Appendix 7 - Biographies of Contributors

BROOKE P. ANDERSON
e-mail: brooke@alumni.caltech.edu
AW handle: Brooke

Yeah, my handle is mighty imaginative, isn't it? I first played Air Warrior in 1987, when it started. I was just trying out this unheard-of game -- "Air Warrior . . . a multi-player flight simulator? Wow!" I didn't care about handles -- I just picked my first name and took off. Then, once I started to develop a reputation, I didn't want to change my handle. Reputations were a lot more a focus in those days, as the Air-Warrior community was perhaps more fanatical. (We were paying something like $10-$12/hour to play in those days -- that sort of culled out the more reasonable folks.)

Probably part of the reason for my participating in producing this manual has to do with the old days. Back then, not only weren't there any helpful manuals around, but other pilots rarely would tell you ANYTHING about how to fly and fight. It took a long time before I found someone who would give me pointers like "don't take 100% fuel as it really hurts turn rate," or "try flaps in a dogfight," or "a P-51 can't out-dogfight a Spitfire"; and I learned a lot by trial and error.

I still loved the game -- I wanted Kesmai to make a lot of money so that Air Warrior would thrive -- but I could see how only very motivated people would get into it. Also, there were a lot of us who enjoyed the game and the Air-Warrior community enough that we wanted to add to it. Working on this manual was a way for me to do so.

Anyway, back in 1987 as a graduate student, I knew that I would get hooked on Air Warrior if I continued to play, and yet I didn't have the money to spend. So, I stopped playing. But a year or two later, I became a volunteer sysop on GEnie (I ran some writers' workshops) and got free access to everything, including Air Warrior. I played A LOT then, from the late 1980's perhaps up to about 1990 or 1991.

I started out in Spitfires, working to master angles fighting. Then, I started to lament the fact that almost everyone flew Spitfires in those days (i.e., the lack of diversity) and started flying P-51's exclusively. The P-51 was my favorite plane as a lad, and the only other folks flying them much were Fencer's Warhawks. But especially in the days when the Air-Warrior program had no stalls, spins, blackouts, etc., being successful in a P-51 required a different style of fighting, namely B&Z. At one point, some other old timers (Dok, Airmigan, and maybe Anvil, V, and Wildthing -- I forget who else) and I formed a squadron devoted to avoiding both stallfighting and the use of Spitfires. We were the mighty Werepigeons -- but, alas, we didn't stay together long. By then, none of us played often enough anymore to keep up the cohesiveness of the squad.

I had gotten hooked on scenarios after playing in one for the first time (Indian Ocean, run by Dok), but scenarios didn't run very frequently. When the Air-Warrior Training Academy started, I became an instructor, and most of my flying time was spent in that and in scenarios, which started to run more frequently. I was a CO in Imphal Plain, Sicily '43, Munda Weekend, and Saga of the 5th AF, parts 1 and 2; and I participated in other capacities in Indian Ocean, Battle of Germany, and Kursk III.

One of the things I like these days about Air Warrior is that it does seem so realistic in its flight dynamics. I have never flown a WWII fighter, but I have flown at Air Combat USA, a place where you go up in Marchettis (the low-end NATO fighter trainer, a two-place prop plane) and have dogfights one on one. This was due to the generosity of J-Wolff, another Air-Warrior player, who took me along. To me, the combats seemed very similar to the way they feel and develop in Air Warrior, and the feel of the Marchetti reminded me a lot of the P-51 in Air Warrior. There was the same buffeting, the same feel to the roll response (no goofy over-rolling supposedly due to roll inertia), the same feel in a stallfight, the same feel for many things -- except for the physical sensation of G's, of course, and except for the fact that it's actually easier to look around from an Air-Warrior cockpit than it is from a real cockpit. If history is any indication, I think that Air Warrior will have an evermore realistic flight model as time goes on. I'm all for it.

So, what am I in real life (other than an Air-Warrior nut)? Most of my life has been spent in school (BS in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan in 1985; MS in Applied Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1987; and Ph.D. in Computation and Neural Systems, also from Caltech, in 1993). After graduation, my business partner and I founded Acacia Research Corporation to do money management with computer models. We ended up doing that as well as venture-capital investing, and the company went public in the process (NASDAQ symbol "ACRI"). I am currently a director and Vice President of Research and Development, and I'm a director for a couple of the companies we helped start. My hobbies (other than Air Warrior) include war gaming and role-playing gaming; reading science fiction and fantasy; watching BABYLON 5 and THE SIMPSONS; occasional writing of amateurish science fiction and fantasy; rollerblading; and ice hockey (I still play for the Caltech hockey club). One of these days, I might even get off my ass and continue the flying lessons I never completed ("Wrong-way Anderson," they used to call me).
-- Brooke

JIM SHAFER
e-mail: EyeBLS@aol.com
AW handle: Eyeballs

I've been interested in flying since I was a kid. Finally got my private license in 1967. Commercial, Multi-engine, Instrument,Glider, and CFI followed over the next few years. Have flown many different types of real aircraft including the Pitts special and a biz jet. Have done "bush" flying into Indian reservations in Arizona as well as shooting the ILS into SFO tucked between two airline jets.

