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Naval Air Station Wildwood
I. Naval Air Station Wildwood
Southern New Jersey, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean and the Delaware River, had been closely associated with naval aviation with several air bases during the Second World War. The larger and therefore more important was the Naval Air Station Wildwood.
Tracing its origins to President Roosevelt, who had used the funds to New Deal civil airport construction in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for military conversion in case of war, Naval Air Station Wildwood was caused by the emerging requirement for a pilot training base to protect the Atlantic coast of the German submarines that had led the U.S. supply ships traveling to Britain. Nazi Germany, which has already captured in France in June 1942, had become a growing threat.
In southern New Jersey, U.S. Coast Guard moved its station, which had originally been built as the First World War naval base in 1917, the Navy, who was then who commissioned the Naval Air Station Cape May, in September 1940 and which observation and scout training squadron had been carried out later.
But the urgency of additional facilities had intensified the following year, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, alerting the need for fighter planes and dive bombers pilots domain. The foundation of Cape May had been woefully inadequate for this purpose, resulting in a series surveys in the Lower additional land in the municipality.
The first 500 acres, leased for $ 1.00, from Cape May County for subsequent conversion for civilian use, has led in March 1942, government construction tenders and laborers under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers began the arduous deforestation in clearing trees and filling of wetlands to pave the way for the fight against a squad training base in Rio Grande. Although the construction effort was a success, its purpose was not: the Army ultimately chose to establish a similar facility about 40 miles north, in Millville, abandoning the project.
The clear, area of 500 acres, with potential application as an auxiliary field Size evil Cape May Naval Air Station, had fallen short of 400 acres of the Navy requirement under 900 acres, and this had only been remedied by the Cape May County Board of Chosen Freeholders emergency resolution "authorizing an additional $ 15,000 for land acquisition. Expenditure was win-win was seen as providing both the Navy with the necessary land for the base and the county with the employment necessary to arrest by the economic downturn in the quicksand of depression, although the need for such a facility has been clearly demonstrated by the simultaneous battle of the Coral Sea in May and the Battle of Midway in June, the victories only be maintained with qualified bases where pilots could be trained. In fact, the number of pilots had been estimated at 20,000. The Rio Grande project base, it is argued, would be crucial for the maintenance of naval aviation footprint in the Pacific.
Resultantly, the Navy, the leasing of land County and the appropriation of $ 500,000 for the new airfield, begun in October 1942, subsequently completing a 4,000-foot runway, three runways 5,000 feet, a control tower, hangars, barracks, an operations building, a canteen, a water supply station, a steam heating plant, a sewerage and roads, with employment of 362 local civilians.
The base, taking its name from the nearest post office, had been commissioned "Naval Air Station in Rio Grande" on April 1, 1943, and Lieutenant Commander Morris Ruggles Brownell Jr. had assumed command of it, but the confusion starting with the city with identical names in Texas had led to its reclassification as "Naval Air Station Wildwood" on 17 June, so far a unique name associated with a resort in southern New Jersey. Complemented by Pebble Woodbine, which had opened two months later, in August, and ease in Delaware, the new Naval Air Station relevance to the needs of the Navy allowed him to concentrate capacity and dive bombing training pilot new field. He had also attended in relation to the Naval Air Station Cape May and Atlantic City.
Thirty Squadron Composite (AV-30) Carrier Air Group 30 (CAG30) was the first that has been ordered by the Navy in its new facility in April 1943 for the USS Monterey, although the size of the squad had initially demanded the use of eight cabins and tents to the west and hotels in Wildwood for 150 of its pilots to downtown construction base had been completed.
The first bombing combined Squadron Fourteen and Fifteen (VB and VB-14-15), training in the framework of the Air Detachment Fleet Wildwood Operating Plan for the Defense of the eastern border of the Sea "in Douglas SDB Dauntless aircraft flying squadron practiced, bombing practice individual, diving, sailing, glide bombing, artillery, fixed, free kick, night flight instruments, and fire on anti-submarine surface.
II. Aircraft Naval Air Station Wildwood
Instrumental for the Naval Air Station Wildwood and strategy of the Navy fought in the Pacific had been dive-bomber aircraft, providing precision strike fast moving targets at steep angles of descent. Such designs, the low-wing type of metal fuselage usually powered by a single piston engine, was capable of operating from aircraft carriers to the provision arrester hook and had been equipped with dive brakes, for example, bands parties, to prohibit excessive unrecoverable profiles, airframe stress limit, and increase the duration of the maneuver to improve the accuracy, purpose, and the path of the pump itself, which was usually done in a hinged shelf pump. After its launch, had to be projected to the floor with enough room arch of the propeller to prevent interference.
