Living a positive life

"Nobody is trial-free, but we have a choice.  We can choose to allow our experiences to hold us back, and to not allow us to become great or achieve greatness in this life. Or we can allow our experiences to push us forward, to make us grateful for every day we have and to be all the more thankful for those who are around us."

Elizabeth Smart

D-Day + 70

Into the face of heavy German fire, June 6, 1944

There were lots of stories today about the D-Day anniversary tomorrow, and how D-Day "changed the course of the war." 

I disagree - these are empty, unthinking platitudes from people who don't understand how the war progressed and was won (or maybe it's just lazy, sloppy reporting). While the outcome was not yet assured in June 1944, the course of the war was settled long before the first landing craft hit the Normandy beaches. The course of the war was planned and agreed upon by the Allies many months before, as our leaders met on ships off Newfoundland and in the desert at Casablanca. 

WWII was conducted in two parts - Europe and the Pacific - and 1942 was a bleak, dark year for the Allies in both theaters. The almost universally acknowledged pivotal event of the Pacific War occurred before the peak of summer - the Japanese disaster at Midway. After that, the ultimate defeat of Japan was inevitable, even though that outcome was something viewed from a distance and wasn't obvious to most participants at the time. 

In the West by that fall, the Americans also joined the continuing Allied action against the Axis in North Africa. Allied efforts drove Rommel's vaunted Afrika Corps into the Mediterranean in 1943. Then the Americans and the British went on to Sicily and Italy, driving the Italians and Germans ever northward before them in a long, relentless and hotly fought campaign. After North Africa's defeats in 1942-43, the Germans never had any lasting victories again and the Italians closed up shop early.

 

During the war, a Liberty ship was completed by
an American shipyard about every 42 days.

During that time and peaking in 1944-45, the American industrial behemoth was cranking up - American steel, American manufacturing and American transport made the massive war-making efforts possible on a global, multi-front basis and scale. It helped supply the British, it helped supply the Russians, Canadians and the Chinese, and ultimately it supplied the needs of the increasingly involved American Army, Marines and Navy.* The invasion of North Africa, increasing Allied dominance in the North Atlantic and the turn-around in Russia, all fueled by American industrial might, these are the things that changed the course of the fight in the European theater.

*At the same time, Soviet industrial output was not insignificant.  Especially toward the latter years of the war, Russian production exceeded that of Germany in many respects.  But none of them could match what American industry could build and deliver, not even close. We built what was needed, and with the help of our allies, we delivered it where it was needed.

In the end, the war in Europe could not have been won without the Russians; it is largely true that World War II was won on the backs of the Russian people and they are justly proud of how they held, and then completely stopped and destroyed the Germans on Russian soil, before driving them all the way back to Berlin.  It also could not have been won without the British and the Americans, the Australians and every other nation, people and resistance movement that contributed to the Allied war effort. 

But "the battles on the Eastern Front constituted the largest military confrontation in history.  They [the battles] were characterized by unprecedented ferocity, wholesale destruction, mass deportations, and immense loss of life [both civilian and military] variously due to combat, starvation, exposure, disease, and massacres."  [Wikipedia]. The West owes a huge debt of thanks to the people of the former Soviet Union for what they did, and for what they sacrificed, during those years.

8th AF B-17 over Marienburg, Germany

The war could not have been won without American industrial might. It could not have been won without the massive successes of Allied air power - the strategic bombing campaign had more detrimental effects on German war-making ability than anyone realized at the time.

Had we known what to hit sooner, we might have been able to end the war months earlier than we did; but the most crippling blows were not understood at the time - those specifically against German transportation systems, energy sources and synthetic fuel plants and depots. General Spaatz apparently understood this, but many other strategic planners did not. Allied air operations between autumn 1943 and D-day virtually neutralized the German air force - and almost completely prevented them from attacking the landing beaches on June 6th.  Our invasion would very likely have failed had it been opposed by the second-to-none Luftwaffe as it existed in 1943.

D-Day was the beginning of the end for the Germans in the west. German decisions and actions subsequent to the invasion hastened that end and assured its inevitability.  But that end was already underway from the Russian thrust in the east and from the Allied efforts in the Med. 

I would never discount the monumental undertaking that was D-Day -- nor the courage and sacrifice of the ones who prosecuted it. It was a necessary step. It was a huge risk and in the end, a huge success. It was the greatest sea-borne invasion in history, before or since, and a massive undertaking almost beyond comprehension. 

