Angel Flight

 

Posted by Mark W. Danielson

This is not an article I wrote, but rather one I felt was worth sharing.  As a kid, I never missed an episode of Twelve O’Clock High – the World War II series based upon the B-17 movie of the same name.  I loved the Flying Fortress, and frequently flipped through the pages of my book of the same name.  In this book, I remember seeing an amazing photo of this B-17 that was torn in half by a German fighter, but I never knew the full story until this article was passed on to me.  I cleaned it up slightly, but full credit goes to the unknown crewmember that wrote the article.  I hope you find it equally fascinating.  I salute every airman of WWII.

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A mid-air collision on February 1, 1943, between a B-17 and a German fighter over the Tunis dock area resulted in one of the most famous photographs of World War II.  It was there that an enemy fighter attacking a 97th Bomb Group formation went out of control, probably with a wounded pilot, and crashed into the rear of the fuselage of a Fortress named All American, piloted by Lt. Kendrick R. Bragg of the 414th Bomb Squadron.  When it struck, the fighter broke apart, but left some pieces in the B-17.  The left horizontal stabilizer of the Fortress and left elevator were completely torn away.  The two right engines were out and one on the left had a serious oil pump leak. The vertical fin and rudder had both been damaged, the fuselage, which had nearly been cut completely through, was connected only at two small parts of the airframe.  The radios, electrical and oxygen systems were also damaged.  The hole in the top of the fuselage stretched 16 feet to the top gunner’s turret, and was four feet wide at one point.

Although the tail bounced and swayed and the fuselage twisted when the plane turned, it miraculously flew on only one surviving elevator cable.  The tail gunner remained at his station as there was no floor to get back to the main fuselage.  While the plane lumbered on, the waist and tail gunners used parts of the German fighter and their own parachute harnesses to lash the tail and fuselage halves together while the pilots coaxed All American to her target.

When the bomb bay doors opened, the inside wind force was so great it blew one of the waist gunners into the broken tail section.  In several heart-stopping minutes, four crew members were able to pass parachute ropes to him and haul him forward.  When they tried doing the same for the tail gunner, the tail began flapping hard.  Figuring that the gunner’s weight was adding stability, he quickly returned to his position.

Because their one hundred eighty degree turn had to be very gentle, they covered almost 70 miles before they were heading home.  Even worse, their B-17 was so badly damaged that it kept losing altitude and speed.  Soon, they were alone and easy prey for two more Me-109s.  Refusing to go down without a fight, All American’s crew responded with guns blazing, the waist gunners with their heads through the hole in the fuselage, and the tail gunner’s recoil turning the airplane.  Thankfully, the fighters retreated without instilling further damage.

Allied P-51 fighters intercepted All American as she crossed the English Channel, snapped this inflight photo, and then radioed to base that the bomber’s empennage was waving like a fish tail, that the plane would not make it back, and to send rescue boats to retrieve the crew when they bailed out.  But Lt. Bragg quickly signaled that bailing out was not as option as they had used six parachutes to keep the plane together.  Earlier, the crew decided that if they could not all bail out safely, then they would stay with the plane and attempt a landing.  The Mustang pilots could only watch in amazement.

Two and a half hours after her mid-air, All American made her final turn to line up with the runway that was still 40 miles away.  Remarkably, she held together and rolled out on her landing gear.  When the ambulance pulled alongside, it was waved off because not one crewmember had been injured.  As people swarmed around the aircraft, no one could believe All American made it home.  She could have given up, but instead sat placidly while the crew exited through the fuselage door and the tail gunner climbed down a ladder.  Soon after, her aft section collapsed as if she knew she had done her job.

 

All American crew:  Pilot- Ken Bragg Jr., Copilot- G. Boyd Jr., Navigator- Harry C. Nuessle, Bombardier- Ralph Burbridge, Engineer- Joe C. James, Radio Operator- Paul A. Galloway, Ball Turret Gunner- Elton Conda, Waist Gunner- Michael Zuk, Tail Gunner- Sam T. Sarpolus, Ground Crew Chief- Hank Hyland

I love stories about America 's past.......pass this on to someone you know will appreciate this story.

Remembering

I’d scheduled another, light-hearted, would-be amusing blog today but then, seeing the date, I moved it to a later one. Not that I think remembrance should necessarily be a sombre thing. The events which took place 11 years ago were beyond imagining, beyond description. They were inspired by evil and seemed apocalyptic. But, without forgetting the horror and the need to work towards an understanding of the importance of our fellows, we should try to use the anniversary to celebrate the resilience of the human spirit, to be even more determined not to let tyranny of any sort dictate our responses, suppress our hopes or make our days bleaker.