The Douglas SBD Dauntless, the first open water bomber to be deployed at the station, had been the standard of the Navy, ships aircraft position is responsible for several decisive victories in the Pacific. Based in the Northrop BT-1, an explorer and dive-bomber, had given their lives as the XBT-1 when the Navy had ordered a single prototype. First flight in this way in August 19, 1935, the aircraft, powered by a 700-HP Pratt and Whitney R-1535-1566 Twin Wasp Jr. double row radial engine, had offered a low-wing, split flaps, wheels aftward, semi-retractable key stored in fairings under the wings, and a spare tire fixed, but the aircraft structure, considered underpowered, had subsequently been renovated and improved, 825 horsepower R-Engines 1535-1594 in December, and divide the flap had been replaced with the correct type to hidden features management.
The subsequent XBT-2, significantly modified after Douglas had acquired Northrop, there is a tandem fixed, forward-facing and backward, pilot, gunner / radio operator, fabric-covered ailerons, elevators, rudders, and two 50-caliber Browning machine guns installed on the deck nose and synchronized to fire through the propeller arc, one under the fuselage, rocking the cradle mounted release, 1,600 pounds of bombs under the two towers and pump 100 lbs. Powered by a 1000 horsepower, nine-cylinder, air cooled Wright Cyclone R-radial engine 1820-1832 led to a three-leaf, adjustable step propeller spinner equipped, the aircraft fuel stored in two 90-gallon wing tanks full, four wing tanks totaling 210 gallons central section, and a single tank, auxiliary 15-gallon fuel.
The design, redesignated SBD-1 under the Douglas scheme model, had entered service Marines with VMB-2 Squadron in 1940 and the Navy had operated 57 of the same type.
Despite its extensive program of improvement which had not yet far enough and had been stripped of armor, resulting in the SBD-2, which had offered an increase in capacity of 100 gallons of fuel and ammunition reviewed. It had entered service with the Navy to the fuselage 58.
SBD-3's success had led several previous shortcomings by introducing a capacity fuel even greater, self-sealing fuel tanks, crew and armor protection, a bullet-proof windshield, a Wright Cyclone R-1820-1852 engine and modified bodywork.
The SBD-4 was fitted with propellers hydromatic and replaced the former 12-volt electrical system with a 24 volt one, while the SBD-5, the numbers produced version, had been built in Douglas' new Tulsa, Oklahoma, from the factory. With a total length of 33 feet and a wingspan of 41.6 meters in height, the 1,200 horsepower Pratt and Whitney Aircraft R-1820-66-fed had a maximum of 10,855 pounds weight loss and a top speed of 255-mph. He had a range of 770 miles.
The final version, the SBD-6, had highlighted the power plant more able, with a rating of 1,350 hp, and greater fuel capacity.
The Douglas SBD Dauntless had been instrumental in many victories in the Pacific theater. At the Battle of Midway, for example, that had occurred on June 4, 1942, the rate had destroyed four Japanese aircraft carriers, sank a heavy cruiser, and another seriously damaged, while Ryugo sank in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons. At the Battle of Guadalcanal, which took place between November 12 and 15 of that year, nine transport was destroyed and sank the cruiser Kinugasa, ending his career as a carrier-borne two years later on June 20 1944, with victories against the Japanese fleet flying in the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
During initial training at the Douglas Dauntless Naval Air Station Wildwood, however, has not been as victorious, with the increasing number of casualties of the same pilots who had trained in them because of the poor in case of accidents characteristic set, leading to a replacement coach.
The replacement came in the form of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, as instability, structural weaknesses and inferior design had hardly been synonymous with "better."
Based on the design fashioned biplane 1930 maneuvers for dive bombing, the aircraft had been upgraded significantly when the Navy had submitted in 1938 a specification for a bomber carrier-based scout for two crew members and capable of carrying 1,000 pounds of bombs internally over long distances.
