Tag Archive: Col. C. J. Tippett


337 lb Bluefin Tuna caught at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1957

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October 12, 2012
Col. C. J. Tippett fished the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1957

Col. C. J. Tippett, known as Tip, fished with some of the greatest sportfishermen in history. On January 19, 1957, he caught a 337 pound Bluefin Tuna on rod and reel.

Back in 1957, Col. Cloyce Joseph Tippett caught a 337 lb Bluefin Tuna on rod and reel at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru.

He was part of the most legendary time of big game sportfishing in history. He wrote about it in his memoir and I’ve turned that into a book which is getting closer and closer to being ready to order.

Tip caught the Bluefin on rod and reel on January 19, 1957, which was a Saturday, which was handy, because during the week he was busy being the Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).  It was the day after the first round-the-world, non-stop, jet-powered flight record was set. It was fourteen years after Tip had set one of his own first-in-flight records.

The Bluefin Tuna catch was not a world record… the current IGFA tackle record is 1,496 pounds, but it was a huge fish that was as tall as he was.

I know that it is Bluefin, from the picture (coming soon to a riveting magazine article), because the pectoral fin does not reach to the second dorsal fin, and the second dorsal fin is higher than the first.

Tip was the manager at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club, and I believe that Bluefin Tuna was one of his favorite catches because it added nicely to the Club dinner menu. He also caught thousand-pound Black Marlin…. but that was on another day and is another story!

The book, as well as magazine articles about his story, are coming out soon… and I’ve got a mailing list building for people who want to be notified when the stories come out. I never, ever, use that mailing list for any emails other than my own, and you can sign up here.

 

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Col. C. J. Tippett’s 1943 Record Flight in a Fairchild PT-19A

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October 5, 2012
Fairchild PT-19A and Colonel C. J. Tippett 1943

Col. C. J. Tippett flew over 11,500 miles solo in this Fairchild PT-19A, setting the record for the first and longest single-engine solo flight from North America to South America in January, 1943.

In the history of aviation that covers Col. C. J. Tippett’s time as an aviation pioneer, records were set and broken so often that I had to give up trying to track them all as I did the research for Tip’s biography, working titled “When No-One Else Would Fly.”

While Tip did not intentionally try to set a first-in-flight record, he did it… in the course of his duties.

In January, 1943, Tip was ordered to bring down a brand-new Fairchild PT-19 for the training program he was building in Argentina at the State Department’s request. Tip’s civil aviation contacts in the Argentine government had hinted, in the form of a written request, that the gift of such an aircraft would be a nice goodwill gesture. The State Department agreed and requisitioned the plane, then informed Tip that he had to come up to the United States and bring it down in person because German submarines were sinking too many ships to risk sending it by sea.

Tip whipped out a map and pencil and quickly calculated that this flight would be the longest single-engine flight from North America to South America… and since he would have to have an extra fuel tank installed in the second cockpit, he was obviously going to have to do it solo.

And during wartime.

And over some of the most challenging terrain in the world.

And rely on pin-point navigation to locate the landing strips isolated in jungles and mountain tops.

With nothing but a radio and a compass.

But, he did it!  At the Fairchild factory in Hagerstown, Maryland, he had a hatch cover installed over both tandem cockpits, which turned the ship into a PT-19A. He borrowed a parachute from a fellow officer, made sure he had his fuel-filtering chamois cloth close by, and took off for Buenos Aires.

The story of his record-setting flight, written in the first person and enhanced by notes from his flight logs and letter archives, is one of the highlights of “When No-One Else Would Fly.” Tip details every landing site, flight time, and how he navigated. His story of the one in-flight engine failure is riveting. The journey comes alive through his recount.

The book is almost ready for publication. I’m in the process of submitting to traditional publishers in case they want to join me in this way-cool project before I self publish it. Sign up here to join the email list announcing when the book is available, and any other events related to Tip’s story.

It was the first and longest solo single-engine flight from North America to South America, and Tip did it only because the plane was needed in Argentina and the Fairchild factory did not offer delivery. The crowd that met him on arrival included the American Ambassador to Argentina, Mr. Norman Armour, and Dr. Samuel Bosch, the director of Argentina’s civil aviation department, and Rear Admiral Marcos Zar, as well as numerous representatives of Argentina’s civil aviation establishment.

The ensuing asado was legendary.

 

 

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Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett…. Ann Sothern

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September 21, 2012
Ann Sothern met Col. C. J. Tippett in 1931

Ann Sothern met my grandfather, Cloyce Joseph Tippett, in 1931 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This picture is from the movie “Cry Havoc” released in 1943. She was blond when my grandfather met her.