The sort of murderous musings that fill this blog site are ingenious, varied, entertaining, funny, serious – and they’re all written by people who write crime novels and are therefore used to getting inside the minds of characters who perpetrate evil deeds, who by and large have little respect for the rights and lives of others. But those insights are structured, moulded into the form of stories. I’m not suggesting that sanitises them, but it makes them understandable, accessible. For the most part, we can fit them into a vision of the world which is familiar to us. We see that they’re not ‘normal’ but at least they have a place in our concept of ‘normality’.

I have a vivid imagination and like the challenges of creating credible characters who provoke responses (pro and anti) in the reader, but I don’t think I could sustain any credibility if I tried to include someone with the mindset of those who executed the 9/11 plan. Perhaps it’s because I personally have no religion, but I love and respect people, wherever they are and whatever they believe. We’re making a mess of the planet, some of us do unforgiveable things, inequality is rife, but the fact that we exist at all and that we survive all sorts of catastrophes and setbacks makes me proud of us.

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference

I spent the last three days at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference in Denver. I always come away with a notebook full of new ideas and action items for my writing and promotion. I’m very loyal to this conference because I sold my first published novel, Retirement Homes Are Murder, as the result of a pitch session at this conference in 2005. Here are a few sound bites from the conference:

•           Agent Katherine Sands in a workshop on pitch craft described the essential elements of a good pitch/query: place, person, pivot and hook. This means to establish the setting, the protagonist, the problem and then to plant a hook to grab the recipient of your pitch. As she said, “We have to become happy hookers.”
•           Bree Ervin in speaking about Social Media recommended to get out there, play (try things) and be real.
•           Jax Bubis told us to make sure we do enough research to make our stories realistic. She cited one famous author who described the fireflies in the hills above Boulder, Colorado. Note: You will see fireflies in Iowa City but not near Boulder.
•           An unverified urban myth attributed to Hemmingway is that he once won a bet to write a story in ten words or less: For sale, baby shoes, never worn. Whether actual or myth, it makes a good story.
•          One agent mentioned that her agency received over 25,000 queries a year and makes 10-15 offers to new clients a year. No wonder its difficult for writers to get agents.
•          Author Jodi Thomas gave a humorous and entertaining keynote address. Speaking to a room full of writers, she said, “You are not normal. Most people don’t spend time trying to get rid of a body.” She described being at a dinner and sitting next to a woman talking about carpet. “By the second course I was plotting her death.” When asked for the umpteenth time the question we authors often hear, “Where do you get your ideas?” Jodi bit her tongue but thought, “Where did yours go?” Her concluding remarks were, “We’re in the wild, wild west. Creativity is the black gold of the future. The future will be built by writers so write on.”
•           Good advice from author Cindi Meyers was to accept failure as part of the business.
•           Author and publisher Debra Dixon told us she keeps hearing in the publishing industry that the sky is falling. Then she clarified that she’s been hearing for twenty hears that the sky is falling. She encouraged us to scare ourselves at least once a day and try new things. She stated, “Just because you’ve always done things that was doesn’t mean it’s not stupid.”

Now it’s time to take my action list from the conference and get to work!

Mike Befeler

Mystery Co-Authors Bette Golden and J.J. Lamb

by Jean Henry Mead

Bette Golden Lamb and her husband, J.J. Lamb, are the co-authors of four crime novels: Sin & Bone, a medical thriller that brings back RN Gina Mazzio, who gets caught up in the illicit trade in human body parts and murder; Sisters in Silence, a medical thriller about a fertility counselor who goes on a mercy-killing spree of barren women; Heir Today, a fast-paced suspense-adventure featuring a husband-wife team that combines fraud, mayhem, high-seas piracy, murder, and a touch of romance; and Bone Dry, a high-tension medical thriller about theft and ransom of critical bone marrow featuring RN Gina Mazzio; described as “not for the squeamish.”

Bette, how did a nurse from the Bronx meet and marry a journalist from the Hoosier state?

On a summer break from my nursing program, I drove from New York to Albuquerque to see my brother. He and J.J. (I didn’t know him then) were journalists in the Associated Press office there. People talk about time standing still, and it sounds romantic, even poetic to talk about love-at-first-sight. But that’s how it happened. It was a beautiful summer night at an impossibly crowded, raucous party when the two of us found each other in a single glance. That was the moment a girl from the Bronx and a boy from Fort Wayne became one.