The resulting prototype, designated XSBC2C-1, had first taken to heaven on December 18, 1940, but was structurally weak and has demonstrated the characteristics of bad management, maintenance, engine failure two months later on February 8 during an approach and crashes. The U.S. Army, intended to target weaknesses in the production performance aircraft, and ordered the guy, and a first series of redesigns, which means a longer fuselage, larger tail, increased armor, installation an autopilot, and self-sealing fuel tanks, had resulted in an aircraft that bore little resemblance to its previous iteration.
The new version, first flight on October 20, 1941, sustained in-flight structural failure in a test flight two months later, on December 21, forcing its pilot parachute to safety, and shows the production of six aircraft, it was determined that the 40 percent increase in gross weight from 7122 pounds the initial release of 10,220 pounds of the current, was dangerously excessive.
The aircraft, which appears in his first costume SB2C-1 had been a metal, a half-wing monoplane powered by a single, 14-cylinder, air cooled, double row, with the Double Wasp, 1,700 hp Wright R-2600 piston engine -8 was a three-bladed propeller. The wings folded for easy storage carrier, filed within the hull, fins divide the profiles of the dive bombing and outboard flaps and their fuel tanks had been self-sealing. crew had been housed in the bow and stern cabin style canopy greenhouse, and configuration of the tail and was wearing a low-drag fuselage, stinger hook type of detention. Weapons had included four 12.7 mm guns Browning ala-installed the machine, a 1,000-pound bomb bomb bay storage, and flexible mounting in the rear cockpit.
All 200 SB2C-1 built had been used for pilot training.
The success SB2C-1C, of which 778 had been produced, had offered additional fuel tanks and was the first to enter combat, targeting its initial incursion of Japanese strength Rabaul on 11 November, but the design has been woefully underpowered statistics.
The singular produced SB2C-2 had been allocated to the exploitation of amphibians with floats, while the SB2C-3, in an attempt to rectify the basic design deficiency of energy have been equipped with a four-bladed Curtiss Electric propeller by a 1900-CV-R engine from 2600 to 1920. It entered service in 1944, the rate had enjoyed a considerable production run of 1112.
The SB2C-4, the most widely produced variant with 2045 cells had offered a total length of 36.8 meters and a wingspan of 49.9 meters, which had minimized perforated dive flaps induced shock. Developed by R version above-2600-20 engine, 16,616 pounds fighter, armed with two wing-mounted 20-mm cannons, two aft cockpit installed, 7.62 mm machine guns, and the fuselage bay and carried out under the rack, 2000 pound bombs could reach a top speed of 295 mph and cover up to 1165 miles.
The SB2C-5, the last major version was built, has introduced an increase in fuel capacity. Nineteen seventy had occurred.
Navy Squadron VB-17, based on the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill, was the first to operate successfully SB2C Helldiver, the release of 23 aircraft, divided into six, four division units in their first season of major combat in November 1943.
During the subsequent period of four months, the type carried out missions dive-bombing for Tarawaya, Nauru, New Zealand, Truk, and the Marshall Islands, and in June the following year, Helldiver fleet had been based on the five aircraft carriers Bunker Hill, Essex, Hornet, Wasp, and Yorktown. Four months later this number had risen to eight.
Operating with TBM Avengers, the SB2Cs had managed to sink the super battleship, Musashi, and later said 44 air-to-air victories, having won more than sending kills any type of aircraft.
Although the Helldiver had initially been plagued by an antiquated heritage and numerous design deficiencies, gradually introducing amendments had provided an effective dive-bomber that had been central to many victories in the Pacific theater.
As a solution to the accident rate Naval Air Station Wildwood, however, that only served to produce the opposite effect with the introduction of the aircraft to the training program, the number of deaths has increased pilot training!
Combined Bomber Squadron fifty-two (CV-52), arriving at the station in September 1943, artillery and torpedoes began training with the main battle third base carrier-based, the Grumman TBF-1 Avenger.
Encouraged by the Navy requirements for a powerful torpedo bomber with a speed of 300 mph, a range of 1,000 miles with a maximum payload of 2,000 pounds, a service ceiling of 30,000 meters in height, and an internal weapons bay, the aircraft, designated XTBF-1 and designed by Grumman Iron Works, had come with a fuselage more robust and a Wright of 14 cylinders, 1,700 horsepower and two-row radial R-2600-8 engine. Their wings, whose largest in the area had led to simplistic characteristics flight, had folded against the fuselage in order to save space during storage company and its armament consisted of three .30 caliber machine guns, one of which was mounted on the nose and fired through the propeller arc, one of which had been located in the abdomen, and fired back, and one of which had been installed as a rear gunner turret. Because of its mid-mounted wing, sufficient internal space had been created to store a torpedo 2,000 pound, four 500 pound bombs or additional fuel, and the three-person crew had covered the pilot, the tail gunner, and bombardier / gunner belly.
