Category: Blogs @ “Colonel C. J. Tippett”


Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Has Many Of The Aircraft Models That Tip Flew!

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett" by Corinne — Comments Off on Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum Has Many Of The Aircraft Models That Tip Flew!
August 31, 2012
In the cockpit with Col C. J. Tippett

Standing in the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum, I can really imagine how it was to fly these amazing aircraft. Except The Spruce Goose. That defies imagination.

The Beechcraft Staggerwing and the Republic RC-3 Seabee, and the Fairchild PT-19, and the deHavilland Vampire…
Colonel Cloyce Joseph Tippett would have recognized every plane in there, because he flew almost every kind of plane in there!

All in one place, all in perfect condition, and I could walk right up to them all.

There’s a Douglas DC-3, and a Curtiss JN4, and a Curtiss Robin… and that’s not even the full list.

It was so awesome that I didn’t even notice the Gigantic Enormous Legendary aircraft sitting in the middle of them all.
The Spruce Goose, sitting right there.

I was staring at the helicopters, fighters, and B17 Flying Fortress.

This is the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
It’s under an hour from my home in Portland, Oregon and it’s way way bigger than I ever imagined.

The museum was created by Captain Michael King Smith and his father, Delford M. Smith. Captain Michael King Smith had a powerful passion for aviation and dreamed of founding a museum. As Captain Smith pursued flight all the way to the cockpit of a jet fighter for the US Air Force, he and his father collected the aircraft for the museum. When Captain Smith died in a car accident in 1995, his father completed the vision. This understated fact, described on the Evergreen website, doesn’t capture the story. When I stepped inside the Evergreen Aviation Museum, I immediately realized that this was a labor of love and respect beyond a simple passion for aviation. This museum is bigger, better, and more comprehensive than any I had been in since the Smithsonian in DC.

These are some of the aircraft that my grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett, flew during his lifetime of aviation pioneering – the basis for my book about his adventures. The opportunity to walk among these aircraft is invaluable. To see the size of the cockpits, the reach of the wings, the materials they are built from, and to imagine Tip flying them.

I had heard about the museum but I never imagined it was so amazing. I thought it was going to be hard to find, but the signs on the road were clear, and the full-size, real-life, retired commercial aircraft sitting on top of the waterpark at the museum caught my eye in time for me to make the turn. (There is also a waterpark there, also awesome, and totally overlooked in my aviation-drenched mind.)

I not only highly recommend this museum for anyone living in, or visiting, Portland, Oregon… I think I’m going to go back there this weekend!

 

Tags: , , ,
Permalink

Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Cloyce Joseph Tippett… Bugs Moran

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett", Famous People Who Met My Grandfather by Corinne — Comments Off on Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Cloyce Joseph Tippett… Bugs Moran
August 24, 2012
Bugs Moran met Cloyce Joseph Tippett

This photo is from Christine Nyholm’s article on suite101.com

Welcome to my series about the many famous people who met my grandfather, Colonel Cloyce Joseph Tippett, as he pursued his passion for aviation, big game sport fishing, and international diplomacy.

Introducing:

Bugs Moran

George Clarence Moran met my grandfather, Tip, in the winter of 1930, when George was thirty-nine years old and Tip was sixteen. Tip was a short-order cook working the night shift in his step-father’s restaurant in Port Clinton, Ohio. Bugs Moran was a Chicago gangster, ordering up steak and coffee on a freezing night while leading a midnight bootlegging convey away from the shores of Lake Erie.

Bugs Moran’s gang had recently been gunned down by Al Capone in the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, but Moran had found twelve more men to help him that night, and Tip fed them all.  In Tip’s memoir, which is included in my book, Tip noted that the men’s appetites were insatiable. He cooked and served twenty steak dinners. And noticed the shoulder-holstered .45 automatics some of the men were wearing.

Tip came through just fine. Turns out Bugs Moran was a good tipper.

Tip went on to become the director of the South American office of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Bugs Moran went on to spread mayhem and eventually die of lung cancer, which seems somewhat ironic considering his line of work.

More cool stories are in my soon-to-be-released book about my grandfather, Colonel Cloyce Joseph Tippett. Contact me if you’d like to be put on the book release list! And check back soon for the next Famous Person Who Met My Grandfather.

 

 

 

 

Tags: ,
Permalink

How To Choose A Title For A Book

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett", Blogs @ "Just a Couple of Chickens", How To Series... Step By Step by Corinne — Comments Off on How To Choose A Title For A Book
August 10, 2012
Cloyce Joseph Tippett Wendelins Basketball Team

Maybe somewhere in the photos lurks inspiration for the title. Like… why isn’t my grandfather dressed out? “The Aviator Who Didn’t Dress Out…” hmmmm

As a self publisher, I have the delightful burden of choosing a title for my book.

