthur contributed to that previous vision. This vision led to an illustrious career for Colonel Hank Lackey. Yet experiencing the world in a cockpit wasn t the only event that Hank appreciated most in his life. His autobiography, From Farm-Boy to Fighter Pilot, reflects on navigating God s path and purpose for him from childhood to adulthood. Primarily raised by his grandfather on a farm, Hank was introduced to the merit of hard work and belief that more was planned for his life. He started up the army ranks as a civilian payroll specialist, later becoming an Air Force fighter pilot during the Korean War. However, what defined his life most was witnessing God lead the way of faith for him as an international secretary for a Christian organization. Sharing what Jesus did for him was the real dream come true. Colonel Hank Lackey s faith in God and awareness of Jesus in his life will heighten the power of his memories and trace every achievement he has made to God s purpose for him. His desire is that his story will live on inspiring and encouraging others for generations to come. "
This is the story of a WW2 P-40 pilot from induction to separation. The narrative takes the reader from 1941 to 1946 and includes the China, Burma, India theater of operations. Excerpts from letters home and photos bring to life this fascinating tale of adventure. Publication of this book celebrates the 100th birthday of the author who resides in the Pacific Northwest.
From Indiana farm boy to Vietnam fighter pilot and beyond, Fredrick L. Pumroy often seemed to "live on the edge." Stories about his narrow escapes from enemy anti-aircraft fire over the Ho Chi Minh Trail and dances with death in all manner of aircraft make for very entertaining reading in his cleanly written memoir, Born to Live on The Edge. This one hundred-page book is a must-read for pilots-or for anyone who dreams of becoming one. Such readers will sigh with envy to read of a gift the eight-year-old Pumroy received from his father: a small, one-seat plane that the boy and his father flew around in over the family farm until his father was forced to sell the plane. A high school jock who also played sports in college, Pumroy joined the Air Force with every intention of becoming a fighter pilot. It was on his first mission as a Forward Air Controller that reality overcame dreams of glory: "I hadn't been shot at before and I didn't like it," he remembers, adding that over a two-month period his aircraft "took 309 bullet holes." The section on Vietnam, Loas and Cambodia is among the more exciting and best-written in this short memoir. There are chapters on flying all types of aircraft-military and civilian, commercial and private-and none are dull. While he always thanked the Lord for keeping him alive through the dangers he faced, after one near-fatal incident the veteran pilot says he began to wonder just "how many more fixes God would get me out of." The book is written in a clean and crisp manner, and it is illustrated with photos taken by the author, some while flying over hostile territory. There are stories about drinking games and boyish pranks that pilots in a war zone partake in to cope with stress, and there are little asides about friends, comrades, and some top brass Pumroy met during his flying years. All of these people and events are related in a straightforward style that is honest without being cloyingly personal. As with many people in hazardous jobs, not every day in Pumroy's life was dangerous, exciting, or particularly interesting. The chapters about his farm and school days, his time "flying a desk," and his post-Air Force career as a technical consultant may be of most interest to friends and family, or to other once-dashing flyboys whose days of danger and glory are long gone. From the death-defying to the mundane, Pumroy kindly shares his memories with readers.
From his childhood growing up in Depression-era rural Manitoba to his rise through the ranks to become a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Col Gordon Brennand’s memoir, Farm Boy to Flyboy, is as much a history of the RCAF in the twentieth century as it is an account of his own life. Born a bit too late to participate in WWII, Gordon was inspired by Canada’s involvement in the Korean War to pursue a life in the military. After a failed start in the Navy, he enlisted with the Air Force with faint hopes of perhaps becoming a fighter pilot. Not only did he succeed, he logged four thousand hours on various jet aircraft types including over 1100 hours on the F-86 Sabre, which was the state-of-the-art fighter jet throughout most his thirty-four-year career, not to mention hundreds of hours on various other types of aircraft. He experienced several close calls during that time, including one incident when he had to eject and another when he had to force land due to engine failure. He went on to command two bases and has spent time living in most Canadian provinces as well as Germany, where he served for three years during the Cold War. Fascinating and insightful, this book will appeal to those who are fascinated by the military and flying as well as those who are simply seeking a first-person account of what life was really like for the men and women who served in the RCAF throughout one of the most pivotal periods of twentieth-century history.
"Whitey- - From Farm Kid to Flying Tiger to Attorney, is the fascinating and riveting story of a boy, the 11th of 14 children of Norwegian immigrant parents, who grew up on tenant farms in rural Minnesota during the Great Depression. Johnson describes in graphic detail the harsh conditions under which the family lived and survived. "We were poor but didn't know it." With commendable honesty, Johnson's story illuminates the indiscretions of youth against the backdrop of a rural farm family. His story takes us through the extraordinary journey of one man who has seen more in his life, so far, than most of us could ever imagine. Wayne "Whitey" Johnson enlisted in the Air Corps on 8 December, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Trained as a fighter pilot in the P-40 Warhawk and the P-51 Mustang, Wayne was sent to China to join the famed Flying Tigers. He was stationed in an area of far eastern China referred to as the "pocket," surrounded by Japanese troops less than 50 miles away. He relates the grim realities of war with startling realism, graphically portraying the triumphs and tragedies - and the joys and sorrows - of young men at war. Whitey, as part of a flight of 16 P-51 Mustang fighters, participated in the first fighter strike against Japanese airdromes near Shanghai. Coming in at tree-top level, and catching the enemy by complete surprise, they destroyed 97 Japanese planes - mostly on the ground - without loss of any Americans. After the war, he became a successful attorney, setting a record as the longest-serving City Attorney in the United States, serving two cities for over fifty years. Continuing his activity in Aviation, Johnson was named Mr. Aviation of Minnesota in 1968. He was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 2001. The Silver Bay (MN) airport was renamed the Wayne Johnson Airport in his honor in 2005 - an honor few living airmen enjoy. He has flown over 60 military and civilian aircraft and piloted his own plane into his mid-eighties."--Back cover.
