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Honoring Women, Pilots and Writers in Aviation
“Meet the Author” Book Fair
Come celebrate Veterans Day with the Veterans Memorial Air Park and the Fort Worth Library as they host the second annual Women, Pilots and Writers Book Fair.
11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Saturday, November 10, Central Library, Gallery
The book fair is an opportunity for the community to honor those who have left their mark in the aviation industry. The authors and artists will be available throughout the day for questions and book signings. Books and art will be available for purchase all day and admission is free.
Authors and Artists Scheduled to Appear
Bruce Bleakley - Author and Museum Director
During the 20 years of his Air Force career, Bruce Bleakley accumulated over 5,000 hours of flying time in a variety of aircraft from supersonic jets to four-engine transports on assignments throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Pacific. His final Air Force assignment was as a Group Commander at the United States Air Force Academy. After retiring from the Air Force, he moved to San Diego and eventually became Executive Director of the San Diego Aerospace Museum. In October 2006, he became the Museum Director at the Frontiers of Flight Museum.
His book, Dallas Aviation, covers the over 100 years of rich and diverse aviation activity in the city of Dallas including the aviation history of Love Field, originally established as a military base in 1917, and the years spent trying to consolidate an airport for the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Manuel L. English, PhD - Author and Professor
Dr. Manuel (Manny) L. English is a retired executive and former professor. He was born in East Texas, one of ten children of sharecropper parents. At sixteen, he enlisted in the U.S. Marines Corps to escape the poverty of his childhood. He served in Korea with the 1st Marine Division. He left the Marines in 1955 and then joined the U.S. Army in 1957 and served for six years. Two months after leaving the Army, a U.S. Air Force recruiter came and asked him to join. With a child and another one on the way, and with the promise of support in getting his university degree, he enlisted as a staff sergeant in the Air Force. The Air Force continued its educational support enabling Manny to earn a masters and a doctorate degree. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 1976 and is proud to hold the title: Marine, Soldier, and Airman.
His book, Texas: A Free Nation Under God, is co-written with Chris Adams and is a fictional work in which a group of men and women frustrated with the federal government, attempt to use the near-forgotten clause of Texas’ entry into the Union and secede after the death of the governor. Soon, the most powerful men and women in Texas are planning for their future as policymakers in the newly independent Republic of Texas. In the best traditions of history, it will be up to one person to decide Texas’ independence – but can she make the right decision?
Ken Farmer - Author, Actor and Director
After proudly serving his country as a US Marine (Helicopter Marine Rescue), Ken Farmer attended Stephen F. Austin State University on a full football scholarship, receiving his bachelor’s degree. After starring as a cowboy in a Dairy Queen commercial, he discovered his love of acting and has worked as a professional actor for over 39 years. He was the on camera and voice over spokesman for Wolf Brand Chili for eight years and has been in several films such as Silverado, Friday Night Lights, The Newton Boys and Uncommon Valor.
His book, The Nations, is co-written with Buck Stienke and discusses, "The Nations," an area of land also known as Indian Territory, Robbers Roost and No-Mans Land and the lawmen that were responsible for policing this 74,000 square miles tract of land that, in the latter part of the 19th century, was regarded as the bloodiest and most dangerous place in the world. Because of its size and the meager number of lawmen assigned to it, the area was a refuge for outlaws from all over the North American continent. The book uses actual cases is crammed full of excitement, suspense and the everyday humor that develops between men as they live and fight and sometimes die together.
Dale Ford - Author and Engineer
In 1949, Dale Ford joined the peacetime Air Force. Two days after he graduated from flying school, the Korean War started. Rather foolishly, he had not really considered that he might be called upon to fly combat someday. Ford went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Purdue University. In 1956, he joined Convair Aeronautical Corporation, builder of the world’s first supersonic bomber. He spent the next five years working closely with and flying with the B-58 test pilots as a flight test engineer.
His book, My Two Hot Wars & One Cold War, is an autobiographical story about his life and experiences.
Robert Gruenhagen - Author and Historian
Colonel Robert W. Gruenhagen, USAF (Retired) began his military service to our nation in 1947. His long and active career included the 186th Fighter Squadron, SAC, TAC, and the Icelandic Defense Force. He is a member of the Air Force Association, the American Aviation Historical Society, and the Association of P-51 Historians and Enthusiasts, and has received Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Lone Star Distinguished Service Medal, and the Texas State Meritorious Service Award among many other honors. He serves as consultant and advisor with matters related to historic aircraft during the Second World War.