P.S. Our first date lasted a full 24 hours, and J.J. asked me to marry him on our second date.

Your name, Bette Golden Lamb, suggests a Native American background. 

Actually, my parents emigrated from Russia when they were in their teens. I’m first generation American. But it’s funny you bring that up because an uncle of mine looked exactly like a picture of Chief Joseph; I mean a dead-on image.

When did you and J.J. decide to collaborate on crime novels?

I had this great idea for a novel, so I passed in on to J.J., the writer. He seemed to like the idea, but he sure as heck wasn’t going to do anything about it. I brought it up now and then, like every week for two years. One day he dropped a ream of paper on my drafting table. “You like it, you write it.” You don’t need to hear the rest of that conversation. But his challenge did start me on the road to writing. Several years later I had the idea for Bone Dry, and the RN Gina Mazzio series was born, along with our collaboration.

How do you resolve differences while co-authoring a book?

Well, we duke it out, of course :-) Truthfully, it was very hard in the beginning. There were many, many, many conversations about everything. And I mean everything! When I think back to our early collaboration, I have to admit that J.J. was a saint. Some of things I came up with were really off the wall. In fact, they were so weird, I refuse to remember any of them. J.J. must have laughed himself to sleep every night. Now, when we have a disagreement about an in-progress book, the answer always lies within the characters and the story. That resolves most issues. Any ego trip, by either of us, always defeats the work and the collaboration.

Your job as an RN is obviously great background for your medical thrillers. Have you based any of your plots on true life experiences?

In Sin & Bone, our second Gina Mazzio book, the story is about a killer calling a hospital advice center. I’ve been an advice nurse for many years. But realistically, everything in our medical thrillers has its roots in my career as an RN. The mood, the rhythm, the lingo in medical situations is almost impossible to replicate without having that specific experience. Being there reveals so much about the heart and determination of the people in that special environment. It’s what gives the stories reality, and above all, immediacy. When we wrote Bone Dry, I’d worked with cancer patients but never on an oncology unit. Still, when I spoke to the nurses in that specialized field, I found them generous with their time. They even invited me onto the unit where I was able to see and absorb everything we needed for a tense, scary story.

How do you find time to write when you’re also a ceramist and sculptor as well as a nurse? You must be very organized.

I used to take my laptop to work with me and during my lunch break, I would rush out to my car and write -- every single day. On weekends, I would dive right into my art work. It did take tremendous organization, dedication, and plain old compulsive nuttiness. I don’t know why I’m so driven to create. I just am.

If you had to choose just one of your pursuits, which would it be and why?

I did make that choice a while back -- I left nursing. However, I stay as up to date as I can with what’s happening in the nursing and overall medical fields. I loved nursing -- it was a privilege to help people, to be a vital part of their lives. So even though I was reluctant to give it up, I finally did. But writing and art are passions that I could never give up. They give me the precious freedom of expression, and provide a vision of life that can’t be replicated by anything else. Being able to create something beautiful to behold, or write something exciting, not only nourishes my soul, it makes me feel like one of the luckiest people in the world.

Advice for novice writers.

If writing is your thing, you’ll need a day (or night) job doing something that makes you feel worthwhile, something that gives you satisfaction at the end of a long day. It’s just too difficult, or almost impossible, to survive on what you can earn form creative writing. Sure, sure, some writers immediately make it to the top. And sure, talent is always an issue. But all too often luck is what drives success in the creative arts. In case you’re not one of the ones who strike it rich, or have some of that rare publishers’ fairy dust fall on your brow, be prepared to support yourself and live to write another day. As I said, if writing is your thing, you’re already one of the luckiest people in the world.

Thanks, Bette.


You can learn more about Bette Lamb at: www.bettelamb.com, www.facebook.com/bette.g.lamb
www.linkedin.com/pub/bette-golden-lamb/16/867/505 and

www.goodreads.com/user/show/4094/597-bette-golden-lamb

Title? Cover Art? What makes you buy?

Carola Dunn

I expect some of you know that before I started writing mysteries, I wrote Regencies--32 full length novels and a bunch of novellas. (Many have mystery and suspense elements, smugglers, spies, attempted murders, impersonations, etc.) They have all been available as e-books for several years, but it's only since they became available on Amazon that I've been getting a monthly list of all titles and how many of each sold.

