Reaching Lifelong Goals

I have registered for 3 credits of Independent Study this Fall Term.   As a History Major and a Non Traditional Student, I am still trying to figure out this whole “college” thing.   I took History 203 during Summer Term at Linn Benton Community College and my fantastic instructor Scott McAleer informed us about this opportunity.   Basically, you and your adviser come up with an independent study project in your field.   I will be receiving 3 credit hours for this “class”.    Since I am a History Major, we have come up with a project for me to start developing an annotated bibliography in my area of study.    During the term, I will research all the materials out there for a specific subject, and catalog and review each of them.   Since this can become an overwhelming task, I will narrow my search to my possible Master’s Thesis subjects.   I am heading in two main directions at this time; the German ace Ernst Udet’s WW1 career, or The development of aeronautics during the Great War. Both of these topics will benefit me during my Non Traditional College journey.   I have goals of writing a book someday about Ernst Udet.   Developing a complete bibliography now will save  a huge amount of work for me in the future.    Also, the Master’s Program at Oregon State University in History has an emphasis on the History of Science (Linus Pauling is a major influence in this…).    This all becomes part of my ongoing college goals.    I am in the process of setting specific goals for my College experience (another blog topic waiting to happen…) and both of these topics are the building blocks for reaching these goals.   I have very specific goals for my Non Traditional Student Journey and I really have to start pointing my class scheduling  efforts toward them.   While I am at Linn Benton Community College finishing up my Math requirements,  I will be filling my schedule with under grad classes that propel me into my Junior and Senior years at Oregon State.    My wife suggested a couple of days ago that I should look into more writing classes….we all should listen to our wives!!!   What a great notion…since my new hobby of blogging is becoming such a big part of my life, and I’ll be doing a huge amount of writing over the next few years,  boning up on writing skills is a must!

I am probably preaching to the choir here, but I highly recommend looking into an Independent Study class.   Your adviser at your institution will help to tailor a program that will specifically dovetail into your area of study.   The individual attention from your Independent Study Adviser will be a big bonus here as well.   I really hope to develop a relationship with Scott as a History advisor as well as a History MENTOR.

One of the fun things about a site called “Stumble It” is just that, stumbling onto some interesting online content.   While hitting the “Stumble This” button yesterday, I found the most amazing picture.   A search of the Internet calls it “most famous men on one photo”.   I do not know where this image originated, but I spent some quality time with it.   A thumbnail will not give you the same effect.  You need to view this image in it’s full size.   There are both famous men and women all over this piece.   See how many you can identify.    There are some pretty obscure ones, and it takes a historian’s eye to catch them all.

I would suggest clicking on this link to bring up a 1600×600 size image to enjoy it in it’s fullest.  Maybe I’m just a History Geek, but I was really impressed with this work of art.   (set it as my desktop…)   This image is on the web in a number of places, blogs from Israel, Denmark and India come up in the search.   Where it is from originally, or it’s artist, I have not been able to track down.    This brings up all kinds of questions about copy write issues and reprinting “intellectual” properties.   The Internet has muddied the water on these issues for a number of years.   I have many images of World War One aircraft on my hard drive that have come from many sources.   I do not use them for my own commercial gain.   Most folks that are in hobbies related to history (I build scale models of Ernst Udet’s WW1 biplanes) scan the Internet regularly for any research data that is out there.   The use of these images for reference in your hobbies is common these days.   I also have used these images on my blog posts to illustrate information about a specific subject.   Is this copy write infringement?   Legal minds have been working on this issue for quite some time now.    Not being an artist, I really can’t relate to this issue from their perspective.

Anyway…..   back to the image at hand.   If you start at the top left corner and work your way across the painting, the “easy” famous persons stand out.   Some of the more obscure persons require a little thought and research.   That is the fun of this image to me.   I pick one person from the group and try to find the image online that matches my “guess”.    I’ve been able to identify most of the famous people on this painting.   See how you do.   Be careful, it is a major time leech…   good thing I don’t have any homework to do right now…

Being a non traditional student and a History Major is an interesting combination.   I’ve been around while history has been made, unlike some of my fellow classmates who were not even born when the Berlin Wall came down, or the Challenger Space Shuttle was lost.  Older students have a different perspective in a History class.  I find it very interesting how some of the younger students I come into contact with view history.   They do not look at events such as the JFK assassination as a person who was personally effected by it.  (Granted, I was only in the 2nd grade, but I still remember my parents being glued to the black and white TV and being very upset…)    Now, more often than not, my fellow classmates learned all “they needed to know” from the Oliver Stone film.   (These same kids are getting their current event news from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart…)

However, I digress,  my main topic here is a short history lesson about Red Fokkers.   My screen name on the Internet for a number of years now has been REDFOKKER.   This comes from my main interest in history, World War One Aviation.   I have chosen to specialize in one of the German Air Force pilots that just happened to fly Fokker airplanes painted RED.   Everyone has some knowledge about the “Red Baron” Manfred Von Richthofen who scored 80 victories before his death in 1918 (not by Snoopy…)    My focus of study in my History career will be on Germany’s second highest scoring ace ERNST UDET.

Ernst Udet (1896-1941) was a German fighter ace who achieved 62 victories during World War One.  Udet entered the German Army 1914 before becoming a fighter pilot.   He fought in Jastas 15, 37, 11 and 4 finally becoming the commander of JG 11 fighter squadron.   Ultimately being forced out of active combat in late September 1918 from injuries sustained in action, he survived the war and became quite character in the years before WWII.   He joined the Luftwaffe in 1935 and eventually became a General Officer in charge of aircraft development.   His life ended tragically as he “committed” suicide in 1941 over controversy surrounding Germany’s losses during the “Battle of Britain”.

Ernst Udet’s aircraft were painted red later in the war and all carried the marking “LO!” in honor of his girlfriend, Eleonore Zink.  The Fokker DVII was a very advanced fighter for it’s day.  It was the only single weapon that was spelled out to be destroyed in the Versaille Treaty ending the war.

There have been over 200 books written about the “Red Baron” Richthofen, but there have been very few about Ernst Udet.   His colorful career during and after WWI will make an interesting study for me in my History career.    My goal is to write the definitive text about Ernst Udet, his aircraft and his life.

My lifetime love of history has been a driving force in my Non Traditional Student journey.   Reaching lifelong goals is more than just a spiffy blog title.   I hope to post more blog entries that will chronicle my ongoing research over the next few years toward the publishing of my book.  History is my passion, and has been most of my life.   Now as a History Major at Oregon State University, I will finally be “reaching lifelong goals”.