The first production aircraft, designated TBF-1, its first flight on August 1, 1941, and the insatiable need very capable fighter had required additional production capacity in the form of a production line at General Motors. so manufactured, which had been designated TBM-1, and first appeared Once in this mode, the end of 1942.
The ability amended TBF-1C, with the provision of fuel tank in the bomb bay and two tanks Integral wing, has increased from 335-726 gallons, resulting in an increased range matching, and individual units, .30 caliber machine gun had been replaced by two .50 caliber, mounted on the wings, as well as one of the turret. The counterpart of General Motors assembly line had been designated TBM-1C.
The last, and numerically most produced variant, the TBM-3, had offered a 40-foot overall length of 11.5 inches and a wingspan of 54.2 meters. Driven by a 1900 hp Wright R-2600-20 engines, the plane used for reconnaissance, exploration and glide torpedo attack, had been equipped with a look forward dorsal and ventral gun and wing hard points for rockets and drop tanks. With a gross weight of 17,895 pounds, rising to 2,060 feet per minute cruise at a maximum speed of 276-mph, and fly 1,000 miles raids. Some 4657 were produced.
Although only six Grumman TBF Avengers were delivered in time for the June 4, 1942 Battle of Midway, five had been destroyed in two separate missions, while the sixth had succeeded in leaving dropped his torpedo before returning to base with little more than a fin to provide a longitudinal control.
Two months later, on August 24, 1926 planes had been fired from the Saratoga and enterprise companies around the Solomon Islands, the sinking of the light carrier Ryugo in the second of four strikes with a torpedo.
Yet three months later, in November, 37,000 tons, Hiei, which naval forces Japanese, were destroyed after multiple attacks Avengers at the Battle of Guadalcanal.
In the North Atlantic, the kind that operate in the USS Bogue, had destroyed about 30 submarines and tore a hole transport cavernous Japanese, I-52.
One of the most famous Avenger pilot, George HW Bush, had been shot down on September 2, 1944 on Chichi Jima after taking off from USS San Jacinto, although he had successfully parachuted to safety.
Two months later, the plane had been instrumental in sinking the Japanese battleship, Musashi, in the Battle of the Sea Subuyan.
The final testament to the kind of robust and torpedo launch had occurred on April 7 1945, when a fleet of Avengers had destroyed the battleship Yamato and the cruiser Yahagi during his trip to Okinawa.
Of the 9836 produced Avengers 7546 had been built by General Motors.
The fourth-largest aircraft to be used at Naval Air Station Wildwood, perhaps trying to correct defects before SB2C, had offered performance efficiency and diametrically opposed. His speed and ability, not duplicated by any fighter of this case, has allowed him to leave behind and outclimb any enemy aircraft propeller. That aircraft was the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair.
On the basis of the Navy U.S. Office of Aeronautics demand high performance, carrier-based fighter to the Vought-Sikorsky Division of the Unified Aircraft Corporation, the proposed design, called V-166-A, had planned to use air cooling, Pratt and Whitney R-1830 Wasp radial engine because of their reliability in service, but speed targets can be achieved only with the much larger XR-2800-4 Double Wasp. So far the world's most powerful piston engine, had developed over 100 hp per cylinder, of which there had been 18, which requires a diameter of 13.4 meters tall, three-bladed Hamilton Standard Hydromatic propeller. Although there required considerable ground clearance due to its size, the purpose for which a carrier-based fighter was designed had issued a short, strong undercarriage struts to support the rapid contact, often strong and covered almost instantaneous deceleration requires such an operation. As result, these parameters had been issued conflicting solutions design, and engineers had only been able to secure both the clearance of the propeller enough and short enough landing gear linkage through the introduction of a gull-wing configuration, which had coincidentally improve the characteristics aerodynamics of the aircraft, which rose higher operating speeds. He had been the first wheels flushly stored in the retracted mode.
The Pratt and Whitney engine whose air intake was at the root of the wing, closely fit the circular shape of the fuselage.
