Duke Woodhull: “Bag Lunch Series” speaker today @ Transylvania County Library – 12 noon Rogow Room

Duke Woodhull is the featured speaker today at the Transylvania County Library at noon...

Duke Woodhull is the featured speaker today at the Transylvania County Library at noon…

Flying High: Memoir of a 30-Year Adventure

Flying High
is a personal memoir of high adventure, love, humor, physical danger and intrigue in exotic locations. Whether flying the high altitude U-2 spy plane, meeting Communist guerillas in the hills of Luzon, narrowly avoiding a fatal bullet in Argentina, or nearly being deported from a diplomatic post twice, the author is continually blessed with good fortune and fortuitous circumstances. Far from being a tedious recitation of war stories from the author’s 30-year Air Force career, this memoir is an intriguing report on a broad variety of exciting life experiences, accompanied and supported by the woman who has been the author’s companion in marriage for over fifty-six years. *Available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and more.

Where do you work now (what do you do, tell us a bit about your job)… For the past ten years or so, I have worked part time as a sales rep in Brazil for Smith Systems Inc. (SSI), a local manufacturer of precision sensors…selling mostly to the rail industry. I got the job because we used to live in Brazil and have the language, Portuguese. SSI is a terrific, technically-oriented company…even had three critical sensors on NASA’s Space Shuttle. The SSI owners, Bill and Claire Smith, are wonderful people and their story is “the great American story” of success. My other “jobs” are doing odd maintenance jobs and layreading at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church here in Brevard.

What is something people will be surprised to learn about you from your book…
I cannot think of anything special. I have been incredibly blessed in life.

What is the “most-typical-comment” people make to you after reading the book… “Gee, you sure moved around a lot!” or “Wow, you flew the U-2?”

What do you believe was your most important post (or assignment) during your military career? During the Vietnam War years, after flying the U-2 for several years, I was the single individual at the Strategic Reconnaissance Center responsible for actually planning and managing all of the worldwide U-2 operational missions outside the U.S.

What was your most dangerous assignment? Excluding obvious dangerous aspects of flying the U-2, there were some dangerous aspects of being the Defense Attache in the Republic of the Philippines during the turbulent final years of the Marcos Regime (1981-1984). Two weeks after we departed, a U.S. Army officer who had a similar job to mine was assassinated in Manila.

What’s the most harrowing experience you have had as a pilot? The closest I ever came to having a fatal accident — in over 6500 hours of flying — was a near midair collision that I had with an F-4 in the traffic pattern at Davis-Monthan AFB. I tell how that happened on Page 113 of the book.

My favorite photo in the book…. The photo called “Family Picture 1967.” The look on Annie’s face is priceless!

Items on my “bucket list”…. Take a trip back to the Azores Islands with wife, Ann, to revisit Lajes AFB, through which I passed many times when I was a second lieutenant and bachelor. Haven’t been there in over 50 years! We both speak Portuguese now, so it should be a blast.

My hobbies…. reading historical novels, counted cross stitch, hiking. I especially enjoy reading the same book in both English and Portuguese. I have read all of the Harry Potter series, Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, Mark Owen’s No Easy Day and many others in that way.

Favorite thing about living in Brevard… Feeling the calm and permanence of the stunningly beautiful surrounding mountains. On a more personal note, I love and value the incredible diversity of folks here….everything from “NC good old boys” who can fix anything, to retired college professors, senior military officers and captains of industry.

Popular hit songs from my youth….Tell Me Why…Rose, Rose, I Love You….

Favorite singer or group… Nat King Cole….Billie Eckstein….Sinatra….Bing Crosby

What songs take you back to high school years? Nat King Cole….They Try to Tell Us We’re Too Young…Red Sails in the Sunset

What inspires you today? The incredible hardship of prolonged and repetitive family separations being endured by members of the U.S. Armed Forces in recent years.

My first job ever…. Aside from cutting lawns and an early paper route with the Miami Herald, my first real job all through high school was working nights in a letterpress print shop, Parker Art, in Coral Gables, FL. I spent hours cutting metal “leads” and “slugs” for the composing room…it is a miracle that I didn’t lose any fingers!

Best practical joke played I’ve played on someone… In south Florida, a favorite trick when quite young was to stealthily and slowly crawl at night up to a screened porch (preferably occupied!), attach a bent pin (with a thread attached) to the screen, and then slowly “pay out” the thread (still attached to the pin) until you were well away from the porch, back in the shadows. Then, holding the thread taut, we would wet our thumb and forefingers and gently “pinching” the thread, move our fingers back and forth…the result was an incredible “screeching” sound that resounded throughout the screened porch. The occupants, of course, could see nothing and were completely mystified. We have even played that trick as adults!

Read more of Duke’s profile by clicking below…

Best practical joke ever played on me…. My wife, Ann arranged a surprise 40th birthday party for me in Rio. I thought we were to have a quiet evening with one couple. Instead, a large group of Brazilian friends all showed up suddenly….they came with a funeral dirge playing on a boom box and they were all wearing BLACK. They thought it was an American custom to celebrate your 40th in that way!

Best vacation experience… In 1969, when I had that gut-wrenching job (12-13-hour days, 6 1/2 days a week) at the Strategic Reconnaissance Center, we left the kids with Ann’s folks and took off for the Bahamas for a week. Did nothing but rest on the beach, ride bicycles and eat.

Most unpleasant vacation experience…. I cannot remember having one. That has been the story of my life….an endless succession of blessings, good fortune and improbably fortuitous circumstances.

Other names my parents considered naming me…. There have been “Richard Woodhulls” for many centuries, as detailed in our Woodhull Geneology published in 1903. I am not aware of others considered for me.

Most challenging time in my life….. When I was only five, my mother started a new life in Florida alone with my two older sisters, myself and my younger brother. It was hard coming to terms with no father around, especially during the teen years. Nevertheless, I think of those years as being busy and happy.

Last good book……Unbroken…..the inspiring story of Louis Zamperini (He gave a speech in Hendersonville last year, but I missed seeing him…he has since passed away)

Dreams of coming year….We hope to “downsize” in the coming year or two, but definitely stay here in Brevard. Next five years…keep strong and healthy…continue traveling..see grandson Matt continue to excel in all things

Favorite books…. I am addicted to nautical fiction…have read all of the Patrick O’Brien, Alexander Kent and C.S. Forster books.

Favorite music… anything soft and melodic…not a fan of hard rock or “music” whose lyrics you cannot hear or understand

Favorite TV shows… Cheers….Seinfeld…..Frasier….Currently, we enjoy the clever lines and interesting characters in Big Bang Theory.

Favorite de-stress techniques… taking my regular three-mile hike up and down the hills of our neighborhood. If I ever feel “down,” a certain cure is simply to get out and walk.

Favorite Brevard locale…. Bracken Mountain Bakery in the morning, with a cherry danish and cup of coffee in front of me. Pure heaven!

Favorite recipe… My wife Ann has a million terrific recipes. One of my favorite foods, though, is “feijoada completa,” a traditional meal in Brazil that we all love. It consists of black beans laced with chunks of pork and beef, rice, “couve” (something like collard greens) and sliced oranges. When accompanied with a “caipirinha” made with cachaça, sugar, ice crushed limes, you have a meal for the gods!

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