But it was not the turning point. Instead, D-Day was a critical step along the way to a carefully-planned outcome made possible by events (victories) that had already occurred.  If you want to pinpoint them, German failure to defeat England in 1940, the reversal of German fortunes in the North Atlantic, Rommel's defeat in North Africa and Russia's offensives causing the steady defeat and withdrawal of German forces from Soviet soil beginning in December 1942, these were the watershed moments, the "turning points."

In honor of the Allied soldiers and sailors and their officers, and our great nations, whose steadfast resolve, dedication and bravery won the greatest war ever fought, against two truly evil empires. I hope we never forget what they accomplished and at what cost.

Summer Pickles

Would you care for a pickle?

Not my recipe, but I made these simple pickles the other day and they are very good.  I've gobbled up almost an entire jar already. I found the recipe on the internet at http://allrecipes.com/recipe/summertime-sweet-pickles/ - it was posted by LIZ1888 of Lansing, MI.

These are not processed (although you easily could), but are kept in the refrigerator.  So it is a small batch. First, grow some cucumbers, then...

Ingredientes:

2 lbs pickling cucumbers, washed, cut off a bit of the "blossom" end (the one opposite the stem end), and sliced however you like.

1 med onion, sliced

2 cups sugar
2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/4 cups canning or kosher salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mustard seed


1. Prepare two quart canning jars and lids.

2. Prepare the cucumbers as noted.

3. Loosely pack the cucumbers and onion slices in the clean jars in layers.

4. Put the remaining ingredients for the brine in a sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to med or low, cover and cook for 5 mins.  I cooked it at just above a simmer -- a low boil.

5. Fill the jars with the hot brine until the pickles are covered.  Remove any air bubbles by running a blade or a spatula around inside the jar. 

6. Put the lids on and store in refrigerator for at least 24 hours before serving. They should "keep" for a good long while (like any jar of pickles when kept refrigerated).

You may add a clove or two of garlic to each jar if you like.  Oh... and you may have to make additional batches of the brine to have enough to cover your pickles -- one batch is approximately enough to do 2 quart jars. 

 

Uncle Bob’s Advice to Everybody

Schultz

Take care of and be good to others (ALL others) and don’t expect government to do it, because that’s never what government is about.  Stand up for your friends – stand up for what’s right.  Make your voice heard even if it causes you trouble. Bad and evil things happen when good people look the other way.

Sunday Morning Waffles

Here's a simple and quick recipe for waffles on a Sunday morning.   It's not my creation, but I'm not sure whose it is.  Hopefully, they won't mind us sharing it anyway!

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
2 TB sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups warm or room-temp milk
1/3 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla

Break the eggs into a medium or large mixing bowl.  Add the milk, melted butter and vanilla.  Whisk together until blended.  Add the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar (I would whisk these all together dry before adding to the liquid ingredients).  Whisk just until blended.

Bake in your hot waffle "iron" until done.  This will probably make about 5 or 6 waffles depending on the size of your waffle maker.  Mine is kind of a little one, so it's hard to tell!

I didn't take a photo -- but I will next time.  But they looked just like waffles look...  This recipe is easily halved if you're only serving two.
 

In Amelia's Footsteps

A few years back, I spent a day in Lower Manhattan. I had driven with Mandy across the country to her new residence in Queens and while she reported to work for her first day on a new job, I took the subway to the City for a quick walkabout.  I rode the Staten Island Ferry, walked to the site of the World Trade Center and generally enjoyed being in that wonderful and historical place for a few moments. The next day, I got on a plane and came home.  It was the only time I have ever spent there – and as it was extremely limited (and as I was sick as a dog with a sudden cold), of course I am planning a return trip someday. There is more to see of New York City.

I have recently been reading much about Amelia Earhart.  I am reading about her and I am reading the few books she wrote herself.  She’s such an icon that few today know who she really was.  Even in her own time, her public “face” was carefully constructed and deliberately controlled to the extent it could be.  But in reading her own words, I feel I am getting to know her to a degree.