First flight on May 29 1940 in prototype form, the aircraft, designated XF4U-1, had been driven by the 1,850 hp R-2800-4 engine and had offered a greenhouse cabin and four .50 – Colt-Browning machine guns, two of which were installed in the nose and two of which had been located in the wings.
The first production the standard version, the F4U-1, had been driven by the 2,000 hp R-2800-8 and had offered only wing-mounted weapons. Taking to the skies 31 July 1942, was the first fighter to exceed 400 km / h in level flight.
Several subsequent versions were offered. The F4U-2, for example, had been intended for night missions, while the F4U-3 had been designed for the coupling of high-altitude operations 2,000 horsepower R-2800-16 Dual Wasp engine with two turbochargers Bierman 1009A models. Due to their mechanical difficulties, has eroded their performance and option was quickly discontinued.
The F4U-4, a fighter-bomber version, had provided a total length of 33.8 meters and a wingspan of 41 feet, which had provided an area of 314 square-feet. Your engine R-2800-18W 2100 hp, driving four-blade propeller, have been equipped with water injection and methanol to produce a maximum of five minutes, number of 2,450 war emergency hp, resulting in a maximum 446 km / h speed. Its service ceiling was 41,500 feet.
The F4U-5, the final version, there appears a fuselage of five inches longer, one of two degrees, the motor down at an angle to increase stability; duralumin panels outer wing and control surfaces to meet their higher speeds, and a 2350 hp, twin-turbocharged engine equipped with Pratt and Whitney R-2800-32W. The guy had a service ceiling 45,000 meters in height.
In January 1945, an additional appropriation $ 500,000 has enabled the Naval Air Station Wildwood to expand and acquire new equipment, including weapons, tactics, links coaches, a 20 mm artillery school, and a catapult and arresting gear to promote the practice carrier landing in your field of auxiliary Georgetown. Part of this appropriation was used to acquire missile-equipped F4U Corsairs.
Although the station was originally designed for 108 officers, 1,200 soldiers and 72 aircraft, the number had risen to 443, 2497, and 154, respectively, and October 1944, the takeoffs and landings peaked at 16 994. dive bombing target practice had occurred along the Atlantic coast and Delaware Bay, while a lighting system in a field of membership has enabled the pilots to a perfect night carrier landings.
When the respective training was completed, pilots, now organized into groups of air, had transferred to their assigned aircraft carrier.
III. Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum
When victory, had closed the doors on the World War II theaters in 1945, Navy had interrupted their training programs at the Naval Air Station Wildwood and in December the following year, had been disabled, its 109 buildings have been declared surplus. Of these, 79 had been offered by the War Assets Administration, which had acquired the property on an intermittent basis, for use off-site while several larger structures had been given to Cape May County, who had resumed the operation of the station. Hanger Number One, which had been designed by architect Albert Kahn and whose construction had begun as early as October 1942, had been one of them.
Consisting of wooden trusses bolted Pratt divided into panels of three meters on the level of the ceiling, the cavernous structure, 2.558 million cubic feet had been 290 feet long, 219 feet wide and 51 feet high, and completed with cross-braced vertical supports at its north and south and central support provided once the division between its two internal bays. Its east and west elevations had been created by 12 full-height telescoping doors. In addition to housing offices once the fleet of aircraft in the air station, stressed also, work rooms and maintenance facilities.
The hangar, which have been used for various purposes after the war, had its U.S. headquarters overseas Airlines (USOA) between 1949 and 1964, which provided a comprehensive system of routes with its own fleet and flight crews, and had also just found a company banner-towing aircraft.
The structure later dropped, after having fallen into a state of disrepair with cracked windows and rotted wood had been raised by Dr. and Mrs. Joseph E. Salvatore in 1997, which had formed the nonprofit organization the Naval Air Station Wildwood Foundation save and preserve it as a memorial to the 42 pilots who have lost their lives during their training here from 1943 to 1945 and was subsequently listed on the New Jersey and National Register of Historic Places in the Level of National Significance. hangar that houses the Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum, which has about 30 aircraft, engines, interactive exhibits provided by the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, films, a library and a gift shop.
From the aircraft, the Grumman F4F Wildcat, with a three-bladed propeller, wings folded, self-sealing fuel tanks, and six machine guns, had served at the station, and was the first designed U.S. fighter capable of shooting down a German plane.