If I had a book deal with a traditional publisher, this would probably be out of my hands, and also out of my control. Usually, the idea that such an important issue for my book would be out of my control makes me glad to be a self publisher. But not this time. Choosing a title for a book can be a hard slog.

The title for my first book, Just a Couple of Chickens, came easily. It was a family catch phrase during the whole time we were struggling with over 101 infant poultry that arrived from my online catalog order.

“I thought you said you’d ordered just a couple of chickens,” my husband kept saying.

The sequel to that book, which is currently underway, has also come easily.

“Just a couple more?” asked Andrew. “Just a couple more what? Not chickens, right?”

But for my grandfather’s aviation history biography, I’m stumped. It’s got a working title of “CJT, A Biography” because my grandfather is Cloyce Joseph Tippett and it’s a biography. Riveting start. He was such a pioneer in the history of aviation, I must be able to do better than that.

I’ve compiled a list of book title building tips from my research here-there-and-everywhere, and I’ll post again once I’ve successfully found out how to choose a title for my book.

 Here is what the experts suggest to help me choose a title for my book, and I’m going to try each approach:

  •  Write down everything I can think of and everything everyone suggests
  •  Search the genre in amazon and see what other titles there are for other similar books
  •  Sum up my book in one sentence. Write several of these sentences.
  •  Choose a detail of the book and name the book after that detail.
  •  Check out Google keywords on the topic and zero in on the best keywords
  •  Make a list of nouns and verbs that reflect the book topic, then cut them up and line them up in different combinations
  •  Have a 92 character limit, so that it’ll fit in the  Books In Print catalog
  •  List my chapter titles, maybe the title is lurking there
  • Read the book and write down any sentences or paragraphs that capture your title imagination
  •  Sleep on it. Literally, have the title list under my pillow and sleep on it.

(That last tip suits me best. If there’s something I’m good at, it’s sleeping!)  I’ll keep you posted!

 

Tags: , , ,
Permalink

Air Force One Is Double-Parked At PDX…

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett" by Corinne — Comments Off on Air Force One Is Double-Parked At PDX…
July 24, 2012
Colonel C J Tippett did not fly Air Force One

Air Force One at PDX in Portland, Oregon on July 24th, 2012.

I can ignore one pass of a heavy helicopter over the house… immersed in my blogging as I am, but I cannot ignore three.
So low and so loud that it shakes my pen off my desk… I finally realize that Something Is Going On In Portland.

It is a Coast Guard helicopter and it isn’t landing. It’s circling just beyond the hospital, towards the river, towards the…. Convention Center.

ah, President Obama is visiting Portland, Oregon today. I remember. I made a note to remind myself because traffic was going to be utter hell on that day. But I forgot. And based on the twitter traffic #ObamaPDX, it wouldn’t have mattered if I had remembered. The max trains and the pedestrian walkways and the freeways and the surface streets are all standing still as the motorcade passes. Wow. Thousands of people are going to be late this afternoon, no matter where they were going. Kind of a downside to rating high enough as a voting block to earn a visit from the President of the United States.

But I am focused on getting my grandfather’s aviation history biography ready for release and I cannot be distracted for long by such things as current events… until I realize that if President Obama is at the Convention Center, then…….
Air Force One must be double-parked at PDX!!

And sure ‘nuf, yes it is. Now that catches my attention.

Because the very first Air Force One was a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, and that was one of the 98+ aircraft that my grandfather flew!  Not while it was actually designated Air Force One, and not the actual plane that was the first Air Force One, but a plane that was the same kind of plane. Maybe a bit of a reach, but heck, I’m stuck where I am right now because traffic is totally frozen – including foot traffic – so I might as well let my mind soar.

“Air Force One” is actually only an air traffic control sign given to whatever aircraft is carrying the president. Maybe that makes his big black limo “Street Force One” right now. Today’s big bird out at PDX is a Boeing VC-25, the military version of the Boeing 747, only with more missiles than commercial craft usually carry.

But back in 1945, Air Force One referred to a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, and Tip piloted that model aircraft for 8:05 hrs and 7:55 hrs in August, 1958 in and out of Limatambo Airport in Lima, Peru.

Now, I figure that practically makes me best friends with the president and I’m wondering why I wasn’t one of the invitation-only people attending his speech, and being served voodoo doughnuts bacon-and-maple bars.

Seriously, twitter must be the secret service’s worst nightmare.