His book, Mustang: The Story of the P-51 Fighter, is one of the most detailed volumes about the development and construction of the Mustang fighter available. His description of the fighter's development, and his explanation of the various modifications made to the aircraft as the improved models were developed, is unequaled and uniquely enlightening for anyone interested in knowing more about the P-51 and the people who designed, tested and modified the aircraft during its service life.
Fiske Hanley II - Author and Historian
Fiske Hanley II graduated and received a degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Texas Technology University in 1943. He served in the Army Air Force as a Flight Engineer during World War II and was posted with the 504th Bomb Group in the Pacific Campaign. In March 1945, on his 7th mission, Hanley’s aircraft was shot down. Captured by the Japanese, he spent more than 150 days in a POW camp in Tokyo.
His book, Accused American War Criminal, is the shocking story of captured B-29 Superfortress airmen who were shot down over Japan during WWII has never been told. They were not treated as Prisoners of War, but were designated Special Prisoners to be tried and executed for the killing of innocent women and children. While awaiting trial they were considered sub-humans, starved on half POW rations, issued no clothes or basic hygienic needs, allowed to suffer and die from torture, beatings, wounds, and lack of medical treatment.
Jay Miller - Photographer and Historian
Jay Miller has been an aviation photographer for much of his 50-year career as an aviation journalist and historian and is the Chairman Emeritus of the International Society for Aviation Photograph. Semi-retired, he is the author of 36 books on aviation subjects, including the officially sanctioned history of Lockheed Martin’s famous Skunk Works. He is also the retired director of the American Airlines C. R. Smith Museum and Paul Allen’s Flying Heritage Collection.
Brad O’Connor - Author and Fighter Pilot
Brad O’Connor flew the Nighthawk during the NATO bombing campaign over Kosovo in 1999. During his twenty-six-year career as an aviator in the U.S. Air Force he completed tours of duty flying eight different types of jets, including the F-16, both operationally for the USAF and while attached to the Egyptian Air Force. His final active-duty assignment was to Sheppard AFB, Texas, where he was an instructor pilot and the U.S. Senior National Representative to NATO’s fighter pilot training program for almost five years. Brad amassed 6,077 jet flight hours as a fighter, test, and instructor pilot before retiring.
His book, Stealth Fighter: A Year in the Life of an F-117 Pilot, puts the reader in the cockpit of the revolutionary combat aircraft, the F-117 Stealth Nighthawk. The aircraft was a truly groundbreaking when introduced in the early 1980s. This highly classified program wasn’t acknowledged publicly by the U.S. Air Force until 1988. The Nighthawk was retired in 2008 after twenty-five years of service, including bombing missions over Panama, Iraq during both Gulf Wars, and Yugoslavia during the Kosovo war. From his F-117 assignment through training, deployment, mission planning, and combat flights, O’Connor relates the day-to-day life of a pilot in the world’s first stealth fighter. .
Marjorie Hodgson Parker - Author
Marjorie Hodgson Parker is an award-winning author, freelance writer and speaker. A Fort Worth native, she graduated with a degree in journalism from Texas Tech University in 1973, and worked part time as a feature writer and columnist for the Wichita Falls Times/Record News. After becoming a mother, she stayed home to raise their two daughters and write freelance. Along with her four children’s books, Marjorie’s articles, short stories and devotionals have appeared in national magazines.
Her book, David and the Mighty Eighth, is young reader’s WWII historical fiction based on the true story of David Freeman, a young boy growing up in war-torn England. Evacuated from his London home during the Blitz, he is devastated by the news that his father, a Royal Air Force pilot, is missing in action. Seeking what it takes to have courage, David forges a friendship with an American pilot and his crew who give him hope when Hitler’s Nazis seem unstoppable.
J’Nell Pate - Professor, Author and Historian
J’Nell L. Pate is retired from Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, where she taught history and government. She is the author of nine other books, including Livestock Legacy: The Fort Worth Stockyards, 1887–1987 and North of the River: A Brief History of North Fort Worth. She was selected as one of 100 outstanding living graduates of the College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Texas, Denton, during the commemoration of their Centennial year in 1990 and was named for life to the select group of “Fellows” of the Texas State Historical Association in March 1994.
Her book, Arsenal of Defense: Fort Worth's Military Legacy, covers the entire military history of Fort Worth from the 1840s with tiny Bird's Fort to the massive defense plants of the first decade of the twenty-first century. Although the city is popularly known as "Cowtown" for its iconic cattle drives and stockyards, soldiers, pilots, and military installations have been just as important--and more enduring--in Fort Worth's legacy. The military history of Fort Worth has been largely an aviation story--one that went beyond pilot training to the construction of military aircraft for the defense of the nation.
