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"Throughout his life, Capt. Ronald J. ""Ron"" Sutphin's passion was flying. He loved to fly and lived to fly. He spent his life studying flight and teaching countless others to fly. He flew any and every fixed-wing aircraft he could talk himself into, from the single-engine Cub to the twin-engine C-46 Curtiss Commando to the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Ron flew STOL aircraft, fighter jets and supersonics, cargo transports and luxury airliners-he was a man for his time.Ron was a Marine first-one of the last to be known as the China Marines, as well as a naval aviator. He went to war as a combat pilot but traveled the world as a commercial pilot. As a combat pilot, he flew several sorties in the Korean War, arriving in Pyeongtaek only one month before the armistice was signed. As a civilian pilot, he flew Rhesus monkeys out of India for the Polio Foundation as well as flying SAR, humanitarian, and CIA covert operations in Indochina with CAT and Air America. He helped perfect the Helio Courier for Brigadier General Harry C. ""Heine"" Aderholt, the two remaining lifelong friends, each writing their own separate legends in covert aerial operations. He crashed in numerous airplanes only to walk or hobble away and fly again. He was shot down in his aircraft, evading the enemy for weeks, making his way through the treacherous Laotian jungles. From being stalked by a clouded leopard in the jungle to moonlit ops in Helios over the Mekong River, Covert Skies tells the true story of a man who lived for the adventure of flight. CS Norwood recently completed editing her brother's memoir, ""Covert Skies: Ron Sutphin's Road to Civil Air Transport (CAT) and Covert Operations in Laos"" as well as coauthoring ""No Sequel to Life: From the Heart of a Bush Pilot,"" Jerry J. Jacque's memoirs of a truly adventurous life. She currently lives in Alabama, spending her retirement writing, researching, and helping others complete and publish their adventure books under the imprint of AWI adventure writers ink. Raised in Santa Clara, California, Jerry Jacques knew from an early age that he wanted to be in the wild places of Alaska. The only way it appeared he was going to get there was on his own, however. Unfortunately, Alaska State Troopers and his parents didn't agree with the runaway kid. He persisted, and, after years of trial and error, he finally succeeded at the age of 18. Spending his first two winters in Alaska on his own, trapping furs from an isolated cabin in the wilderness, Jerry learned survival in what most would call a pretty dangerous school of hard knocks. After making a little money as a trapper in the winter and leading whitewater tours over the summer months, Jerry took life to a higher plane-literally. He obtained his pilot's license, basically again through his unique system of do-or-die. His long-time friend and sport-fishing client, Gen. Chuck Yeager wrote in a note to his friend: ""Jerry, I remember you as a cocky young pilot unlikely to survive. I sat you down and gave you some stern advice. You listened and, since then, we have had many wonderful Alaskan flying adventures together. Over the decades, I watched you become one of Alaska's most experienced wilderness guides and pilots? ""Jerry's need for adventure was realized through his pursuit of his Alaska Master Guide license. He worked with a singular purpose through assistant to registered guide and finally to his goal of Alaska Master Guide License #110. From his early days as a guide, General Yeager was a friend and frequent visitor to Jerry's hunting and fishing lodge in Iliamna, Alaska, as were a few U.S. presidents, congressmen, and sports notables like Jim Kelly. Now Jerry runs his very successful Alaska Grizzly Safari Lodge for wildlife photographers and their clients. He hosts Art Wolfe, National Geographic, and BBC, along with many other professional photographers. Jerry's family and his Master Guide status are what he is most proud of. He believes his faith in God carried him through all the adventures (and disasters) he recounts in No Sequel to Life.Jerry Jacques and Ron Sutphin remained life-long friends from the time they met."
[CS] Norwood performed a nearly impossible task by writing a book from an unfinished manuscript by a deceased author. The writing, editing, and research were a labor of love because the author was her brother. The task was even more difficult because she hardly knew her brother. She learned about his exploits by reading his manuscript and countless other articles by those who had never met Ronald Sutphin and piecing together events about a place she had never visited. The history of Air America is enigmatic and complex because distortion of facts occurs. There is evidence the U.S. Government purposely obfuscated the true nature of Air America, making it difficult to unravel. I'm not sure anybody will get the complete story correct. Covert Skies is one man's experience, but it's good reading for anyone, even those who were there. I got to Laos in 1969, which was different from what Ron Sutphin encountered in the late fifties and early sixties. Even in 1967, when I was first stationed with Air America in Saigon, you attended ground school for the aircraft you were assigned to fly and then flight training before line training. You didn't operate one aircraft one day and another the next. I dare say the average pilot wouldn't remember how to start another plane, let alone fly it. And then fly it in a place with no navigation aids; smoke from the slash and burn farming made flying like you're in a glass of milk, the weather where clouds touched the ground and enemy shot at you at every turn? That's not normal flying by any means. The chapter where Sutphin walked out of the jungle makes this book a good read for that chapter alone. It's the seat of the pants flying that few have experienced, and most would not survive doing what he did. Ron Sutphin was not an ordinary Air America pilot. I was one of the few pilots who flew fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, but I never did it simultaneously. I never met the man. He was gone by the time I arrived in Laos. I wish I had met him. I would have liked him. It's a good book, and I highly recommend it. --Allen Cates, Author of Honor Denied: The Truth About Air America and the CIA, and other works.