From his childhood growing up in Depression-era rural Manitoba to his rise through the ranks to become a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), Col Gordon Brennand’s memoir, Farm Boy to Flyboy, is as much a history of the RCAF in the twentieth century as it is an account of his own life. Born a bit too late to participate in WWII, Gordon was inspired by Canada’s involvement in the Korean War to pursue a life in the military. After a failed start in the Navy, he enlisted with the Air Force with faint hopes of perhaps becoming a fighter pilot. Not only did he succeed, he logged four thousand hours on various jet aircraft types including over 1100 hours on the F-86 Sabre, which was the state-of-the-art fighter jet throughout most his thirty-four-year career, not to mention hundreds of hours on various other types of aircraft. He experienced several close calls during that time, including one incident when he had to eject and another when he had to force land due to engine failure. He went on to command two bases and has spent time living in most Canadian provinces as well as Germany, where he served for three years during the Cold War. Fascinating and insightful, this book will appeal to those who are fascinated by the military and flying as well as those who are simply seeking a first-person account of what life was really like for the men and women who served in the RCAF throughout one of the most pivotal periods of twentieth-century history.
A true story told by the author in his own words. Share his life with him as a small boy growing up on his share-cropper Dad's mule-and-horse Georgia farm. Live his dream of becoming a pilot - a fighter pilot. Feel his disappointments time and time again in his struggle to realize his dream; with eventual success through perseverance and dogged determination. Rejoice with him in marrying his boyhood dream-girl and together raising a great family. Grieve with him on losing a son and wife; and the eventual joy at finding and marrying a lovely English nurse. Know his many close calls in life, and during his 33+ years of military service - literally dodging bullets; ejecting from a jet aircraft; surviving a fiery aircraft crash; ground combat; and prostate cancer. This is a story for everyone: young, old and in-between; military and civilian.
By the time the war clouds of Europe and Asia spilled onto the shores of the United States, the allied military found itself outmanned, outgunned and out flown. The United States, still reeling from the Great Depression, was in a technological disadvantage in all branches of the military. This included, of course, a viable air force. There have been volumes of books written about the development of US airpower and the technological specifications of each American or Allied aircraft. This is not one of them. This book focuses on the young men who answered the call to duty and were literally transformed from “farm boys to fighter pilots.” It offers a rare glimpse of what it was like to fly a variety of frontline fighters in World War II. From Army Air Force P-39 Aircobras, P-40 Warhawk’s, P-38 Lightning’s, P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustang’s to US Navy F4F Wildcats, F4U Corsairs and F6F Hellcats. Each story is told in descriptive detail, with the inclusion of actual combat reports contained in many of the stories. Many of the pilots depicted also achieved the status of ace with five or more aerial victories.
In 1942, Virgil Westdale was a successful young flight instructor when the government ousted him from the Air Corps and demoted him to army private. Having grown up as a Japanese American midwestern farm boy, Westdale had his first taste of Japanese culture when he was sent to train with the all Japanese American unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He was ultimately transferred to the 522nd Artillery Battalion, where, as a member of the Fire Direction Center, he helped push the Germans out of Italy, rescue the Lost Battalion in France, and free prisoners from Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. After the war, Westdale went on to pursue a career in research and development with large corporations. He received twenty-five U.S. patents and earned an international award for his work with photocopier components. In retirement, he has been working for the TSA, returning to the worlds of aviation and national security. Written for the lay reader as well as the history buff, Westdale's stories of World War II challenge preconceived notions of what we think we know about a soldier's life in Europe and offer images that go beyond the history books. ---"Spanning over ninety years, Virgil's amazing and complex life story vividly reflects America's history from the early 1900s to our current fight against terrorism. His book reads if he were sitting before me casually sharing his life. A highlight of my career both as an Army officer and a Federal Civil Servant has been the honor of working with and getting to know Virgil Westdale, a great American. This is a truly fascinating and memorable autobiography." John H. Mumma, Colonel, US Army Retired Federal Security Director, Transportation Security Administration ---"Virgil Westdale's Blue Skies and Thunder tells a story that is both unique in American history and uniquely American. After growing up as a Midwestern farm boy whose Japanese father had largely assimilated into the local community, he found himself after Pearl Harbor viewed with suspicion by the very government he wanted to serve in the Second World War. Denied a chance to serve as a military pilot, or even as a pilot trainer, he eventually found his way into a newly created Japanese American artillery unit and served with distinction in Italy, France and Germany. Back in the United States, he completed college and made a career for himself as an engineer with multiple patents to his credit, and eventually served his country a second time, as an airport security officer. His account is highly readable and offers insights into a wide range of aspects of both his own life and the world around him." Dr. James Smither, Director Grand Valley State University Veterans History Project
