Description
Anchorage, Alaska: Fathom Publishing Company, Published 2016. Paperback, ix, 63 pp.; 26 cm; illustrated with black-and-white photographs throughout, plus reproductions of the author's flight log, FAA pilot certificate, US Navy ID card, and a Navy flight-training recommendation letter. Foreword by Bob Mrazek, author of A Dawn Like Thunder: The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight. Personalized and inscribed by the author on the title page: "TO JOHN / Z W 'SKI' Kowalewski E-8 NAP / USN RET / TORPEDO SQUADRON VT-8" and dated 12/22/16.
Condition & notes
In Good condition. Blue pictorial paper covers with cover photograph of the author's TBF-1 torpedo bomber crash at Suva, Fiji on 30 July 1942; bumping and creasing to edges and corners, mild to moderate overall surface wear, and some color loss along edges of spine. Binding is tight; mild corner creasing to top corners of several pages, otherwise pages are clean and unmarked. [From back cover] Ski Kowalewski is a World War II veteran who enlisted in the United States Navy prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Ski was a member of the famous Torpedo Squadron Eight (VT-8) devastated at the Battle of Midway. He flew from four aircraft carriers as an aerial turret gunner in TBF-1 torpedo bombers. He survived a torpedo bomber crash and many torpedo bomber attacks on Japanese surface ships including an aircraft carrier. He was also recruited to support the Marines fighting the Japanese on Guadalcanal at Bloody Ridge. He participated in the burial ceremony at sea of a German submarine captain who had been captured by US Naval forces in the North Atlantic. He is an FAA-rated Airline Transport Pilot, multi-engine land and sea rated. He has flown 25 different aircraft, a jet and ultralights with 14,000 logged flight hours. Ski graduated from Navy flight training and was rated as a Navy pilot. He served one half of his 20-year Navy career as a pilot. After retiring from the Navy, he had a successful career with the Federal Aviation Administration as an Airways Systems Inspection Pilot. Contents: Dedication; Foreword by Bob Mrazek; Introduction; Leonard Blank and Shanghai Ed; New York New York; I Dodged the Bullet; Crash of TBF-1 BUNO:00387; Invasion of Guadalcanal Island; Attack on Japanese Aircraft Carrier IJN Ryujo; Aircraft Carrier USS Saratoga CV-3 Torpedoed; Night Shelling of Guadalcanal Island; Back in the Good Old USA; Through the Panama Canal; North Atlantic German Submarine Incident; Polish Wedding; Accepted for Navy Flight Training; Navy Flight Training; Naval Air Test Center; Strategic Air Command; Panama Canal Zone; Navy UF-1 Albatross Flight Incident; I Flew Hopalong Cassidy; I Flew Supersonic; Convair C-340 Lightning Strike; North Island Naval Air Station; Epilogue.