Whitehall Building in 1930

Tonight, while reading in her book The Fun Of It, written and published in 1932, she wrote of having visited the Head Weatherman of the USA (in those times), a man who collected and disseminated the National Weather Service’s forecasts to interested parties.  His name was "Dr. Kimball." She had made use of his services while she was involved in planning and executing the 1928 transatlantic flight in the Friendship with Wilmer Stultz and Louis Gordon where she was the “first woman to fly the Atlantic” (actually as baggage, as she put it, but that's another story).  This was about one year after Lindbergh flew to Paris in the Spirit of St Louis. 


Earhart’s profession, after that first Atlantic flight, was “promoter of aviation and its possibilities.”  Up until that flight and the doors it opened for her, she was not a career aviator.  But in this new role, as America’s ambassador of flight, she went to see this nationally-renowned meteorologist in his headquarters atop the Whitehall Building near Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, he whose information was indispensable to the aeronautical adventurers of that day.  There, she learned how each day’s weather data was collected, plotted, and predicted, and what this weather guru thought should be the future needs of his profession and its work, as it grew.  Much of what they discussed has come to pass in the subsequent years.

Whitehall Building as it looks today!

This Whitehall Building, where Amelia visited at some point between 1928 and 1932?  It is at 17 Battery Place across the street from Battery Park.  I looked it up on Google maps to see if it is still there.  It is.  I saw the satellite photo, and tonight, I looked at the front doors that Amelia walked through on her way to her interview upstairs (I love Google Street View).


I walked right past those front doors as I walked about Lower Manhattan that day a few years back. I am sure I looked at that building – because I looked at them all while letting the sights and sounds of Manhattan soak in.  So I discovered this evening that I have stood where Amelia Earhart stood and walked where she walked!  You know how I love to do that, live history.  Bliss.

NOTAM - A notice to present day airmen (and women) from an old and timid aviator.

I am an eternal student pilot and here are two of the main things I have learned: (1) no one is exempt from the laws of physics and (2) attitude is everything. Ernie Gann believed that the outcome in flying was largely controlled by "fate."  I only agree with that partially; we also quite often make our own luck.

I have been a pilot for many years (still a student though).  I started flying as a teen in the mid to late 1960s, and gained the first of my civil licenses in 1975.  Although I do not fly anymore,  I have something to say that is relevant.  If you fly, this is for you.  I survived my mistakes (often through dumb-luck) and I learned how to keep from bending aluminum and shearing wings off on trees. I never landed gear-up, mostly because I learned from others that it can be difficult to taxi back to the ramp once you do that…

From the beginning, back in the late 60s, what causes aircraft crashes has been of interest to me because foremost, I saw that many crashes happen for the same reasons over and over again.  There isn’t much new under the sun when it comes to human nature and physics, although we do still get surprised occasionally.  I love to fly and while I understand the risks, meeting my death doing so was never in my plans.  In examining the circumstances and errors of those air men and women who have augered flying machines into the ground, or rocketed straightforwardly into the cumulo-granite, we might avoid the same fate. 

Others agree with this basic approach; this is why the FAA and the AOPA sponsor Aviation Safety Seminars; this is why we pilots practice our flying skills repetitively.  Back in the good old days, I used to make it a matter of religiosity to read the MASS report first page to last, every single month (a summary of NTSB crash investigations). I’ve still got ‘em around here somewhere, along with all my old textbooks on flight physiology, of which I was a devoted student for about thirty years.

We drill, we fly simulators where we can set up emergency scenarios and aircraft failures of almost unlimited varieties, and learn how to extricate ourselves safely from the deep, dark pit of air-crash smoking-hole despair while there is still blue sky below.  We do this (study and drill) so our responses are correctly ingrained when mere seconds count. The worst advice ever given to a pilot whose “engine was on fire, hydraulic gone, gear won’t budge,” was "just wing it.”  While we make jokes about that, and about what a “good landing” is, these jokes are left behind when it’s wheels-up time because bouncing is not standard operating procedure for landings.  Aviating is serious business and should be undertaken only by those who can think, not only quickly but correctly.

From a time shortly after the Wrights first flew from a North Carolina beach, flight into adverse weather has been killing us.  Neophytes and experten alike have suffered this untimely demise on regular intervals through the years. It results from hubris, it results from get-there-itis, it results from ignorance. It results from thinking that because you have a “hot” and capable aircraft, you are somehow exempt (or more exempt) than the “other” guy.  Sometimes we think because of our immense load of piloting skill that we will somehow recognize impending doom and through those superior skills, think and act on the fly, in time, and survive.  This is the pilot the government’s flying manuals many years ago used to call “Ace Manymotors.”  Ace was the bad example.  Ace was an oblivious idiot.  Ace was, once or twice, or three times, me.

