Col. C. J. Tippett Caught A World Record Roosterfish at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club

Filed Under: About the book about "Col. C. J. Tippett", Fishing at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club by Corinne — Leave a comment
May 23, 2013
This used to be the world record Roosterfish catch, back in 1954. Col. C. J. Tippett pulled in this 80 lb fish on a 50 lb line at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club.

This used to be the world record Roosterfish catch, back in 1954. Col. C. J. Tippett pulled in this 80 lb fish on a 50 lb line at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club.

The Cabo Blanco Fishing Club on the Peruvian coast was the most famous big game sportfishing location in the world in the 1950s, and Col. C. J. Tippett was the Club’s Director during the height of the Club’s fame.

He caught many huge and amazing fish, and he was present when many more were hooked – by famous and amazing people.

Among those remarkable fish is his own world record catch – a fish that may seem, at first glance, a little less remarkable than the rest, but it was a true world record catch, and it was Tip’s.

This 80 lb Roosterfish, caught on a 50 lb line, was taken at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in, I think, 1954.

I’m sure that Tip hooked it, and I’m sure that it was 80 lbs, and a Roosterfish, and on a 50 lb line… but I’m not sure of the date. Because Tip faithfully recorded everything except the date. sigh. So based on how he looks, I’m pretty sure it was between 1953 and 1956… and I’ve picked 1954 as my best guess.

Tip’s adventures at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club are detailed in several chapters of his biography, “When No One Else Would Fly” now available on Amazon.com.

The Roosterfish, Nematistius Pectoralis, is a member of the Jack Family. I’m taking another wild guess that it is named for that wicked spiny fringe on its back. Roosterfish live only in the Pacific Ocean and like rocky areas right behind the surf line. They can be caught from shore. Today, it is a good candidate for catch and release as it is not considered a delicacy, although it is edible. They are usually about 15 – 20 lbs, so an 80 lb fish was something special. The world record today is 114 lbs, caught off Baja California. There have probably been quite a few bigger catches but because the fish has to be killed to be weighed to qualify for a record, some fisherman decide to let it go; both the record and the fish.

Roosterfish fishing has it’s own big fan base; anglers with an angle of their own on fishing for this dramatic looking fish. Tip would have fit right in!

 

 

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“When No One Else Would Fly” is now available at Amazon.com

Filed Under: About the book about "Col. C. J. Tippett" by Corinne — Leave a comment
May 21, 2013
"When No One Else Would Fly" is now available on Amazon.com !!!!

“When No One Else Would Fly” is now available on Amazon.com !!!!

It is finally, finally, finally time to announce that Col. C. J. Tippett’s aviation history biography is now available on Amazon.com.

It has taken me 23 years to pull Tip’s handwritten memoir into a full-length book, filled with research, stories, background, foreground, and now it is ready to read.

Anyone interested in aviation history, aviation pioneering, the history of planes, big game fishing history, sportfishing history, celebrity history, civil aviation history, … in fact, history in general… is going to enjoy this book.

Col. C. J. Tippett was an extraordinary aviation pioneer who took himself from working class origins to one of the highest leadership positions in international civil aviation.

Between 1929 and 1961, he logged over 10,000 hours of flight time and piloted more than ninety-eight different types of aircraft.

In an untiring pursuit for access to aircraft, and in his commitment to civilian flight safety, Tip climbed into the cockpit when no one else would fly.

Tip trained some of the earliest Flying Tigers, certified the first class of Alabama students who would become the Tuskegee Airmen, and shared a boarding house with Major Tooey Spaatz and Major Ira Eaker as they made plans for war.

He made record-setting solo flights over the Amazon Jungle in 1943 and fished for black marlin with Ernest Hemingway in Cabo Blanco, Peru in 1956.

Now Available on Amazon.com!!!

Now Available on Amazon.com!!!

When sixteen-year-old Tip saw his first airplane in an Ohio field in 1929, he knew that he must learn to fly. He didn’t know that he would become the first Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Or that he would live in an elite world of political leaders, millionaires, socialites, and celebrities. When Tip finished his memoir, he encouraged his granddaughter, Corinne Tippett, to turn it into a book. Because by the end of his life, he knew that he’d made history.

“When No One Else Would Fly” is now available on Amazon.com!

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Where In The World Was Colonel C. J. Tippett… On The Day May 16th?