J. E. Pendleton - Author and Historian
J.E. (Jim) Pendleton is a native of Fort Worth. His father and uncle both took part in WWII, his father as a Marine in the Pacific and his uncle stationed in southern England as a nose gunner on a Navy B24. Sadly his uncle was lost in the war while over the Bay of Biscay. His memories of his uncle played a prominent part of his young life and are likely the root of his love of history and specifically his interest in the WWII era. As he grew up he retained the love of history but also developed a love of cars of all types. He is working on a series based on the origins of World War II, what he considers the single most important event of the twentieth century.
His book, The Special, is about three young men and one young woman making plans to build a racecar that will set speed records on California's dry lakebedscreates a history for a car, But WWII intervenes and one of the young men joins the Navy and is sent to England to fight with the Allies against the Germans. Pendleton uses the story to create the life he hopes his uncle had after he left Fort Worth as a young man and although a novel, many of the characters and story details are based on truth.
Don Pyeatt - Author and Historian
Currently retired, Don Pyeatt has worked extensively in the defense industry. He is the Historian for the B-36 Peacemaker Museum and for the 7th Bomb Wing B-36 Association, both in Fort Worth.
His book, Cold War Peacemaker: The Story of Cowtown and the Convair B-36, is co-written with Dennis R. Jenkins and reveals the world of the B-36 as it really was. Whether your interest is in technical details of the world’s first intercontinental nuclear bomber, or in the political and social events leading to its development and Strategic Air Command deployment during the Cold War, this book tells it all. Combined with many seldom-seen photos from private collections and national archives, this book presents a new perspective on the Cold War and its premiere deterrent.
C. B. Rice- Author and Historian
C.B. Rice was about six years old when he and his dad built an airplane called a Luscombe from parts of a wrecked plane. This early introduction to aviation led him to believe he would be the next Chuck Yeager. His passion for aviation was cut short when he started wearing eyeglasses in high school, but it all came back with the 1995 HBO movie about the Tuskegee Airmen. C.B. is a WWII history buff and has written two stage plays, The Black Birdmen and A Black Man Did What.
His book, The World's First Black Pilots in the Beginning of Flight, documents the fact that the first black pilots were flying over one hundred years ago, dating back to 1906.
Kathleen M. Rodgers- Author
Kathleen Rodgers was 21 years old when she married into the world of military aviation—a world she thought was full of parties at the Officer’s Club, the roar of jet engines, and the place where her husband and the other pilots lived on the edge. Early in her marriage, she learned about the other side of military aviation—the side that nobody likes to talk about when a plane goes down. She learned to accept two things about her husband’s career choice: His job could kill him, and he loved every minute of it.
Her book, The Final Salute: Together We Live On, is a fictional tale about the aftermath of military plane crashes, the tight bond between the pilots, and how crewmembers and military families cope after terrible tragedies. Her goal in writing The Final Salute was to give a voice to the men who have perished while flying for their country and the women and children they left behind.
Buck Stienke- Author and Executive Producer
A former Air Force fighter pilot, Buck Stienke has an extensive background in military aviation and weaponry and is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. After leaving the Air Force, Buck was a pilot for Delta Airlines for over twenty-five years. He has a vast knowledge of weapons, tactics and survival techniques. Buck is a successful actor, writer and businessman and was Executive Producer for the award winning film, Rockabilly Baby.
HIs book, Return of the Starfighter, is co-written with Ken Farmer and is a fictional novel. After the U.S. refuses to repay its massive debt to China immediately, rogue military elements within the Red Chinese government secretly neutralize all of the U.S.'s top line fighters, bombers and missiles. America is virtually defenseless. Then China creates a plan to invade and using aircraft that is over 40 years old, the ultra-secret and deadly Black Eagle Force is tasked to assist the interception of the massive Chinese invasion fleet at all costs. The fate of America hangs in the balance.
Jeanette Vaughan - Author and Nurse
Jeanette Vaughan is an award winning writer and storyteller. Her screenplay, Angel of Mercy, won the outstanding nursing research award from Texas Tech University Health Science Center. In addition, she was named Distinguished Alumni for the school of nursing in 2001 for her written work and volunteerism for the Sydney Olympic Games.
Her fictional novel, Flying Solo, follows the adventures of Nora Broussard Greenwood who on a whim, she takes flying lessons to become a pilot. The decision dramatically changes her life leading her to a divorce, theft, and a lover. She eventually becomes caregiver to her lover’s sickly wife and must make the most difficult decision of her life in order to get things back on track.
The event is co-sponsored by the Veterans Memorial Air Park (VMAP). The Veterans Memorial Air Park is a group of organizations dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of aviation in Fort Worth, the North Texas region, and around the world.