The Consolidated PBY Catalina, a high wing, twin-engine, hull-shaped fuselage for operations amphibious patrol had been a terrorist armed with firearms of .50 caliber Browning machine, torpedoes and depth charges, and has made multi-role missions, including undersea exploration, search and salvage, and accompaniment.
The Boeing-Stearman PT-17 Kaydet, built in 1943, had been the most widely used predominantly World War II, the head coach. The two people, a single engine, open cockpit biplane had served as a first step before the transition pilot more heavy, the more complex equipment.
The Vultee BT-13, often the "next step", pointed out in tandem controls and instruments, and had also been used widely.
The Grumman TBM-3E Avenger, a major aircraft based at Naval Air Station Wildwood, is one of eight designs, such as the very houses hangar is included in the National Register of Historic Places.
The T-28C Trojan, which had replaced the AT-6 Texan in Asia and Africa, had company provided landing practice, and is equipped with a hook of detention. It had been used for close air support against the forces enemy ground.
EO-2 Bird Dog, the military version of the four seats, two sheets of high wing Cessna 170 tail wheel had been rockets set targets of white phosphorus under his wing during the Vietnam War and has also been used as an observation aircraft.
Various designs of helicopters are also represented by the museum. The HH-52A helicopter Seaguard amphibious search and rescue, for example, has an airframe of hull and stabilizing product Fleet and had been parked in a switch of the U.S. Coast Guard ice.
The AH-1 Cobra, the backbone of the fleet of U.S. Army attack helicopter and a type still in use today have been equipped with rockets and machine guns mounted. Formerly part of a Vietnam "Kill Team", who had followed a Loach, had drawn fire from the ground.
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois Huey, the most widely used military helicopter with more than 16,000 after be produced, had contributed to numerous missions, including air assault, command and control, medical evacuation, search and rescue, combat and transport, particularly during the Vietnam War, although still used by the Air Force and Marine Corps today.
Combat aircraft also are represented. The Lockheed T-33 Thunderbird, a low-wing single-engined two-seat trainer with a bubble canopy, and had gone from drawing board aircraft in 150 days. His F-80C Shooting Star counterpart had served for 40 years in the Air Force more than 20 world. example of the museum had served in the Yugoslav Air Force.
The single-engine, delta wing McDonnell-Douglas A-4 Skyhawk, which had entered the first service with the Navy in 1956, could operate from an aircraft carrier, yet deliver nuclear weapons.
The Grumman F-14 Tomcat features twin engines and vertical tail. The F-14A museum, which had entered service in 1982, was later upgraded to F-14B standard and was the first to exceed the 7,000 takeoffs and landings taken from the USS John F. Kennedy.
The Northrop F-5E Tiger II, a lightweight supersonic fighter deployed during the Cold War, was designed as a response to the Soviet MiG-21.
Apart actual aircraft fixed and rotary wing, Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum often hosts fly-ins, veterans ceremonies, conferences and travel history field studies.
The 1,000-acre Cape May Airport, the location of the museum, is itself of historical value, having evolved from naval air base. Sporting 4.998 feet two runways (1-19 and 10-28), six roads, three parking ramps, installation of an annual general aviation fields 39 000 aircraft movements mainly composed of corporate, leisure and rentals, and stands as a testament to the location in the fields after the corn crop, had cultivated later dive-bombing pilots whose skills have been instrumental in the Pacific theater and the last victory of World War II.
About the Author
A graduate of Long Island University-C.W. Post Campus with a summa-cum-laude BA Degree in Comparative Languages and Journalism, I have subsequently earned the Continuing Community Education Teaching Certificate from the Nassau Association for Continuing Community Education (NACCE) at Molloy College, the Travel Career Development Certificate from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents (ICTA) at LIU, and the AAS Degree in Aerospace Technology at the State University of New York – College of Technology at Farmingdale. Having amassed almost three decades in the airline industry, I managed the New York-JFK and Washington-Dulles stations at Austrian Airlines, created the North American Station Training Program, served as an Aviation Advisor to Farmingdale State University of New York, and devised and taught the Airline Management Certificate Program at the Long Island Educational Opportunity Center. A freelance author, I have written some 70 books of the short story, novel, nonfiction, essay, poetry, article, log, curriculum, training manual, and textbook genre in English, German, and Spanish, having principally focused on aviation and travel, and I have been published in book, magazine, newsletter, and electronic Web site form. I am a writer for Cole Palen’s Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in New York. I have made some 350 lifetime trips by air, sea, rail, and road.
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