Earl Rogers

Once a Jock...always a Jock!!: Recollections of the Flying Midshipmen Earl Rogers

Publisher Marketing: Definition: Jock n. (informal): A pilot or astronaut, an abbreviation of jockey as in throttle jockey or jet jockey. "Once a Jock . . . Always a Jock" is a compilation of three hundred stories written by the first postwar generation of Naval Aviators who began their training in late 1945 as teenagers fresh out of high school. A 16 week Pre-Flight school started the clock running on a two year contract where each future Navy pilot held the rank of Aviation Midshipman, USN. The clock was still running when they earned their gold wings and were assigned to fleet squadrons. These Flying Midshipmen flew every aircraft in the Navy's arsenal. Eventually they were sworn in as commissioned officers and went on to participate in every major aviation event from the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and the Cold War to the conflict in Vietnam. Readers of these stories will discover what motivated 3,000 high school kids to fly for the Navy. They will learn what it was like to be a Flying Midshipman at the bottom of the pecking order aboard ship or as a pilot in an aircraft squadron. Today's young pilots will gain some useful knowledge about training mishaps and accidents that could have been avoided. They will be thrilled by accounts of My First Corsair Flight or My First Jet Flight or My First Cat Shot. They might reflect on the sobering story of Jesse Brown, the African American who broke the color barrier in Naval Aviation the same year that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in major league baseball. Those who have flown as civilian or military pilots will find themselves in the narrow escapes and the humor in the aftermath of bad judgment, and above all, in their great love of flying. They will learn what it is like to land a battle damaged fighter on an aircraft carrier in bad weather or how a pilot blinded by enemy flak was guided by his friend to successful wheels-up landing. Reading these stories, veteran flyers may remember the long monotonous anti-submarine and maritime patrols that ended in moments of stark terror. Anyone who never sat in the left seat of a flying boat may be surprised to know that seaplane pilots had to supplement their flying skills with a firm knowledge of seamanship. They can read about it in Chapter 16, Flying Boat Jocks. Of course the book has stories for helicopter jocks and transport pilots and instrument pilots and flying in all kinds of climate from the arctic to the tropics. For the poetry minded, there are some of those too. These stories should appeal to anyone who has ever dreamed about flying. And most important, 100% of the proceeds from sales of the book will be directed to the Flying Midshipmen Endowment Fund for support of the Youth Aviation Training Program aboard the USS Midway Museum in San Diego. Contributor Bio:  Rogers, Earl Earl Rogers, a third generation Californian, comes from a family of writers. His father, Bogart Rogers wrote for national magazines, and his aunt, Adela Rogers St Johns, was a well known writer of short stories for the Hearst newspapers. Mr. Rogers has has hiked and backpacked extensively in the mountains of California. He has published three books, A Yankee Ace in the RAF, a collaborative work published by the University Press of Kansas, Flying the Rim, a memoir about aerial prospecting for uranium, and The Mountain of Seven Gables, his first novel, set against a background of Northern California and the John Muir Trail from Yosemite to the summit of Mt Whitney. A licensed pilot, he has written numerous articles for aviation, travel, and outdoor publications and local newspapers.