Filed Under: About the book about "Col. C. J. Tippett", The Planes! by Corinne — Leave a comment
May 16, 2013
Before he was a Colonel, C. J. Tippett flew the Lycoming Stinson out of Clover Field in California.

Before he was a Colonel, C. J. Tippett flew the Lycoming Stinson out of Clover Field in California.

One of my blog post series about my grandfather’s aviation pioneering life is “Where In The World… On This Day”… because he left such an awesome, museum-quality collection of documents, photos, logs, articles, memos, letter, photos and more that I can track where he was on a given day. Like today, for instance.

76 years ago, on May 16th, 1937, Tip was beating the Sunday sunrise at Clover Field, Santa Monica, California. He was running pre-flight checks on a Lycoming Stinson, registration number NC-13843. I know this from his pilot’s log, which he not only kept in great detail, but he had it notarized and signed off with each new flight certification. At age 24, he was aiming for a career as commercial pilot and he needed this flying time to count.

He would eventually go far beyond the career of a commercial pilot. He would become the Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization – and more. The story of his life, including his flights out of Clover Field, is told in his own words, as well as with my background, in “When No One Else Would Fly,” soon to be available on Amazon.com.

The Lycoming Stinson that Tip was flying that day was a day hire. Tip often flew passengers, flight students, or business men needing fast transport out of Los Angeles. Or he traded flight time with local fleet operators, but he flew almost every day. In this way, Tip flew every model of aircraft that was commonly available on 1937 civil aviation airfields, and some that were not so common.

The Lyoming Stinson was also known as the “Reliant.” It was a tail dragger, meaning that until the pilot had enough runway speed to take off, his view out the windshield was of everything except the ground in front of him. The airplane had a single overhead wing, and one engine on the nose. It could carry two passengers in addition to the pilot. True to its name, it was reliable and rugged.

“Lycoming” refers to the engine, and “Stinson” was the aircraft’s maker. This common standard for referencing aircraft in Tip’s day illustrates how important the two pieces of information were to pilots like Tip. The engine and the aircraft were two separate entities, and Tip knew them both intimately well.

Clover Field was the flight testing base of the Douglas Aircraft Company, and the maiden runway for the Douglas DC-3. Tip also knew that aircraft and company well, as they provided his day-job when he wasn’t flying overhead… as he did on Sunday, May 16th 1937.

 

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How Does Amazon Sales Ranking Relate to Monthly Book Sales?

Filed Under: About How to Self Publish, Answers to Frequently Asked Questions by Corinne — Leave a comment
May 14, 2013
Trying to determine monthly book sales from the Amazon Best Seller Rank is not black and white.

Trying to determine monthly book sales from the Amazon Best Seller Rank is not black and white.

How does Amazon sales ranking relate to monthly book sales?

Nobody knows. Except maybe Amazon, and they aren’t telling.

But some very determined, diligent, and intelligent people have taken on the challenge of trying to find an answer – and they’ve posted some tools and guides.

They are mostly authors who have self published books for sale on Amazon.com and have found, as I have found, that there is no way to independently verify how many of our books have sold on Amazon.com. We have to settle for Amazon’s report each month… and be patient with the fact that some kinds of sales have several weeks delay in posting on that report.  (I should say here that this whole situation isn’t much different from having to rely on a traditional publisher for a report of monthly sales – and in those cases, the delay can be much longer… but still… inquiring authors want to know.)

At first I wanted to know because I was concerned that maybe I was selling hundreds of thousands of books but only getting paid for about ten. But once I cruised the reports and sites and saw the general overviews of Amazon book ranking translated to estimated overall monthly sales, I accepted reality, (not really, but I pretended to)… and Amazon’s reporting.

Then I wanted to know how many books other authors were selling, particularly my favorite authors or some of the successful self published authors I’ve been following.

Amazon.com shows a book sales ranking as Amazon Best Seller Rank, under Product Details” on the book’s Amazon.com listing – you scroll down past “Description,” past “Customers Viewed This Item Also Viewed,” past “Editorial Reivews,” and you are there.

The rank changes every day, depending on your own book sales, and other people’s book sales. It is a complex algorithm (or a bingo cage at Amazon headquarters) and it can be very volatile.