 

 

Tags: , ,
Permalink

The Internet and My Research on Cloyce J. Tippett

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett" by Corinne — Comments Off on The Internet and My Research on Cloyce J. Tippett
July 6, 2012

Party like it’s 1943!

I started researching my grandfather, Cloyce Joseph Tippett, for a biography twenty years ago. I used libraries, magazines,  US Government military and civilian archives, museums, personal connections… every “old school” research method I could find. As the Internet became available, I used it too.

With my Dad’s help, I ordered a copy of my grandfather’s military record – which was a treasure trove of dates and facts. The sheer volume of paperwork that the US Military can produce is amazing.

In the last three years, researching my grandfather’s biography became an entirely new thing. For one thing, it became FUN!  The evolution of both search engine function and more sources to search from resulted in an astonishing difference between researching now and researching ten years ago.

One example, out of hundreds: Jefferson Caffery was the US Ambassador to Brazil during the time my grandfather, Cloyce Joseph Tippett, was establishing civil aviation in Brazil. My grandmother, Louise, attended several evening functions with the Ambassador and had salty opinions of the “going-ons”… This story is supported by a few documents in Tip’s letter archive, but voila!  The University of Louisiana, Lafayette, in the Edith Garland Dupre Library Special Collections and Archives has the Jefferson Caffery Collection, and double voila, in box 48-f, under the “T-U-V” correspondence list, is Tippett, Cloyce J.: American Embassy, Rio.

For me, this is external confirmation of an interaction between Tip and Ambassador Caffery – which is important in supporting the story with facts. I think of it as provenance.  It’s just so cool. Almost as cool as partying with Ambassador Caffery on Ipanema Beach in 1943.

The book is getting closer and closer to being ready… let me know if you want to be on the release announcement list!

 

 

Tags: , ,
Permalink

86 different aircraft and counting…

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett" by Corinne — Comments Off on 86 different aircraft and counting…
March 20, 2012

When I began to turn my grandfather’s manuscript into a book, I never expected to learn about so many different aircraft…
I don’t think any of us expected quite so many…
It’s a story in itself, the sheer diversity of ships he managed to take-off in…

Colonel Cloyce Joseph Tippett, USAF Reserve, started out in a Curtiss JN4, a Jenny, with an OX-5 engine that Tip could take apart and reassemble himself, thanks to the hands on experience of an Uncle.  The latest ship I’ve written into the book is a Douglas C-54  Skymaster, the type of plane that was the first Air Force One for President Truman in the ’50s. Big multi-engine passenger plane… really big… and now Tip is eyeing jet aircraft –

Now I’m wondering, what will the final tally be?

Sky’s the Limit…

Tags:
Permalink

26 different aircraft and counting…

Filed Under: Blogs @ "Colonel C. J. Tippett" by Corinne — Comments Off on 26 different aircraft and counting…
December 18, 2011

Every time I handle the pilot’s log, I know that I’m doing a very special thing.
This is a museum quality piece of aviation history and I am deeply impressed.

It is a diary of flights, aircraft, activities. It is amazing.

Col. C. J. Tippett, who was my grandfather, flew everything he could climb into. And the book I’m writing is now beautifully enriched by as much research as I can do on each of those bizillion planes. Twenty-six so far and counting… those are only the ones I could find good data on. The others are all similar to each other – in that they are Fleet or Continental Cubs, but were different ships, so multiply that by at least 2.

When I’m done writing the book I look forward to blogging more about the planes.
And blogging again about my other book, the chicken book, which is also very fun… but I shoulda done my grandfather’s book first and so I have to do it now… besides, I want to…

The Curtiss Jenny JN4, the Heath Parasol, the Tommy Morse Scout, the Kinner Lincoln PT-K, the Keystone B4 bomber, the Great Lakes 2T-1 Menasco, the Taylor Piper Aero F-2, the Warner (and every other kind of engine type) Fleet 1 and 2 and 7, the Detroiter, the Kinner Fairchild, the Ryan STA (oh my favorite – it must have been amazing to fly),  the Bird BK, the Aeronca L and C3, the Waco RNF, the Rearwin 7000, the Curtiss Robin, the Meteor, the Lambert Monocoupe, the Lycoming Stinson, the Pitcairn PA-6, the North American BT-9, the Douglas BT-2B, and …. drumroll… the Szekely Curtiss Wright Jr.  And that’s just up to 1938.

Now back to the book!
He ground-looped a Fleet 7, hehehehehe!

Tags:
Permalink
Copyright 2012 Corinne Tippett & The Westchester Press
Powered by WordPress & Web Design Company
Social Media Icons Powered by Acurax Wordpress Development Company