Uh..  no go?

Now that I’ve set this up for you, let me get to the point.  When it comes to weather, I learned early on what “go” and “no-go” was, sometimes almost by mistake.  Light general-aviation aircraft are what I am talking about. High-performance aircraft operate in a different world and they blast through yours in a hurry, if you're a GA pilot.  They have their own set of problems.  But if you are flying something with limited ceiling, in which group I include anything under FL250, you live and breathe as an aviator in an often stormy, dangerous world.  You need to learn what go and no-go is, visually. Those who do, survive.

I was lucky enough to survive my encounters with Jupiter Pluvius and his bastard off-spring (and in some instances, luck was all it was).  But you, if you are young or green, might never have seen what “no-go” is.  Go flying with, and listen to, the more conservative greybeards in your hangar (but not the crazy ones). Don’t be ashamed not to risk it.  If you are not sure, stay on the ground if you can’t give bad weather or poor visibility a wide-berth.  Don't just rely on the meteorologists either - they can get it terminally wrong.  Most of them work in basements with no windows and they haven't looked out there for hours.  It's true, I wouldn't lie to you.  Do you know when the last totally accurate weather forecast was?  It was when God told Noah...  Really, get all the information you can, but be sure to use your own eyes; there's no substitute.  A pilot has always been taught that he or she is responsible to collect all the available information concerning any proposed flight - and nothing is more important.

A couple of times, here in the intermountain west, I looked ahead to clouds and thunderstorm activity and thought, “I can make it through that, look, there’s light at the end of that tunnel," only to soil myself from "excitement" shortly thereafter -  when said storm threatened (or succeeded) to engulf me while I was scud-running.

In December 2013, a “good” pilot flew his beautiful Beech single into a rocky tree-covered ridge, after flying into and losing his engine (and his lift) in “known icing conditions.”  I’m not being facetious about his flying skills; I didn’t know him, whether he was a cautious man or a risk-taker and I don't know what was in his mind.  I only know that he was reported by others as a competent aviator.  Still, I wonder who didn’t teach him that storms like he was facing in the northern Rockies that day are no-go?

This pilot had just overflown a primitive back country airstrip, when, with rising terrain in front of him he reportedly picked up a load of ice. He not only had structural ice, but induction ice as well. The aircraft had a mechanism to clear the induction ice, but the pilot may not have followed procedures to accomplish that (that mechanism was determined to have been functional by the NTSB crash investigators).  It's also possible that the ice was so heavy that it overwhelmed the aircraft's capability to clear it.

He was apparently attempting to get back to that field he had just overflown. If you take a look at the approach to that field [Yellow Pine, ID] in clear weather, it is in the bottom of a narrow valley, almost a gulch, with high ridges on both sides. There are "YouTube" videos of the twisting approach to it; take a look at them. This is a tricky approach even in VFR conditions.  It was impossible in bad weather, with a load of ice and no power. He flew into a situation where he had zero chance.  Unfortunately, by the time he realized that desperate fact it was too late. 

From where I sit...

From the safety of my armchair, I can tell you that looking right in front of him and knowing the reported weather, he had to know this was a risky day for flying in a light single, IFR or not, even a high-performance one, and yet he took four others of his family with him.  His judgment that morning was definitely flawed.  At the risk of being preachy, what is it about nasty weather that we don't "get?"  Bad weather can kill you no matter who you are, and it will.  He deliberately flew into it, he quite predictably suffered the worst possible set of circumstances and failures, and he ended up without any options.  We never think it can happen to us, but it does happen on a regular basis.  It happens so frequently that some almost consider it normal.  So until you know what go or no-go is definitively, don’t guess. The plains, the forests and the mountain-sides are liberally scattered with the wreckage of those who did. Some of them were my friends.  

I wish "rest in peace" to the victims of this mishap.  Even more, I wish peace and comfort for the wide circle of friends and family these fine people left behind.  But these deaths were preventable and I find that excruciatingly sad.

[The NTSB's report on this incident cited continued flight into known icing conditions as the primary cause of the crash.]