Kenneth L. Chastain, Jr.'s Books

Winged History

The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain,Jr., Aviator (Updated)

By: Kenneth L. Chastain, Jr.

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Winged History

The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain,Jr., Aviator (Updated)

By: Kenneth L. Chastain, Jr.

Winged History: The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain, Aviator, Updated Edition is a must read for anyone interested in 20th century American aviation history. The visually documented chronicle, written by Chastain's only son, Ken Jr., traces the life of an American pilot over a period of 37 years and aircraft from early wood and fabric, small horsepower biplanes to the advanced Boeing 707 jetliner. In addition, Ken Jr. adds his intimate perspective on being the son of a professional pilot. Like most pilots of his era, Ken Sr flew military aircraft during World War II. Winged History details major milestones in American political and technological history, interwoven with Chastain's historical aviation adventures.

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Page Count

192

Publisher

Turner Publishing Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620457792

ISBN 13

9781620457795

Flying Blind

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

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Flying Blind

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

Flying Blind is a novel of one man’s hazardous journey in South Asia during the Second World War. Flight Officer–Service Pilot Roger Caron joined the army air force even though he was too old to be drafted. He simply couldn’t pass up the opportunity to fly military aircraft. Like many men his age, he became hooked on aviation by Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo transatlantic flight. Caron started out flying gliders and pulling weeds for flying lessons. He learned all he could about repairing and piloting airplanes—it was the focus of his life. Through a flying buddy, he met a young girl who worked her way into his heart. She had some health issues and was very young, only sixteen, but they ended up getting married anyway. His passion for aviation often kept them apart while he traveled from place to place, advancing his career. So after he joined the army air force and was sent to war in China, Burma, and India, the separation was just another of many. It was made bearable for Caron because he would be flying—and flying was in his blood. After spending many months enduring the hazards of war, life back home reached across the seas and grabbed him. The story begins with his landing in Calcutta near the end of September 1944. His treacherous assignment was to fly army cargo planes over the towering Himalayas, referred to as the Hump. As a member of the Army Air Force Air Transport Command, he would be supplying war materials and troops to China in support of the Allied effort against the Japanese invaders. Unfortunately, aircraft of that era were poorly suited for the dangerous weather of the cloud-enshrouded mountains, made worse by the region’s lack of sophisticated navigational aids. An equally threatening hazard was the occasional, but lethal Japanese fighter out hunting for unarmed Allied transports. Caron would need skill, tenacity, and a healthy dose of luck to survive his coming ordeal. After a quick turnaround in Calcutta, he found himself a passenger on a C-47 transport on his way to his first duty station in Myitkyina, Burma. This remote outpost had just recently been retaken from the Japanese at great cost by General Stilwell’s army. While landing in Myitkyina, Caron’s plane was strafed by a Japanese Zero and crash-landed. He and the rest of those onboard survived the ordeal, but it was an ominous welcome to his first duty station in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of Operations. On his first flight over the Hump, Caron was copilot on a war-weary olive drab C-47 piloted by one of his tent mates, Bill Lackey, whom he had first met in Myitkyina. Like Caron, Lackey was from Los Angeles, and they’d quickly become friends. Their volatile cargo was high-octane gasoline carried in fifty-five-gallon drums. On this passage through the towering mountains, ice formed on the wings, hailstones hammered the fuselage, and the plane lost altitude. When the crew was nearly ready to bail out, an updraft shot them up and over the dangerous peaks to safety. This trip foretold what most would be like—flying blind through the clouds, on instruments only. On what later became known as Black Friday, Caron and his crew experienced a harrowing ride over the Hump. Upon arrival in Kunming, China, the plane captain tried to delay the return flight to Burma because of the extreme weather and the multitude of maydays called in from other aircraft. Permission was denied, but they were able to stall until the Hump was declared closed. Many planes and crews were lost in the killer storm, and his tent mate and friend, Bill Lackey, was one of those missing. Caron’s luck ran out following a promotion to plane captain. Sitting in the left-hand seat of the cockpit, he and his crew flew mules to China where, just before landing, one of the mules stuck its head through a window. Despite concern of the effect on the plane’s stability under minimum weather conditions, Caron successfully landed the plane. However, on the return leg of the

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Page Count

245

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1456857282

ISBN 13

9781456857288

Fly Me to Brazil

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

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Fly Me to Brazil

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

Book Description Fly Me to Brazil is a contemporary novel. What could be more now than a romance kindled on the Internet, blossoming while, at the same time, discovering the mysteries of the emerging country of Brazil the same Brazil that will host both World Cup Soccer in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. Scott, a single adult from California, is contacted by a woman from Brazil while perusing an Internet matching site. He couldnt imagine why someone from such a distant place would be remotely interested in him. Out of curiosity, he began a cautious, long distance conversation. She told him her name was Juliana. Beyond that she was a woman of mystery exciting, but unknown. Over many months of online conversations a relationship began to blossom. He decides to visit Juliana in her home country and see just who this woman from another land is. Three trips over two years expose Scott to a Brazil rich in culture. During his time there he finds Juliana to be a very special woman. With each trip back to that tropical land he finds himself drawn nearer to her. Come along with Scott and Juliana as they travel through Brazil visiting towns with strange sounding names. Discover something about Brazils rich immigration history and life in todays emerging middle class. Follow along as Scott and Julianas relationship evolves and find out to what end.