The most interesting thing about the ranking is the general number range; like less than 100,000 or more than one million. All the info I’ve gathered about this number range is from people observing on their own, not from Amazon.com’s CFO, but I’ve done enough of my own double checking (on my own numbers and through other sources) that I think it is somewhat accurate.

In general, if your ranking is less than 100,000, you are probably selling several books every month. If your ranking is more than one million – meaning that there are at least one million better selling books on Amazon.com than your book… you are probably only selling a couple of books a month (or less), or haven’t sold a book in a couple of weeks (or more) – and you should probably stop checking your ranking and start doing more marketing.

But sell two books in two weeks and watch that ranking climb!  For one day.

Another resource, which is far more iffy, is a site that offers you a chance to enter your actual sales ranking and see what you actually might be selling monthly or daily. I found this calculator a little buggy – make sure you zero it all out and try it several times with slightly variable numbers. But it did show me numbers that made sense on my own ranking, and some test rankings where I already knew the monthly sales of other books.

There are also sites that helpfully offer, for free, to track your Amazon.com sales ranking; presumably so that you can have an average to plug into the calculator.

For me, having yet another numerical measure in my life is unappealing, especially because it does not generally make it under 100,000 on any given day, so I am satisfied with the occasional overview.

I could toss it into my goal pile, but instead, I’m going to get ready to release my grandfather’s aviation biography and see what happens to THAT sales ranking… wahOOOOOO!

 

 

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Colonel C. J. Tippett Ordered to Active Duty in Panama – Time To Fly!

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May 2, 2013
Colonel C. J. Tippett in the cockpit of a Lockheed T-33 in Panama, 1955 - 1960

Colonel C. J. Tippett in the cockpit of a Lockheed T-33 in Panama, 1955 – 1960

For Colonel C. J. Tippett, aviation pioneer and Director of the South American Office of the International Civil Aviation Organization in 1960, active duty orders were literally a license to fly…. the T-Bird, the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer!

Tip, while living and working in Lima, Peru, had qualified in the T-33 in 1955 and any chance to report for duty at Albrook Air Force Base in Panama was a chance to climb into the T-33 cockpit.

Tip’s orders speak for themselves:

“Headquarters 

Caribbean Air Command 

United States Air Force 

Albrook Air Force Base 

Canal Zone 

Reserve Orders Number 13 May 5, 1960

Personnel Data: By direction of the President Colonel Cloyce J. Tippett AO (redacted) (Ready Reservist) (Command Pilot-On Flying Status) (Primary AFSC-redacted) (Present Address: Apartado redacted Lima Peru) is ordered to active duty for a period of 15 days for the purpose of training.

Security Clearance: Secret.

Assignment: DCS/Operations HQ Caribbean Air Command Albrook Air Force Base Canal Zone.

Reporting Data: Effective date of training 16 May 1960. Report to DSC/Operations this headquarters not later than 16 May 1960. Officer will be released from organization assigned in time to arrive at place from which ordered to active duty on effective date of release from training 30 May 1960 on which date he will revert to inactive status unless sooner relieved. (this is not my syntax, I swear – it is gen-u-ine USAF order speakery)

General Instructions: Officer is authorized to participate in flying activities during the period of active duty covered by this order.

Authority: Paragraph 1b. AFR 45-28 6 3 1957.

Transportation: You will proceed from present address on effective date of training. Travel by military aircraft is directed when available. PCS. TDN. Pay and allowances are chargeable.

For the Commander: W.H. Fleetwood 

SIGNED CWO. W-4 USAF Asst Director of Administrative Services”

For more T-33 flight adventures, and the full story of Tip’s aviation history life, check Amazon.com for the book “When No One Else Would Fly” or contact us to be added to the list for upcoming release.

 

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Changing Passwords Frequently Is An Opportunity for Positive Thinking

Filed Under: About How to Self Publish, Resources for Writing and Self Publishing by Corinne — Comments Off
April 30, 2013
Positive thinking blooms when I use passwords as daily affirmations.

Positive thinking blooms when I use passwords as daily affirmations.

As a Do It Your Self Publisher, I have to log in to about twenty bizillion sites multiple times a day in order to self publish a book – including my own computer, my work computer, my voice mail, my work voice mail, my own phone, my work phone, … etc. The recent increase in internet hacking has led to an increase in password changing in my life – and now multiple logins on sites that used to require only one.

