L: Curtiss JN-4H Jenny - R: DH-4 Dorian Walker and I met here in Hollywood 40 years ago because we both had the same agent, the late Dick Sheppard, who thought that having a screenwriter client who was a Vietnam veteran (me) and a director client who was aVietnam veteran (Dorian), he ought to put us together and see if anything happened. Mostly what happened is we became good friends over the fact we were both stone airplane fanatics. Went out and did some flying together at Van Nuys Airport, went out to Planes of Fame for the airshows, etc. We also worked on a script about Mike Novosel, the last WW2 pilot to fly combat, as a helicopter Dust-Off (medical evacuation) pilot in Vietnam, where he won the Medal of Honor for going into the Valley of Death eight times to pull an ambushed ARVN platoon out, under fire. In 1992, the LA riots followed by a run-in with the upper levels of Mauschwitz (Disney) when he was directing a “Home Improvement” episode and had a conversation in the studio cafeteria with his 1st AD about the aesthetics of cartoon art, in which he took the position that Chuck Jones’ Bugs Bunny was superior to Mickey Mouse, and by the time he got back to his office, there was a letter on the desk from studio president Michael Eisner, telling him how much they liked working with him, but he should keep his artistic opinions to himself. Enough! as he said. With that, he moved wife and family back to Bowling Green, Kentucky, and returned to making award-winning documentaries.
Excellent. It makes me giddy with delight every time you treat us to a helping of your seeming inexhaustible font of knowledge about our military air history.
it's really, really good to have you pause for a few minutes (or, in this case, a little more, I'd wager a little more) and indulge your VOLUNTARY passion for OUR benefit (although I more than suspect it feels pretty good for you as well).
one of those odd little--and very minor--coincidences is that I re-watched the 1938 "Dawn Patrol" a few days ago. I've never seen the 1930 version that Hawks directed, but I bet you have.
it's been a shitty day here for entirely personal reasons, so reading this was even better for taking my mind off my own shit for awhile.
and, because of your Eisner story, my best friend of 6o years just left ten minutes ago, and he was the most-used orchestrator on a bunch of Disney features. he has nothing good to say about the assholes who run things there. and it's inconceivable that ANYONE could prefer Mickey to Bugs. in fact, I've always thought that Mickey has always had something kind of Nixonian about him, quite aside from Walt's incredibly vindictive, lying union-busting and (at the very least) borderline fascism.
Excellent. It makes me giddy with delight every time you treat us to a helping of your seeming inexhaustible font of knowledge about our military air history.
Thank you so very much for all this wonderful aviation history and the men,
including your friend with wings, who
have dedicated so much time into
preserving and flying these remarkable
early aircraft. Thank you, TC for your
service to our country. My husband was
a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, based at
Cu Chi and was KIA at Tay Ninh in 1969.
He gave me the love of aviation and
I was once a single engine rated pilot.
So thanks for this great journey.
I’ll mark my calendar to look for it on PBS on Veterans Day.
Fascinating, exciting, absorbing, tense and moving.
Thank you for sharing this insight into history and the brave men who did incredible feats. May their memories always be a blessing.
I just love these forays into your aviation passion!! You "resurrect" these men in your writing. The pictures are wonderful too. Thank you so much!!
Great piece of history TC. Thanks.
Thanks again for sharing history most of us just don't know.
Wow, I’ll watch it and like it. The sacrifices astound. So glad you’ve told the tale.
This is cool! 👍🏻
it's really, really good to have you pause for a few minutes (or, in this case, a little more, I'd wager a little more) and indulge your VOLUNTARY passion for OUR benefit (although I more than suspect it feels pretty good for you as well).
one of those odd little--and very minor--coincidences is that I re-watched the 1938 "Dawn Patrol" a few days ago. I've never seen the 1930 version that Hawks directed, but I bet you have.
it's been a shitty day here for entirely personal reasons, so reading this was even better for taking my mind off my own shit for awhile.
and, because of your Eisner story, my best friend of 6o years just left ten minutes ago, and he was the most-used orchestrator on a bunch of Disney features. he has nothing good to say about the assholes who run things there. and it's inconceivable that ANYONE could prefer Mickey to Bugs. in fact, I've always thought that Mickey has always had something kind of Nixonian about him, quite aside from Walt's incredibly vindictive, lying union-busting and (at the very least) borderline fascism.
thanks, Tom.
Fascinating history. Thank you.
A beautiful blessing. Thanks for this uplifting.
Thanks, TC ! Mom and dad would have loved this post. They were both WWII Aviaition Metalsmiths.
Many fond memories attending air shows with the family at Quonset Naval Air Station.Sometimes this Floridian really misses Rhode Island….sigh.
Wow. I got little chills running up my spine as I read the conclusion. I'll be watching for the show.
Thanks for this.
Joan Baez - Dona, Dona, Dona
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v