Description (Paperback available in B&W or Full Color - click both format arrows - or Color Kindle) "They painted our planes black, we wondered about that, then they put flame arrestors on our engines.
You won\'t put down Sketches of a Black Cat till you\'ve read it cover-to-cover " WIN STITES, VP-91, VP2-1 served in both Atlantic and Pacific regions during WWII, Former President PBY Memorial Foundation and Museum.
I highly recommend this book to vets, historians, and students.
Many episodes were warm and compelling.
I can almost hear the drone of the engines in synchronization.
I can truly say I felt as though I was on Howard\'s Catalina...so many similarities to my own experiences.
A wholly enjoyable Story " Stewart Bailey, Curator, Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum * * * * "As a former flight engineer aboard a PBY in WWII...
Miner sees the war through the eyes of an artist, revealing details of day-to-day life that are often overlooked in war time narratives.
Howard Miner\'s memoirs are a wonderful view into the world of a patrol squadron at war.
This is not only a valuable and insightful historical document but a dramatic and warm personal story." Don Keith, WWII author * * * * "...
Kudos to Ron Miner for preserving and sharing with the rest of us the gold of his father\'s journals, photos, and drawings to bring us such a compelling look at life during the war.
Mike Francis the Oregonian * * * * "Wonderful and beautifully real stories such as this are dying every day as we lose our WWII veterans. * * * *"From boxes of notes and drawings comes a book illuminating a WWII pilot\'s experiences as part of the Black Cat Squadron...accounts of support missions, rescues of airmen and interactions with indigenous island peoples told in vivid but unembellished detail...a handsome volume that reads breezily and is punctuated with photos and drawings from Howard\'s war years.
This artfully crafted book is a must read for anyone in search of a new and completely different view into the world of war in the Pacific and on the home front during America\'s greatest conflict." Larkin Spivey, military historian and author.
Publisher\'s Weekly * * * * "Sketches of a Black Cat" is a unique and fascinating memoir of a World War II combat aviator with original and previously unpublished Sketches and photographs. * * * * Miner combines his father\'s writings and interviews with WWII veterans to craft a loving tribute to the young men who fought in WWII...
He does his father and the other WWII veterans proud.
The descriptive verse from the artist\'s viewpoint gives us a creatively told and intriguing portrayal of WWII\'s Pacific Theater.
Howard\'s journey through training and tours of duty is skillfully captured in his art and narratives.
Their seaplane odyssey stretched from the Solomon Islands to the northern tip of the Philippines and included a full range of missions, from search, attack, and bombing runs, to daring sea rescues.
Wartime was unpredictable, and whether landing on a tropical isle where the women he saw from the air turned out to be topless, or dropping wing tanks containing a strange new substance called "Napalm," this was clearly a very different world than he had known as a college student in Indiana.
His is a tale of seven buddies, all pilots who flew at night, slept and got into mischief by day, then repeated.
From boxes of journals, photos, and artwork comes a true Story filled with colorful descriptions of exotic locations, sea rescues, and the humor that was intrinsic to a Navy squadron\'s daily life while at war in the South Pacific.
We were told the cabin would be completely blacked out, the cockpit windows were darkened, and we would be doing mainly night work..." LCDR Howard Miner, VP-54 This coming-of-age Story follows the exploits of a WWII Navy seaplane pilot who became one of the first to fly night missions.
Description (Paperback available in B&W or Full Color - click both format arrows - or Color Kindle) "They painted our planes black, we wondered about that, then they put flame arrestors on our engines
