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The biography of my friend Dutch Van Kirk, which was to be the main part of the entire copy-written project I was tirelessly trying to bring together for him over the past several years with his blessing, was (within the past year and a half) hijacked by the author I'd chosen to write it. This author even ended the idea of doing the agreed to special edition, a "Silverplate 509th special limited edition". The 509 special editions were to be a main part of the project, under all copyrights I'd taken out over the past several years for protection. The special edition was going to be great for all aviation history buffs and collectors, but the author put the end to that as well. I was also going to include a CD of Dutch's voice, so that those reading this book in "first person" could have Dutch's voice to "hear" it in. This was one of the many copy-written ideas I'd come up with that (I was hoping) would have made Dutch's biography unique, and much more historically significant. While it pains me to say this, in all good conscience (and as much as I love Dutch), I cannot (on several levels) recommend this book. Instead of what the book and the project was supposed to be (except for the author's long and WAY too drawn-out part concerning Dutch's early life in Northumberland, PA before WW2), there's really nothing new where aviation history or the Hiroshima mission is concerned. My mistake was to give a local author the chance to be a part of a project that could have been great, without putting her under contract first. I allowed her into the project without properly vetting her, finding out later that she didn't know much about WW2 aviation history (or any aviation history, aviators, etc.), or the aircraft used within that conflict, let alone any other. It will never be known whether she made me out to be troublesome to her and taking MY work, or because of her ignorance of aviation history, similar to the Katy Kouric,Sarah Palin fiasco. I had set up a meeting at the Reading, PA "WW2 Weekend" in June, 2010 with the Doolittle Raiders. This would allow the author to interview James Doolittle's then 95 year old co-pilot for the Tokyo raid, Richard "Dick" Cole. I'd set this all up because Dutch, myself and the author had all agreed that the book's foreword would be done by Dick Cole. After all, Dick was part of the opening of the bombing campaign against Japan, and Dutch was at the end, so it made perfect sense historically to have Dick doing a foreword at the "beginning" of the book as well. The tie-in with aviation history was a natural. Then, before I knew she'd been planning to unceremoniously drop me, the author took it upon herself to use someone else for the foreword, someone whose "notes" she liked, and we began to argue. I'd even set up a 3-way conference call with Dutch, the author and myself, with Dutch wholeheartedly agreeing to using Dick Cole's foreword. Ignoring even Dutch's wishes, the author has re-made Dick Cole's forward into what she now calls "A voice from the Doolittle raid"(?), per the book's cover. Adding insult to injury, the chapter on the Hiroshima mission of August 6th, 1945 was supposed to be a highly detailed, much more personal and descriptive perspective on that mission, with the author AND myself specifically working with Dutch on that chapter. The chapter specific to the Hiroshima mission of August 6th, 1945, was supposed to be a much more genuine and detailed understanding of Dutch's connection with the mission, and the crew's perspective as Dutch saw and understood it to be. As a friend of Dutch for eight and half years, Dutch, myself and the author discussed and enthusiastically agreed to this at Dutch's home in March of 2010. We were going to put together a very detailed look at the time from when Dutch (head of 509th Composite Group navigation, and the navigator/crewman of the ENOLA GAY) first stepped into the ENOLA GAY and at the Hiroshima mission's end, disembarked. Dutch's detailed observations would be key to a total understanding of his and the crew's experiences within the entire mission's time frame. I've read the author's published chapter, and it's such a shame that nothing meaningful or new has been written. The same stuff has just been stirred up and rehashed to read a bit differently. What it came down to for me, was that after several years, the idea of doing this project was getting long in the tooth, and Dutch's health wasn't getting any better. The authors I'd spoken with were saying "But he's no Paul Tibbets", and they didn't want to be a part of the project. While the author who has written this book didn't know who Dutch was until I explained him to her, I was hoping her writing and research (with mine and Dutch's total involvement) would take care of any glitches that might arise. The couple of books she'd written showed good research, so I mistakenly trusted her. Being as trusting as I am and believing what seemed to be the genuine sincerity of the author, I mistakenly let her into my world and with Dutch's permission, I gave her Dutch's phone number for a simple interview. With hindsight, I never thought of having her sign a contract before allowing her to connect with Dutch, so the rest is history. As things began to deteriorate between the author and myself because she was veering away from the planned project she, Dutch and I had agreed to, she was telling me that she was writing a book that even the wives of any aviation history minded men would want to read. She said that she was as excited about meeting Dutch as she was when she'd gone to her first Donny Osmond concert, etc. What she said about Dick Cole and C.V. Glines is just too insulting to print, along with her shamelessly using them in a way that was never intended. We live, we learn, and I guess that for me, I could now call this book "MY true curse". Yes, I did get Dutch a book, but I'll always wonder what it could have been.
Last edited by RedGremlin97thETO on Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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