In the continuing series about Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, I’d like to introduce Ann Sothern.

Ann was a stand-out beauty in 1931 when Tip brought her a room service tray at the Fort Wayne Hotel, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tip reported that she was reading a script when she opened the door, dressed in a dressing gown, and that she was performing at the Fort Wayne Theater. Tip and his roommate, Bob, saw the play twice.

Ann Sothern was 22 years old, and Tip was 18. He was working at the Fort Wayne Hotel to support his studies at the Midwestern Aeronautical College, and he didn’t usually deliver room service trays. The hotel was shorthanded that night, and so Tip pitched in and scored this cherished celebrity sighting.

Tip did not fall in love with Ann Sothern, nor did he graduate from Midwestern. He was flying his Curtiss Jenny JN4 in open fields, recovering from boxing matches, and trying to find his way to aviation in the depths of the Great Depression. In a couple more years, he would join the Army. But on that one night in 1931, he brought Ann Sothern a room service tray.

This excellent personal service from my grandfather did not, to my knowledge, feature prominently in Ann Sothern’s life. She had started acting at age 18, and was destined for movies and television, but had started out in theater. She was already appearing on Broadway at the time Tip knocked on her door, but one of her Broadway producers had business ties in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and so the show went on there.

Looking at Ann Sothern’s career in comparison to modern celebrity standards, I can see that she was a hard-working professional. She had no reputation for extravagant living, serial marriages, or extraordinary behavior. She married at a reasonable time in her life and had one daughter. She went from theater to film, and kept working in an amazing number of films until she had a break-out success with the “Masie” films, and then a TV series in her own name.

Many of the famous people who met my grandfather were far more involved in his life than Ann Sothern was. She increased his pocket money by tipping generously for the room service tray, but other than that, she was just a fun story for cocktail hour. I include her in my series because she represents, to me, a person who achieved her goal in a methodical, professional, patient, hard-working, and diligent way. I am surrounded by stories of people who make it to the top of their profession by lightning strikes of luck or coincidence, but what I need instead are stories of people who got there the hard way, by working for it.

Ann Sothern, who was born Harriet Arlene Lake, died of natural causes in Ketchum, Idaho in 2001 at age 92. Ernest Hemingway, who also met my grandfather, also died in Ketchum, Idaho. This seems like a highly suspicious coincidence to me, (well, not really, but as I’ve said before… I don’t get out much.)  What is going on in Ketchum, Idaho?  If I was a famous person, I’d probably take up residence somewhere else. Like, Malibu or the Bahamas. Or Corfu.

 

 

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Famous People Who Met My Grandfather, Col. C. J. Tippett…. Ernest Hemingway

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September 14, 2012
Ernest Hemingway coached C. J. Tippett in 1931

Ernest Hemingway coached Cloyce Tippett in Golden Gloves Boxing in 1931. Yale University has an archive of letters from Hemingway to Ezra Pound and posted this picture at their Beinecke Library website.

In my continuing series about famous people who met my grandfather in the course of his aviation pioneering adventures, I am happy to introduce…

Ernest Hemingway!

Actually, Cloyce Tippett would meet Ernest Hemingway twice, and this story is about the first time.

Cloyce Joseph Tippett, known to everyone as Tip, had won a series of Golden Gloves boxing matches held at the YMCA in Port Clinton, Ohio, in 1931. He qualified for the state finals in Chicago and traveled there on a motorcycle with a sidecar, and his friend, Bob.

Ernest Hemingway was in Kansas City, Missouri with his wife, Pauline, waiting for the birth of his son, Gregory. He decided to go over to the boxing match and coach the out-of-town boxers at the finals match in Chicago.

Tip found Hemingway in his corner, seconding the match. Hemingway coached Tip with all of his extensive boxing expertise. Initally, Tip won his matches and was ready to compete for the Golden Gloves Welterweight Championship. Hemingway observed Tip’s opponent and strongly advised Tip to stay out of his way. But Tip was convinced he could win, and he let fly with a right-hand punch that failed to impress anyone, much less his opponent.

When Tip regained consciousness, he went several rounds with a furious Ernest Hemingway, who lectured him for ten minutes about disregarding coaching instructions.

When Tip met Ernest Hemingway again, much later in life, they both remembered their encounter at the Golden Gloves match in Chicago… and how did that second meeting go?  Check back to find out, or sign up to be notified when the book about Tip’s adventures in life, black marlin fishing, and aviation comes out!

 

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

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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!

 

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

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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.

 

 

 

 

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How To Choose A Title For A Book

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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!

 

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