Tag Archives: WWII

In the Cockpit with Chuck Yeager (Passion for Flight Vol. 1)

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In the Cockpit with Chuck Yeager, previously released as an ebook, is now available in print. The book is the first volume in Passion for Flight, a series of short biographies regarding notable pilots who inspire young and old alike to take to the skies.

In the Cockpit with Chuck Yeager

Brig. Gen. Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager was a test pilot and the first person to break the sound barrier, on October 14, 1947. After he was shot down during World War II and evaded capture, he successfully fought a rule that banned shot-down pilots from re-entering combat and eventually became a double ace. In 65 years in military cockpits, he flew at least 340 different makes and models of military airplanes, including the Air Force’s entire inventory during World War II, as well as aircraft from Germany, France, England, Japan, Sweden and Russia.

In the Cockpit with Chuck Yeager is presently available through Amazon and on Gen. Yeager’s website in the Right Stuff Store. See a preview of the book here.

It is the mission of Freeze Time Media to make this book and future books in the Passion for Flight series available to organizations, libraries and schools, to further interest in aviation. Please use the contact form to inquire about wholesale prices and donations for this purpose.

There are presently ten ebooks available in the series, at Amazon and BN.com. Those books will be available in print over the next few months. The series will eventually include more than fifty titles.

Di Freeze interviewed many of the world’s best known aviators during nearly a decade as editor in chief of a national aviation publication. Those biographies and others form “Passion for Flight,” a digital and print series of short biographies regarding notable pilots who inspire young and old alike to take to the skies. Follow the series as it unfolds at Passion for Flight.

From the Ground Up

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Freeze Time Media recently celebrated the release of “From the Ground Up: From the Tractor to the Sabre,” the autobiography of Colorado Aviation Hall of Fame laureate Talmage E. Miller. Di Freeze co-wrote the book.

From_the_Ground_Up_Cover_for_Kindle

Driving an old tractor around the fields on the farm wasn’t too exciting for Talmage E. “Tom/Tal” Miller until one of the National Guard biplanes had a forced landing nearby. He ran to get a closer look at this big bird — too late. They got it fixed and blew dirt in his face when they took off. That instilled a bug in him to learn to fly, which he did one night at Denver Municipal Airport in 1936.
His training was delayed when his father was transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska. WWII came about and he learned to fly in the Enlisted Reserve under the CPT program, where he soloed in 1942. He graduated from the Central Instructors School at Randolph Field and was assigned to Tex Rankin’s Primary Flight Training School. The war was winding down and less demand for pilots closed the flight schools. Tex Rankin helped him get into cadet pilot training at Santa Ana, California. He got his wings in Douglas, Arizona, and was assigned to “bombing through overcast” school flying North American B-25s.
When the war ended, he returned to the farm, but eventually landed an instructor job at Sky Ranch Airport before being hired by Combs Aircraft, a Beechcraft dealer, to sell airplanes. He flew everything from the Bonanza to the King Air 200 turboprop and won many awards for aircraft sales. He later founded his own airplane sales company with Bill Haines, chief pilot for the Dillon Company. They sold many kinds of airplanes, from DC-3s to North American Sabreliner models 40 and 60 in many parts of the world.
He collected many friends and stories along the way. His book describes encounters with Olive Ann Beechcraft, Roscoe Turner, Paul Mantz, Frank Tallman, Elrey Jeppesen and many other well-known names in the aviation industry.
Visit Talmage E. Miller’s Author Page to learn more about him.