I have been a fan of flight sims from the early 8-bit days. Flew almost all of them. Then I got a modem (spring, '92) andimmediately started flying AW on GEnie. Haven't been serious about another flight sim since. Took awhile to figure AW out mainly cause I was flying with a mouse. Had tutoring from Voss, Brooke, and others. Finally got to enroll in AWTA in the fall. Had been out of town too much over the summer to take a 7-week course. Was "assistant" trainer for Bug. Graduated with honors. <G>.

Stayed in the pack beneath the gods but above the unwashed. Have flown in nearly all the scenarios without distinction or dishonor. But with tons of excitement. One mission in a Pacific scenario resulted in two kills as I took on 12 zeros that were chasing a B25. Sounds better than it was. The zeros were fixated on the B25, and I just motored up behind them. Those that didn't break off the pursuit died.

Started as AWTA instructor back on GEnie a couple of years ago. Now on AOL. Find it is a real charge to take new users and give them their first few clues to AW. Goes back to teaching days in real life.

I fly with the Turkey Hams squadron. This almost-5-year-old squadron now consists mostly of multiyear veterans that have formed an association off-line as well as in the arena. It is worth noting that nearly all of them are instructors now.

In real life, I am an ophthalmologist in practice in Phoenix. I keep busy with computer graphics, animations, video, etc. I am also a model railroader and have a little bit of Colorado narrow gauge in the 10-by-20 foot train room. Since my youngest is graduating college in June, I will be able to afford to fly again. I am building an acrobatic, 2-seat monoplane. Painted in desert camouflage, it might look a bit like a 109. Should be ready to fly mid summer of '97.
-- Eyeballs

KEVIN HIGGINS
e-mail: kato@southwind.net
AW handle: Kato

If I had to pick an epitaph to describe myself and the way that I live life, I'd have to select, "A Jack of All Trades, and anAdventurer At Heart." I grew up with a passion for reading, and I've been more places, fought in more wars, explored more worlds, and vanquished more villains than the most unbelievable of heroes. Of course, most of that swashbuckling thrill was the benefit of an extra- ordinary imagination, fueled by talented writers, and happened while safely ensconced in the comfort of a Lazy-boy recliner.

Lest I be accused of couch-potatoism, though, let me say in my defense that I have shown some of that lust for excitement in real life.

I grew up as a Navy brat. We moved about every 12-18 months, on the average. I had a great childhood and matured within a very tightly knit family. In other words, my youth was about as colorful as a freshly painted apartment wall.

After effortlessly excelling at high school scholastic challenges, I spent an unproductive and unsatisfying couple of years in college, then joined the military. I qualified for the most intellectually demanding jobs they offered. So I chose Infantry. I figured: if you're going to be a soldier, why go into a job where your glory days are spent as a REMF?

During the course of that indoctrination I seemed to manage the difference between fantasy adventure and the real thing; while a newly trained member of the Warrior caste I managed to get selected for Officer Candidate School. Over the following nine years, I led men in training for desert warfare, fought countless force-on-force mechanized (mock) battles with the best desert combat force the US Army has (OPFOR), and developed teams of soldiers whose daily focus was honing themselves for the mission of closing with and destroying the enemy. After a gloriously fun company command, during which I took 123 men to Saudi and brought them all home safely, I decided that after ten years of heavy duty gruntdom, I was getting weary. Spending around 200 days each year in the field, doing continuous operations in a tactical environment, was getting hard on my knees and my easygoing personality. I left the military as a Captain and entered the commercial sector. In other words, I became a silly-vilian.

My early experiences in the commercial sector make dull reading.Now, however, I'm doing a job I love. I've made the transition from combat arms soldier to... computer hacker! I work as a Field Automation Analyst, which is kind of like being a System Administrator without all the hassles. Computers have alwaysbeen a passion of mine, and I'm finally happy to be doing the sort of things at work that I enjoy doing at home in my spare time.

