Developing the "Star" of my new book!

As I mentioned before, I have written my next illustrated children’s book in the Gee Bee Series.  It’s called The Spirit of Lindy and features two new characters along with many of the old ones.  We’re making great progress towards completing all the artwork by the end of the year and I hope to have all the files ready for the printer by early next year.  With any luck, I’ll have product to sell by Sun ‘n Fun in late March 2011.

With the second "new" character . . . Geoffrey D.H. . . . based on my DH-4 Mailplane.

Since I have already done much of the initial hard work laying out the first book and developing character design, backdrops, colors, text boxes, finding a printer, etc. this next one should be much easier.  It’s a great story with a great theme, with somewhat of a surprising, yet profound, ending.  I think it may have more potential than my first book.  I have treatments for another dozen books in the series and, with any luck, hope to publish at least one a year!  We’ll see.

After looking at the initial drawings, I decided to add a helmet to Geoffrey's open cockpit!

Here’s the first page to have been colored, which also happens to be the first page of the book.  The same group of artists are working on the artwork and coloring that did the last book and are doing a great job!  The opening text for the book reads –

"It’s a beautiful morning over a seemingly never-ending countryside . . . as a lone Mailplane named Geoffrey D. H. . . . flies along in the sunlit skies."

I think it will be a winner!

Kermit

I just got inducted as a Legend in the World Acrobatic Soceity for my participation in Extreme Sports! In this case, “Acrobatics Society” doesn’t relate to airplanes . . . it relates to gymnastics, circus performers, high divers, etc., although my award in the “Extreme Sports” catagory did relate to my aerobatic flying.  The event was held in Las Vegas at the Circus Circus Hotel and I got a chance to meet a lot of really fun and interesting people, including some from my High School days that started Miami Gymnastics and coached at different schools.

While I was building my first airplane my senior year of High School, I competed on our first year Gymnastic Team.  Since I was learning how to fly at the time and flipping around in the gym, it only seemed natural to begin flipping around in the sky!  After High School, I competed several years in college gymnastics.  It was during this time I began to compete in airplane aerobatics.

My early college formal education was somewhat lack-luster because my interest was in working on my airplane, NOT studying.  When I finished my airplane, I got serious about school and got accepted at Purdue University to pursue an Aeronautical Engineering degree.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have a men’s gymnastic team.  And while this was the end of my gymnastic career, and my formal education, it was when my aerobatic career really began to take off.  I dropped out of school and, with no formal training, designed and built my own competition airplane, making the US Team when I was twenty-four years old!

While I realize I never would have gone to the top in gymnatics, it became a stepping stone to a great flying career!  In two airplanes I designed and built myself with no formal training, I flew in six World Aerobatic Championships, winning twenty medals at the world level, becoming two-time US National Champion, as well as winning several invitational contests around the world.

So, while the award was for my aerobatic accomplishments in the sky, I was accepted into this prestigious group of acrobats because of my gymnastic background and am the first person in my type of sport to even be considered!  What a cool honor!

Kermit

I just got notice they posted a link to my speech from the Living Legends of Aviation Gala last January and wanted to share it with everyone.  Not so much for  the Award, which I already posted on my blog, but for the message it conveyed.  If you watch it you will see why I’m so passionate about what I’m doing with Fantasy of Flight.  I had typed my speech out for reference prior to the Gala to use for reference but when I arrived early at the Beverly Hilon, I poked my head in as they were setting up for the event and they asked me if I wanted to use the teleprompter!  I had never seen one before and got a chance to practice my speech once.  It was a lot of fun and I thought I went on to do a great job later that evening!

The link includes an introductory video they played to set me up, introductions from Sean Tucker and Bob Hoover, and then my acceptance speech.  Check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ5xEX9nyGw.

Kermit

Menu Page

After almost a year of design, development, and approval, I am happy to announce that Gee Bee the Little Racer and Friends is now for sale as a game application for your I-phone!  We spent a lot of time creating something of high quality for a reasonable price and the game is based on the illustrated children’s book I wrote called All of Life is a School. I’ve had an I-phone for several years and am embarrassed to admit this is the first application I’ve ever added!  Now that I’m up to speed, I’ve since found many other cool ones.

The description of the game is as follows –

Fly Gee Bee ® “Zee” and his airplane friends through different fun environments

gaining points by delivering packages, racing the clock, dropping watermelons,

and popping small balloons with your propeller all while dodging obstacles like

hot air balloons, birds, and terrain. There are eight different levels to win medals

and six different airplanes to fly!

 

Menu Page for upgrades and different characters using bonus points

Download it today for only $1.99 at bit.ly/8Yf7yW or by searching your I-phone applications for Gee Bee the Little Racer and Friends. We just posted a YouTube clip that explains more at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQA7qja7YgE.  Check it out and let us know what you think!

Kermit

An empty “North Forty” due to soggy ground a day into the Fly-in!

This year’s Oshkosh was a great one, even though it got off to a soggy start.  With a lot of rain prior to the event, they kept the “North Forty” closed to general aviation traffic for several days, only allowing show planes to arrive aand park in the dry areas.

I got a chance to hook up with an old friend, the World’s Greatest Aircraft Collection’s DeHavilland Mosquito!  We were very fortunate it was on display at the EAA Museum and not in Miami when Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992.  It has been many years since it has flown (1989) and once I get some additional hangars built at Fantasy of Flight, I intend to truck it back to Florida where we will go through it and get her flying again.

I got the chance to stop by and visit the KW Research Hangar where they keep all the aerobatic show planes during the fly-in.  This was the first building EAA built at Oshkosh (1983) that wasn’t a shower or a toilet.  What a legacy!  I have been an EAA member since I was sixteen, joining in 1969, and have been on the Board of Directors for almost twenty years.

One of the cooler things I got to do this year was attend a press conference where it was announced that my long-time friend and Heli-ski partner, Sean Tucker (right), and I got accepted to be on the Board of Directors of the Lindbergh Foundation.  As Charles Lindbergh began to fly around the world, he began to notice from the air how technology was beginning to impact our environment.  The Foundation was set up to promote balancing technology with the environment on the 50th anniversary of his famous flight.  It’s a great group of people with lots of opportunities to help out and network with a whole new group of friends!

I also got to read my All of Life is a School book to the kids at Kid Venture.  We had a great time and every kid got to keep an autographed copy!  Now how cool is that?  I finished writing my next book in the series called The Spirit of Lindy (how timely) and have begun the process of developing the artwork.  We hope to have the work finished by the end of the year, which might allow enough time to get it published before Sun ‘n Fun in April.  We’ll see.

With Ray Bensen!

Someone I had not seen since our Wings & Strings music festivals days many years ago was Ray Bensen from Asleep at the Wheel.  They played several times in the seven years we held the festival at Fantasy of Flight and got the crowds swaying and dancing one night at the Fly-In.  It brought back a lot of many fond memories.

With 7/8 scale homebuilt “Storch”

Another cool thing I got to see was the scaled down Storch that was part of an article in the latest EAA Sport Aviation magazine comparing this scaled down homebuilt with my original WWII German aircraft.  They did the photos and interview during Sun ‘n Fun last winter and I found myself on another cover, although I still find myself wondering why no one’s ever asked me to be a centerfold!

Kermit

July Cover of Sport Aviation magazine

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