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Page Count

250

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1483671259

ISBN 13

9781483671253

Brasileira

The Lady from Brazil

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

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Brasileira

The Lady from Brazil

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

Brasileira is a novel of internet romance realized and its resulting personal and immigration challenges. Scott Russell previously met a Brazilian lady, Juliana, online and made several trips to Brazil where he not only got to know her family and culture but fell in love as well. A retired and divorced Californian, Scott had to overcome his marriage anxiety before finally proposing. This is all told in flashbacks. After obtaining a tourist visa, Juliana makes her first trip to California. Once the two are settled in Scotts apartment, he leads Juliana on a mission of discovery. He shows her the California sights, tells her some of its history and introduces her to Cara, his daughter. His aim, to show Juliana his world and a whole new way of life. A paper chase ensues in struggling through the lengthy, expensive, and bureaucratic immigration process. When it is finally over, the two lovebirds celebrate. Scott raises his glass in toast. Well, honey, weve made it through some very challenging timesmy heart attack, your diverticulitis. All those complicated government forms we had to fill out. The medical tests you had to endure. Even a trip to Rio for your K-3 visa interview. Then your green card interview in San Francisco. That's not even counting the cost. I just want you to know I love you and truly believe it was all worth it. I wish us to be always together. They agree, with all the time, cost, and effort theyd put in, they had little empathy for anyone entering the country illegally. Complicating the situation, Scott finds out his daughters new boyfriend entered the country illegally. Brasileira is a story of the challenges faced by two lovers from different countries and what they must endure to live together.

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Page Count

210

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1543479618

ISBN 13

9781543479614

Spears Odyssey

A Novel

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

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Spears Odyssey

A Novel

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

It was a simpler time. It was a quieter time. A boy growing up in a small Northern California town in the late 1950s was fairly well isolated from the world at large. My 50,600-word novel Spears Odyssey chronicles the first experiences of a nineteen-year-old boy as he ventures out beyond the familiar. His name is Chris Clark and he joins the Navy. After boot camp, he is assigned to a Navy electronics school in Virginia. His story begins there in Norfolk, Virginia. “Wanna do it?” In response she hunches up her shoulders and says, “Okay. Where?” Imagine Chris’s reaction to his encounter with a girl in the park when she agrees to have sex with him. It would be his first time. It doesn’t work out, but not for a lack of trying. With the resilience of the young, he recovers from his disappointment and focuses on his first duty station at Dam Neck, near Virginia Beach. Upon reporting in, Chris learns he is being transferred to a World War II–era destroyer while awaiting the start of his class. The ship is the USS Spears, and it becomes the instrument of an odyssey from naiveté to maturity. On his months-long journey, he is schooled in the various aspects of shipboard life. From fellow sailors he learns about life in other regions of the United States and finally has his first, successful sexual encounter while in Scotland. Toward the end, his journey turns tragic as a couple of crewmembers die in horrible ways. Even though Chris was a direct witness to one of the deaths, with the help of his Division Officer he learns to accept what happened and move on. As Spears plied her way back toward Norfolk, Chris realized he was no longer the unsure, easily intimidated neophyte that left Virginia a couple of months before. Rather, he was coming away from his odyssey with an increased level of self confidence and a newly found sense of pride. I am retired from a career in California’s “high tech” industry and reside in Santa Rosa, California. My first book, Winged History, The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain, Aviator (Turner Publishing, 2003) chronicles my pilot-father’s life, as well as major milestones in American aviation history.

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Page Count

178

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1450040241

ISBN 13

9781450040242

Winged History

The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain, Aviator

By: Kenneth L. Chastain

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Winged History

The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain, Aviator

By: Kenneth L. Chastain

Winged History - The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain, Aviator is a must read for anyone interested in 20th century American aviation history. The visually documented chronicle, written by Chastain's only son, Ken Jr., traces the life of an American pilot over a period of 37 years and aircraft from early wood and fabric, small horsepower biplanes to the advanced Boeing 707 jetliner. In addition, Ken Jr. adds his intimate perspective on being the son of a professional pilot. Like most pilots of his era, Ken Sr flew military aircraft during World War II. Winged History details major milestones in American political and technological history, interwoven with Chastain's historical aviation adventures.

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Page Count

190

Publisher

Turner Publishing Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1563119315

ISBN 13

9781563119316

Winged History

The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain,Jr., Aviator (Updated)

By: Kenneth L. Chastain, Jr.

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Winged History

The Life and Times of Kenneth L. Chastain,Jr., Aviator (Updated)

By: Kenneth L. Chastain, Jr.

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

192

Publisher

Turner Publishing Company

Published Date

ISBN 10

1620457792

ISBN 13

9781620457795

Brasileira

The Lady from Brazil

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

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Brasileira

The Lady from Brazil

By: Kenneth L. Chastain Jr.

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

210

Publisher

Xlibris Corporation

Published Date

ISBN 10

1543479618

ISBN 13

9781543479614

Book's by Kenneth L. Chastain, Jr.

Winged History

Winged History

Flying Blind

Flying Blind

Fly Me to Brazil

Fly Me to Brazil

Brasileira

Brasileira

Spears Odyssey

Spears Odyssey

Winged History

Winged History

Winged History

Winged History

Brasileira

Brasileira

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