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0|0|0|||1||Unexpected Bonus dep%27t|Gryphon||22:53:23|10/07/2015|So%2C as a lot of you probably know%2C one of the things I tend to collect is aviation memoirs and biographies%2C particularly %28but not limited to%29 concerning World War II.  Unlike many of my various interests%2C I can actually trace this one to a specific book%2C or rather a pair of books%2C that I was loaned when I was a kid by a man who was%2C at the time%2C my father%27s boss.%0D%0A%0D%0A%28Well%2C I say loaned.  Being a kid%2C I mostly forgot about returning them until years later%2C by which point I%27d lost track of both of them in various moves.  I ended up tracking down new copies of both to give to the guy%2C who had himself completely forgotten about the whole thing by then and was pleasantly surprised.  I know%2C my little Abe Lincoln moment.  Anyway.  Onward.%29%0D%0A%0D%0AOne of them was Heinz Knoke%27s %5Bi%5DI Flew for the F%C3%BChrer%5B%2Fi%5D%2C of which I%27ve written before on these boards.  Knoke was frankly a somewhat unsavory character - as noted elsewhere%2C I had completely forgotten when I based one of OWaW%27s original witches on him that he was an unrepentant Nazi - but he wrote a very entertaining memoir until you get to the chapter about how sorry the Western Allies were going to be that they had taken down Hitler and not Stalin.  %28In fairness%2C he was probably not 100%25 completely wrong about that%2C but...%29%0D%0A%0D%0AThe %5Bi%5Dother%5B%2Fi%5D one was Robert L. Scott%27s %5Bi%5DGod Is My Co-Pilot%5B%2Fi%5D.  Scott was one of the war%27s Genuine Characters%2C one of the generation of slightly older American airmen who was already a veteran pilot by the time the war broke out.  He was involved in supply runs over the Hump in the China-Burma-India theater of operations%2C and eventually wangled his way into the American Volunteer Group%2C flying fighters%2C despite his advanced age %28relatively speaking - he was 34 in 1942%29.  The AVG officially shut down%2C and in practice became the US Army Air Force%27s 23rd Fighter Group%2C in July of that year%2C with Scott as its commanding officer.%0D%0A%0D%0A%5Bi%5DGod Is My Co-Pilot%5B%2Fi%5D was published in 1943%2C years before the end of the war%2C so it has a somewhat different tempo and flavor compared with pilot memoirs written well after the fact.  Being one of the earliest of its kind%2C it was also something of a model for later efforts%3B one can detect many echoes of the way its narrative is structured in other books of the kind.  It was almost immediately made into a movie%2C which I haven%27t seen%2C but which by most accounts is a pretty typical wartime flagwaver.  There are elements of that in the book as well%2C I must confess.%0D%0A%0D%0AAt any rate%2C Scott survived the war - survived%2C in fact%2C for a good long time.  He died in 2006 at the age of 97%2C writing a bunch more books along the way %28including one%2C 1989%27s %5Bi%5DThe Day I Owned the Sky%5B%2Fi%5D%2C that I%27ve got a first-edition hardcover of around here someplace%29.  That original copy of %5Bi%5DGod Is My Co-Pilot%5B%2Fi%5D is long since misplaced%2C and was falling apart the last time I saw it%2C so the other day I decided I would see about tracking down a fresh copy online.  I went for one of the later reprints%2C figuring it would be likely to be in better condition and last longer than the %2770s-vintage mass-market paperback I originally had.%0D%0A%0D%0AI%27ve never heard of the publishers of this particular hardcover edition - based on the name and the typography%2C I would guess it is or was a small specialty-subject press - but that%27s not really the important thing.%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2FG-GFX%2Fscottbook01.jpg%0D%0A%0D%0AWhat%27s important is what I found%2C entirely unexpectedly%2C on the title page.%0D%0A%0D%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2FG-GFX%2Fscottbook02.jpg%0D%0A%0D%0AI don%27t know who Ron Reed is or why he chose to part with the book%2C but hey - autographed copy.  %28If the listing I bought it from mentioned that%2C I didn%27t notice it.%29%0D%0A%0D%0A--G.%0D%0A-%3E%3C-%0D%0ABenjamin D. Hutchins%2C Co-Founder%2C Editor-in-Chief%2C %26 Forum Mod%0D%0AEyrie Productions%2C Unlimited  http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2F%0D%0Azgryphon at that email service Google has%0D%0A%5Bi%5DCeterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.%5B%2Fi%5D