Joe's Journal

Orlando, FL, 28 May 2002

Dear Members of the Redneck Squadron, The Good Time Gang and other Assorted Friends,

We just returned from a fabulous 11 day TDY to the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Germany-What a blast.

First we went to Prague, The Czech Republic at the invitation of the Czech Balloon Club. We visited downtown Prague, had a meeting with the Minister of Transportation of The Czech Republic, had a television interview (live) on their "60 minute" show, flew a hot air balloon for an hour with Gottlieb Blenk, visited their Aviation museum and flew for 30 minutes acrobatics in a 1950 Russian Zin trainer.

Then we returned to Augsburg and flew to Frankfurt and then to Vilnius, Lithuania. We had visited there in 1989 before their independence. What a difference. When we visited Vilnius in 1989 it was drab and unhappy. Today it is fresh, beautiful,happy and free. After arriving in Vilnius we were given a walking tour of the city. We then drove to our friend, Gottlieb Blenk's hotel which is about 90 minutes from Vilnius.Gottlieb had met us in Prague and was our tour guide after the Czech Republic. His lady friend, Gertie joined us when we went to Augsburg. It is a quaint, beautiful little hotel in the beautiful country side of Lithuania.

That evening we went on a hot air balloon flight for an hour. The balloon meiser had a dog by the name of " Pepe" who followed our vehicle from the hotel to the launch site which was a distance of about 3 miles. After launch the dog followed the balloon through thick and thin. When the dog came to a river or lake he swam it, when he came to a fence he went around it, when he came to a cliff he climbed it- always keeping in sight of the balloon. We flew about 5 miles and when we landed the dog was right there. The owner said that he did not teach the dog to follow the balloon-he just started doing it. It was really fun to look down and watch the dog follow our balloon through all of the obstacles. Lithuania is by far the most beautiful country to fly a balloon over. There are very few power lines, no fences and a multitude of landing spots. In fact the entire country side can be used for landing sites. Of all of the places in the world that I have flown balloons over Lithuania is my choice for the best conditions. Plus you can usually fly in the afternoons. Being as far north as it is, sunset is not until 9pm.

The next day we flew a AN 2 (Russian bi-plane) to an airport about 1.5 hours north where we were given a private airshow by two acrobatic pilots. We then flew home. I made two takeoffs and one landing in this very versatile aircraft. The next day we went through a park that had collected most all of the Russian statues that were discarded following Lithuania Independence in 1991. It was an interesting.collection.That afternoon we went to a typical farm village where we were entertained by 6 rather old women dressed in Native dresses. They sang native songs for several hours as we ate native food and drank all sorts of cool beverages including their local "moonshine" which is made out of corn. It was another delightful experience.

The next day we flew back to Augsburg and the following day we walked around beautiful Augsburg. Augsburg is our second home. Our good friend Gottlieb Blenk lets us use an apartment and always gives us a car. He is truly a very special friend that I have known since we flew in the first Gordon Bennett Balloon Race in 1979 .On Saturday, 25 May, Gottlieb had his chauffeur drive us back to Prague where we departed on our airliner back to the USA. As I said it was a fabulous trip.

Tomorrow, I leave for Huntsville, Al where I will pick up the 1929 New Standard and fly to Corinth, Mississippi where I will attend the "sometimes" annual banquet of The International Society of Aviation Barnstorming Historians. On Thursday I will fly to Bartlesville, Ok where we will barnstorm on Friday and Saturday. Sherry, will join me on Thursday at Bartlesville and then fly back to Orlando on Sunday. I will ferry the New Standard to Denver and then fly home.

This will be our last barnstorming gig of this year. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. Let the Good Times Roll!!

Minneapolis, MN, 20 May 1996

Aerocar

Just returned this evening at 6:30 from Minneapolis. The weather was bad on Friday morning and the press did not respond to all of the initiatives that we tried. The event was a great success with the locals however on Saturday and Sunday. The Aerocar was the hit of the event. I flew it twice on Saturday and three times on Sunday. Each time I made several 360 degree turns on the taxi way in front of the audience then took off and made several passes over the assembly with the headlights on, the turn signals going and blowing the horn. Dan White installed a semi-truck air horn in the Aerocar that was quite loud. On the ground I had my Florida drivers license out and in the air I had my FAA pilots license ready. We had a lot of fun and this spectacular auto/aircraft was a real hit. The vehicle was on static display on both days when I wasn't flying it.

Sherry was always ready with her Roscoe Turner tote bag full of Milton's press kits. They did not go to waste, as the announcer for the event read (word for word) from the press kit about the Aerocar and about my parachute jump and adventures. When I made a pass down the runway, he would say, "Is it a car? Is it a plane? No, it's a combination of the two, it's an Aerocar." Then he said, "Joe has rolled down the window on the car and is giving us the famous "Joe Kittinger" wave." One little kid even said, "I've never seen a car with wings." Anyway, the owner of the Aerocar was very pleased.

Orlando, FL, 26 May 1996

Stuff

We always meet the nicest people when we go to all of the barnstorming gigs (including Corinth).

Tomorrow we hit the road. Today is being spent inventorying and loading the RV. It takes a lot of stuff to be a barnstormer.

A friend of ours, Dr Coy Foster is going to be married at Greenwood, MS, and our friend Per Lindstrand from England will also be there since he is also a friend of Coy's. Per Lindstrand is the project engineer and pilot for Richard Branson's transglobal balloon attempt.

Orlando, FL, 21 Jun 1996

Air Commandoes

I was a member of the Air Commandoes from 1963 through 1971. My first combat tour in Viet Nam was flying Air Commando B-26's from Bien Hoa. Then in 1966 I led the first eight A-26's across the Pacific Ocean landing at NKP in Northern Thailand. I returned from this combat tour in 1967. I then went to Germany where I was the Air Force liaison officer for the Tenth Special Forces Group ( US Army)at Bad Toelz Germany.

While with this group I was on their parachute demonstration team and as such I was the only Air Force jumper on a US Army jump team. I made a total of 35 parachute jumps during this year and obtained my Master parachutists rating from the US Army. Following this years tour I was on a Joint Headquarters staff at Stuttgart Germany for two years where I made periodic jumps with the 10th SFG and traveled all over Europe on Special Operations assignments. (I also flew the T-39 Saberliner while at this assignment-which was great fun).

Following this assignment I returned to Tucson Arizona and started F-4 training for my next combat tour which started in May of 1971 at Udorn Thailand--another interesting and gratifying portion of my Air Force career. I was given a "Life Membership" in the Air Commando Association in 1973 and occasionally attend ( the last one was in 1994) the annual reunion of this Group which is held at Fort Walton Beach, Florida each year. I am proud of my association with the Air Commandoes and the US Army Special Forces. Both of these organizations were (and still are) the very best branches of their respective services.

Washington, MO, 10 August 1996

Small World

I was stationed at RAF Lakenheath, England in 1974-1977 as the Vice Wing Commander of an F-4 Fighter Wing. Lt Paul Bridges was stationed there with me. He was the Squadron Commander of one of the Service Units and an outstanding officer at that. He was also an F-4 fighter pilot. I had him spotted as a future leader in the USAF.

On Saturday morning, 10 August 1996, he showed up at Washington Airport. He is now an Airline Captain for Southwest Airlines having retired from the USAF several years ago. He saw a re-run (at 3 AM in the morning) of the Channel 4 (KMOV-CBS St Louis) story about me barnstorming at Washington, MO, this week end and wanted to see me again after almost 20 years. His name is Paul Bridges and he lives in Belleville, IL. It's a small World, after all.

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