But I won't be doing this forever. Like many people, I hope one day to write successfully. That desire is always in my background looking over my shoulder, and I picture it as a living entity with my Grandfather's face. His name was Leslie Charteris, and he wrote a series called, "The Saint." One day I hope to be at least 1/50th as published as he was. I have had a short short (story) published, and received an advance on an epic fantasy I cowrote with an Army buddy. Unfortunately, the publisher that sent us the advance went out of business, so our book is not on the shelves yet, but we keep trying.

By the time you read this, I will have started on my next book-- one which will combine my military experiences with the visionary science fiction that has always fueled my Walter Mitty-esque dreams.

In the meantime, I enjoy computer gaming--a job designing games might be the only thing that could be as rewarding as writinggreat fiction. Should you be interested in reading about the kind of gaming experience I'm burning to create, I refer you to my web page, at: http://members.aol.com/senseikato

When not hacking on Unix systems at work, I really enjoy concentrating on health and fitness, working out both in the gym and in the dojo. Despite my doctor's arguments to the contrary, I maintain that if you play hard enough, you can eat anything you want. I'm a dedicated carnivore, but I have a feeling that one of these days that doctor is gonna force me onto a pure celery diet. <sigh> With luck, medical science will soon progress to the point where we humans can eat like the scavengers nature designed us to be and STILL live long and happy lives. (screw that cure for cancer--figure out a way to let me eat my cheeseburgers!)

I run, but it's a forced habit, and I mostly hit the road because it feels so good AFTERWARDS!). Mostly I do it to stay in condition for the things I feel everybody needs to do at least once in their life (if not regularly): bungi jump, skydive, scuba dive, go white water rafting and hang-gliding. I still have the latter two left to do. May the spirit of adventure never leave my breathing body.

Zheesh, did you really want to know all this about me?

I'm Mensa's token moron, having made it in by the skin of my cortex, with the lowest possible qualifying score. I'm fiercely competitive (in a good-natured fashion), but mostly for individual challenges; I generally sustain no interest in team sports.

I've been flying Air Warrior since about 1990 or 1991 or so. I enjoy training people in the fundamentals of Air Combat and find it as rewarding as smashing someone in a tough game of chess. I especially love it when a student can come back and clean my clock. <g>
-- Kato

JIM EGGLESTON
e-mail: Chickje@.cris.com
AW handle: Chick

I started flying Air Warrior in 1993, at that time Cris, Genie and Delphi were the providers. I was lucky enough to log in, find the training arena and run into the Damned squad during apractice flight. I was given the best advice that night: "Get into the AWTA." At that time it cost $75.00 for the class, and it has been one of the best expenditures I ever made. I did have some advantage as I have a couple of thousand hours of logged time in fixed wing and rotorcraft. However, the AWTA teaches what you need in Air Warrior. After a year of attending training sessions and generally making a pain of myself, Damned JD askedme to join the Damned. I fly in C-land with the Damned but on occasion do slip over into B-land to fly with friends there. (Yes, the Damned do have friends -- some of them anyway.)

I was an instructor with Stymy for the weekly training sessions on the DOS Air Warrior and was left in charge when the move was started to the Windows version. After the transition was made, I was moved over to AOL, where I now reside in Full-Realism Training. I think that attending the Air Warrior Training Academy is perhaps the best time that a true Air Warrior can spend. (That and remembering: keep 'em in the up front view and pull up.)
-- Chick

DENNIS
e-mail: bug@concentric.net
AW handle: Bug

I stumbled into Air Warrior shortly after getting my account on GEnie in (blush) late 1989. I flew my trusty Amiga around with the mouse and got killed. A lot . . . Eventually I moved out of dweeb-ness to the status of Pretty Good, where I've been stuck since! But that was good enough for me to conduct classes in the AWTA -- and I'm proud to say that some of my students have gone on to become Trainers and top aces themselves. . . .

I work at NBC, where I produce, write and edit promos for the other shows on NBC -- you know, "Must See TV" and all that . . . Married to a slender beauty with a great tolerance for my gaming silliness.
-- Bug

RICHARD LAWRENCE
e-mail: rich@kesmai.com
AW handle: Twist

[Twist didn't send in a biography, but I thought that readers should know that he is one of the best pilots in the game -- very deadly in his steed of choice, the FW 190. I should know -- in scenarios, I've had the pleasure of trying to defend bomber formations against him and his merry band of interceptors. -- Brooke]

TERRY WELDON
e-mail: specter777@aol.com
AW handle: Specter

[Specter didn't send in a biography.]

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