I’m trying not to see it as a pain in the rump, and instead as an opportunity for the practice of positive thinking since I recently changed over to creating passwords as daily affirmations.

And since the new passwords requirements are more stringent - for instance, not allowing me to change my password to something really really similar to my last password…. (schna!) I am scratching for words to express my positivity.

(And yes, I know that lame passwords are the real world equivalent of tying my car key on a really long string to the outside handle of my car door… but jeez. A bizillion random passwords are harder to remember than the location of my one car key!)

So I made a l helpful uber list of positive word synonyms so that I can work them into my new passwords and I decided to share them here on my blog, so that everyone can join me in trying to think up positive mini-mantras that do not contain my dog’s name, the word “password”, or something obscene – which while fun and affirming, was not very positive.

  • Love, adore, ally, amour, appreciate, cherish, delight, devote, enchanted, enjoy, fondly, friend, hanker, idolize, infatuated, like, regard, relish, repsect, worship, yearn, desire, prefer, want, wish, will, do, did, will do,
  • peace, accord, order, pacification, reconiliation, treaty, truce, unanimous, improve, advance, amend, better, boost, cultivate, elevate, mend, fix, elevate, rally, raise, shape up, upgrade, update, rise, revise
  • accomplish, achieve, acquire, attain, carryout, complete, deliver, do, effect, enact, finish, negotiate, perfect, perform, procure, produce…

Now that I think of it, I could also use my daily passwords to:

  • teach myself how to spell words that I always misspell,
  • or capitalizations I always miss,
  • or my new word of the month that I’m trying to learn.

Yet another way to turn a tedious chore into a positive moment!  And also, my second book is almost ready for release. Search Amazon.com for Corinne Tippett or join my book release list to catch the wave.

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Record-breaking Big Game Fishing in the 1950s and Billfish Conservation Today

Filed Under: About the book about "Col. C. J. Tippett", Fishing at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club by Corinne — Comments Off
April 25, 2013
Colonel C. J. Tippett and his big, though not record-setting, and obviously not catch and release, black marlin rod and reel catch. at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru.

Colonel C. J. Tippett and his big, though not record-setting, and obviously not catch and release, black marlin rod and reel catch, at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in Peru.

Colonel C. J. Tippett had the unique opportunity to participate in some of the best big game fishing in sport fishing history. The world record for black marlin fishing is still held by one of the men that Tip fished alongside, and from the waters where he fished. Alfred C. Glassell, Jr., caught the record 1560 pound black marlin at the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club in 1953, and Tip was there.

Tip himself caught black marlin, big-eye tuna, blue-fin tuna, mako shark, swordfish, sailfish, and held the world record for roosterfish until someone else caught a bigger one in the 1990s.

It was an amazing, exciting, glamorous time and when it ended, it wasn’t directly because of the sport fishing activities, but our modern eyes have qualms when we look at the size and species of the trophy pictures taken on the Cabo Blanco docks. Today, we know that those species are now endangered, and some of us wonder….

But rod and reel big game sport fishing was not, and is not now, the reason billfish populations are declining worldwide – it is longlining.

Longline fishing is a commercial fishing practice of setting baited hooks over miles and miles of open ocean. It kills large numbers of many species without regard to fish populations, sex, age, size, or season.

And it was the sport fishing industry who led the most vocal movement for a change in fishing laws – attacking not the commercial fishermen directly, but their marketplace instead. A far more effective method of influencing the fishing industry – which is, after all, a business.

The International Game Fish Association was a major champion of the recently successful Billfish Conservation Act, which prohibits the importation of all billfish (except swordfish) into the United States. Taking marlin off the menu in America.

The legislation was signed in 2012. The United States had been the biggest buyer of billfish catches in the world,
and now – it is not.

Several of the men who fished Cabo Blanco’s abundant waters in the 1950s went on to become highly recognized wildlife conservationists later in their careers. Conservation was not an active conversation point in the 50s;  time that saw the heyday of big game hunting, big game fishing, and record setting adventure.

The 1950s were the height of the Cabo Blanco Fishing Club’s fame and fortune, and Tip wrote about his adventures  as club director in the very-soon-to-be-released book, “When No One Else Would Fly“. Check Amazon.com for a copy, or join our b00k release notification list by contacting us.

 

 

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