The Smell of Kerosene

WHY WRITE A BOOK?

When I retired from NASA in 1987, I had a good feeling about that decision. All the kids were out of college and my financial responsibility was reduced. I had 35 years of service with the military and civilian government and a reasonable retirement income. I had over eleven good years with the U.S. Navy and 31 years with NASA. Seven of the Navy years were Active Reserve time and overlapped with the NASA time. The first four years with the Navy were active duty time. In 1963, a transfer from NASA Langley to NASA Edwards resulted in me dropping out of the active reserve. This was a decision influenced by higher management at NASA. I wasn't too happy with it; but NASA was the primary job. In 1970, the Navy gave me a retirement to the inactive reserve. No financial benefits, just 10 years plus of good service, an ID card and permission to seek a drink at any Navy Officer's Club.

Typically after retirement, I became involved in several volunteer type functions that were associated with aiding people and community. I still had a lot of time to think about the career that I had in aviation and the things I had been able to do. Some years before I retired, I had written a family history book. In the search for information on that book, I found an autobiography written by a distant family member in the mid 1800s. I was very impressed with the information in the book and the assistance it was to me, in writing the family history.

I made the decision to write a book about my life and primarily my career in aviation. In the back of my mind, I had the idea that it would be nice if I could finish a book and have it published; but, if not, it would provide my kids and their kids with a little history and information. Sort of a continuation of the family history book that I had written.

I'll not go into the nuts and bolts of writing the book; but be assured, it took a lot of time, work and reviews before it came close to being published. Several commercial publishers told me they were not able to get books published that some of the astronauts had written, so I didn't think there was much of a chance for mine. About that time, my manuscript got into the NASA Dryden (Edwards AFB) system via a good friend, Betty Love. Betty was a NASA Retiree who did volunteer work in the Dryden History Office.

About a year later, I received a call with a request to use part of my book in a NASA Dryden Monograph of the Blackbird flight test program from 1969 to 1979. I had flown that program along with the legendary Air Force/NASA test pilot, Fitzhugh Fulton. The History Office at Dryden liked my treatment and story of that flying. I had given up all hope of having the complete book published, so I gave them approval to use my material. Peter Merlin was the primary author of that Monograph named: Mach 3+ NASA/USAF YF-12 FLIGHT RESEARCH 1979.

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Peter came by my home on a number of visits to have me review the edit what he had done on my material. I was completely impressed with his ability as a writer and editor to smooth up and make my writing more readable. He was able to do this without changing my story or the message that I wanted to give. I told Peter at the time, I wish he had time to edit and review the rest of my manuscript.

Several months passed and Peter called and told me that the NASA Dryden History Office had decided to publish my complete book. The first thing I asked him was, "Are they going to leave in the Navy Flying, too?" His answer was a positive yes. He said there had been some talk about just publishing the NASA flying; but he had intervened and told management that it would take away a great deal from the book, if it were not complete, including the Navy flying experience. I was very excited about this for two reasons: It would be great to have the book published; but even more important, to have Peter Merlin as my editor and reviewer.

On the Lecture Circuit

One of the biggest compliments that I received on my book was from a former Naval Aviator, who was working at NASA Dryden as a research engineer. He told me that it was the best description of Naval Air Flight training that he had ever read. He said that it took him back to his days in flight training. That was a big compliment for me. I have always considered one of my biggest accomplishments in life was completing Naval Air Flight Training and being designated a Naval Aviator. After flying a tour as a carrier pilot in F2H-2 Banshee's, I had the feeling that I could tackle or fly anything that came along. I think that accomplishment and that attitude helped me to be successful in a long flight test career.

I think this covers the reasons I came to write my book, THE SMELL OF KEROSENE I enjoyed the challenges of my aviation career and I wanted my family to know more about it, and perhaps a few others too. It all started with Naval Air and I am still proud of that today. If you follow up and read the book, I hope that you enjoy it. Perhaps it will bring back memories. I have had a lot of "positive feedback" from readers and that is my reward. Because it is a government publication, I receive no royalties on the sale. I understand the book is available on this web site. It can also be ordered in a paperback from: www.alibris.com

— Don "Jake" Mallick
LCDR USNR-RET
August 26, 2007