Welcome to My Blog
May 10, 2020 by Eileen Bjorkman
I'll be blogging periodically about subjects related to my books. My focus will be on telling stories about veterans, military history, and aviation history, especially that related to flight testing, military aircraft, and homebuilt aircraft. I'm aiming for original content, but will sometimes provide an excerpt from one of my books or previously published articles, especially if I have some photos to include that I haven't posted before.
I've been interviewing people for my articles and books for nearly a decade, and I've heard so many great stories, mostly from veterans, that I haven't been able to tell for various reasons. Sometimes a story is too long for an article, or it doesn't fit within the context of the article I'm working on. In other cases, I simply don't have room in 2,500-3,000 words for every anecdote I'm told. And in other cases, I'm just overwhelmed by the number of people who want me to interview them! That happened a few years ago when I was working on an article about the RF-4C tactical reconnaissance aircraft; dozens of former pilots, weapon systems officers, and maintaintenance personnel called or emailed me wanting to tell their stories. I'm planning to post some of those stories here.
In some cases, I'll expand on short posts from my twitter feed, like this one:
This is the only two-seat A-10 ever built (called the YA-10B). The rear cockpit was configured for a weapon systems officer. It never went into production, and now sits outside the Air Force Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base. I would love to have gotten a flight in the backseat of this aircraft, but unfortunately the test program was over by the time I got to Edwards in 1985. I'm trying to chase down someone who flew this aircraft so I can get a report for a future blog post!
I've been interviewing people for my articles and books for nearly a decade, and I've heard so many great stories, mostly from veterans, that I haven't been able to tell for various reasons. Sometimes a story is too long for an article, or it doesn't fit within the context of the article I'm working on. In other cases, I simply don't have room in 2,500-3,000 words for every anecdote I'm told. And in other cases, I'm just overwhelmed by the number of people who want me to interview them! That happened a few years ago when I was working on an article about the RF-4C tactical reconnaissance aircraft; dozens of former pilots, weapon systems officers, and maintaintenance personnel called or emailed me wanting to tell their stories. I'm planning to post some of those stories here.
In some cases, I'll expand on short posts from my twitter feed, like this one:
This is the only two-seat A-10 ever built (called the YA-10B). The rear cockpit was configured for a weapon systems officer. It never went into production, and now sits outside the Air Force Flight Test Museum at Edwards Air Force Base. I would love to have gotten a flight in the backseat of this aircraft, but unfortunately the test program was over by the time I got to Edwards in 1985. I'm trying to chase down someone who flew this aircraft so I can get a report for a future blog post!