From Two Great Men... An Aero-Holiday Memory

One of the greatest joys I have as the so-called boss of ANN is the many people I meet and the precious few that I get to know as friends. Two of my great friends have had the same name...

Frank Kingston Smith, Senior (pictured first) and Junior (pictured second).

Frank Sr. has been gone a number of years now, but our memories of him are fond and numerous... though his son is still often a vociferous advisor and co-conspirator via email.

Some time ago, Frank, Jr., sent me a really great message... and it made for a fitting way by which I can wish you all a very Merry Christmas -- Jim Campbell, ANN E-I-C

A Note From From Frank Kingston Smith, Jr. --

My late father, Frank Kingston Smith SENIOR, was an internationally known author and speaker on behalf of private aviation.

In 1962 following the publication of his third book, "I'd Rather Be Flying", he began writing a monthly column for FLYING magazine. The December 1962 column, entitled "Red Raider", became one of FLYING readers' five favorite columns of all time.

Recently, a pilot friend from Walt Disney Imagineering called me and asked me to read the narrative as a scratch track (a timing track) for an "animatic" he was putting together. (An animatic is the use of stills with motion added to simulate a completed story line. It's a sort of "storyboard.") I was asked to read it "flat" for timing with no emphasis or inflection. So I did.

The link here connects you to the updated animatic created just a couple of months ago, used with permission. Before you play it, it is important that you understand that it was written in 1962 from the point of view of a private pilot; the animatic is produced from the point of view of an airline pilot (creative license).

There are mentions of things which no longer exist, such as a [low frequency] fan marker, a SCATER order (which by the way is supposed to be pronounced SCAY-tur, not "scatter"), and airlines such as Eastern and Pan Am. The ATC conversations were added by the producer.

And you may notice that airspeeds and altitudes are somewhat odd for an airliner, plus there are radio frequencies which in some cases do not exist. Woodstown was in fact a VOR rather than a VORTAC in 1962. I put this in here for my pilot friends.

So turn up the audio, hit the link, and relax for a little over seven minutes, and see if YOU still believe. And a VERY Merry Christmas to all....

FMI: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIsadCDl2H8&version=3