We also knew it would be difficult, because of the financial condition of the family, for me to go to college.

On the periscope . . . . What a beautiful view. Cloud cover over Florida - three to four tenths near the eastern coast. Obscured up to Hatteras . . . I can see [lake] Okeechobee. Identify Andros Island. Identify the reefs.

I think the sense of family and family achievement, plus the discipline which I received there from that one-room school were really very helpful in what I did later on.

Obviously I was challenged by becoming a Naval aviator, by landing aboard aircraft carriers and so on.

The pilot looked at his cues of attitude and speed and orientation and so on and responded as he would from the same cues in an airplane, but there was no way it flew the same. The simulators had showed us that.

Miles and miles and miles.

You know, being a test pilot isn't always the healthiest business in the world.