It's been interesting. For some reason the same titles tend to have the highest sales numbers month after month. Lavender Lady is almost always at the top.

Ginnie Come Lately also does well, as does A Poor Relation.

At the bottom are the collections of novellas. I can understand that. Some people just don't particularly like novellas. Somewhat above them are my ghost and time travel Regencies, The Actress and the Rake and Byron's Child. OK, so some people don't like ghosts or time travel.

But why are Angel and The Fortune Hunters so often near the bottom? 

 



















Is it the picture? Is it the title? It doesn't seem to be the number of stars or reviews on Amazon that makes the difference. It's all a mystery to me.





Especially as Smugglers' Summer has such wonderful cover art, the title seems to me as intriguing as any of the rest, and it has 5 stars, yet it's near the bottom in sales!














What do you think? Is there anything I can do to level the playing field?

Available in multiple formats at RegencyReads.com or for Kindle at Amazon.com/carola+dunn+regency

PS. Just after I finished this and turned off my computer, I went out to get the mail. Nice surprise arrived: The trade paperback large print edition of My Lord Winter, first published in 1992. I take it this means the hard cover large print sold well enough to justify bringing it out in paper. The work that keeps on paying!

Book Giveaway Works

I've changed my mind about ebook giveaways. I had read about the experiences of writers like Rob Walker, who has his books in the Amazon KDP Select program where you have five days every ninety days that you can make your book free for the Kindle. Rob is always writing about how he gives away thousands and the result is an increase in sales. I tried it back in the spring when the ebook version of Beware the Jabberwock came out.

I knew it would take a lot of promotion, so I did posts on all the lists I belong to, mentioned it on Facebook, and in my blog. I had read about all the thousands of downloads people would have, but my three-day promotion produced only about 3,000, and I found no subsequent boost in the sales of Jabberwock or my other ebooks. As a result, I took it out of the KDP Select program and decided free books wasn't the way to go.

Then Rebecca Dahlke resurrected her All Mystery E-Newsletter and started a discussion group along with it. She put out eight pages of instructions on how to promote your ebook in the Amazon program, complete with dozens of websites that list free ebooks where readers can find them. After reading it, I thought it was worth another try.

This time I chose to give away my first published book, the one that started my Greg McKenzie mystery series, Secret of the Scroll. I took it off of Smashwords.com, since you have to give Amazon an exclusive to be in the Select program. I had only sold a handful on Smashwords anyway. Then I started going through all the recommended websites, setting up my book to be listed on the free days.

I originally set the promo for August 29-31, and that's how I scheduled it on the sites. But when I went to the book's Kindle page the morning of August 29, it wasn't showing as free. I checked the Promotions Manager and my days had disappeared. I quickly entered August 30-September 1 and tried to notify as many of the free book sites as possible. I also plugged it on Facebook and Twitter, which Rebecca's instructions said was a good place to promote.

By the second day of my promotion Secret of the Scroll was #1 in the Thriller Suspense category for free books and #16 in the Top 100. It stayed at #1 the last day as well. When it was over, 10,253 people had downloaded a free book.

The theory is that giving away books gets your name out there and will result in more sales. In the two days since the promotion ended, I have sold 42 copies of the Secret ebook and 14 copies of my other ebooks. I've also had 19 people "borrow" Secret of the Scroll. Amazon puts up a kitty of about $600,000 each month that is paid to authors of borrowed books, depending on the number borrowed. This is far and away more sales than I've ever registered in such short a period.

So, yes, I'm now a believer in the giveaway feature of KDP Select.

Chester Campbell
Visit me at Mystery Mania

Computer Wars -- Apple vs. Google

by Ben Small

As someone who recently bit the Apple, the only bitterness I've found to that sweet juice has been the realization that I do not own Apple stock and at these prices cannot afford to buy Apple stock. 

Seriously, over time, I've tired of Microsoft's domination of the PC marketplace. I stopped using Internet Explorer years ago because there were better browsers. But operating systems? I know nothing about computer operating systems, except what I've learned from my Microsoft frustrations. But I know the effects of domination: I'm an antitrust lawyer. Domination kills innovation and customer service and raises prices. Look at Microsoft: You pay for their constant upgrades; you learn that some of its own programs don't play well together; you wade through unhelpful Help suggestions; you get blue screens of death; you get "fixes" every Tuesday; you must move your data back and forth just so you don't lose it next time you upgrade to the next OS upgrade; you get malware and bugs, and you must wrestle with Symantec, McAfee or some other anti-virus program that often doesn't work.

I'm sure you can add to my litany of complaints, but that's not the point. Yes, I finally made the switch -- or am working at it -- to Apple, picking up one of the new MacBook Pros with Retina Display and planning on an iPhone when the new model pops out.

And I'm amazed once more at Steve Job's genius, the intuitive programs and actions, the lack of a need for an antivirus program and the seamless way Apple programs work together. I should have made this transition years ago. And learning curve? What learning curve? One half hour lesson at the Apple Store, and I haven't been back. 

See, even a dummy can make the transition.

But this purchase has also peaked my interest in the lawsuits Apple's been filing and the results they've recently been getting from them. I am a retired lawyer after all, one who has litigated patent claims. So I know the territory, even if I haven't studied the patent claims in the Apple vs. Samsung litigation.

No question, this was a big week for Apple. The Samsung jury verdict was a Google alarm of the first order, and of course not so good for Samsung. For those who didn't notice, Apple won a verdict of over a billion dollars from Samsung last week, one that's likely to be trebled before attorney fees and costs (expected to be in the millions) are also levied. And yes, Apple is attempting to block Samsung's ability to sell some of its phone models in the U.S. 

There are several aspects to the Samsung cases -- there are two -- that particularly interest me. First, the fact that the jury verdict validated Apple's patents. That's now a matter of law; those patents can be enforced. And that's big trouble for anyone else who was thinking of challenging them. Granted, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the appellate court which hears patent case appeals, could modify or even reverse this verdict, but this was not a normal jury. The jury was drawn from technically savvy San Jose, and the jury apparently understood its job and the patent claims involved. They studied them and reached an informed decision. I expect the decision will hold.

Second, the real target in this lawsuit was Google, who was not even a party. Brilliant action to sue the device maker for selling technology that violates your patents, not the designer of the operating system itself. Which sends a strong message to all manufacturers of devices running Google's Android system: Go ahead: Make your Android phones, and we'll sue you for your profits, our lost profits and we'll block your future sales.

Quite a blow to Android system device manufacturers; quite a blow to Google. I guarantee those who manufacture Android devices are on the phone to Google now.

So sure, Samsung can design around Apple patents, perhaps, somehow change the "Pinch", for instance, to some other form of finger move, but that's extra engineering work of extraordinary complexity and expense. Plus, there may be other patents out there you might infringe.

As I was reading about this over the course of the last few days, I wondered when Apple and Google would hold settlement meetings, because again, even though this enforcement action was against Samsung, the clear message is Apple is gunning for Google, and since Google is soon coming out with its own phone, which itself may infringe Apple's patents, the time is now to meet and attempt to negotiate cross-license or license terms. These negotiations will be difficult and long, but they must occur. You don't see GE and United Technologies suing each other in court over aircraft engine patents, do you? They cross-license each other. But Google and Apple, just because of their age and growth cannot yet be considered mature companies. It takes a while before the light comes on sometimes with companies who haven't been around long. Google and Apple will get there, but I would not expect an agreement any time soon, unless it's a limited one.

And in the meantime, Microsoft's considering its own entry into the tablet and phone market. But because Microsoft approaches most things differently from Apple, I wouldn't expect too much dithering between Apple and Big M. I think those problems were ironed out years ago.

But another thing struck me about this week's results. Not long ago, I read an article critical of Apple for having filed these suits. The reasoning behind this critique was that Steve Jobs was away from Apple for many years. The author claimed electronic technology took huge jumps during that period. He argued that Jobs may not have been aware of all the developments and may have attributed more value to Apple's patents than they were worth.

But ask Samsung. This verdict, a ban from markets and consequential redesign efforts will cost Samsung billions of dollars. And while the impact on Samsung's current product lineup may not be so severe, this lawsuit will eventually be settled, and Samsung can be expected to pay somewhere between $5-30 per unit sold or to be sold. But even a $5 royalty on all Samsung phones sold would cost Samsung tens of billions of dollars over the years. And raise the cost of Samsung devices.

Needless to say, device makers are going to be besieging Google to settle with Apple. They don't want to end up exposed like Samsung. And, depending upon their agreements, Google may face some exposure from Samsung, for instance to indemnify and hold Samsung harmless from patent infringement claims arising from operating system technology. 

So, in a few words, Apple didn't have to sue Google directly to drive Google to the settlement table. Instead, they sued a device maker who based its system on Google technology. 

Uh oh.

And that explains why Google initiated settlement discussions with Apple within a few days of the verdict.