On Friday the 13thin October of1944, my uncle, Lt. Henry W. Robison climbed into his P-40 Warhawk Fighter and departed, along with his squadron, from Eglin Air Force Base for a training mission, before being deployed overseas.
During that mission, he was lost on the Gulf of Mexico off Alligator Point, Florida, leaving behind his young wife who was expecting their first child.
Although he disappeared years before I was born, I grew up hearing wonderful stories about him from my mother and grandmother. When they spoke of Henry, I gleaned their sorrow, as well as their joy, in their tellings.I learned he was a man of character who loved and honored his family and his country. I got to know him through their tales and anecdotes and grew to love him with each story told.
Fascinated by his life, I created scenarios of my own concerning his disappearance. Until, as a twelve-year-old, I was convinced he was not dead, but merely stranded on a deserted island.
Henry was fun and outgoing, respected by both his commanding officers and his peers. Dearly loved by his family, he was the golden boy and the brave one.
On that fateful day, he was flying the aircraft that pulled the target for the other planes to shoot at, and his plane may have been accidentally shot, catching fire. If it did, my family never knew if he’d had time to bail out.
The Air Force redacted the other pilot’s testimony, as well as other details, and to date has never released the full documents concerning that training mission.
Henry and his aircraft were never found, and his disappearance is still a mystery.
He was twenty-two years old.
I lovingly dedicate Flight Time to him.
Flight Time Blurb
Sixteen-year-old, student pilot, RYLEE DEAN adores her grandfather. She only knows him through her grandmother’s stories, which have led to years of romanticizing the young pilot’s life and tragic loss. When her official solo flight is postponed, she decides to fly her newly restored Cessna, instead—after all, she is the granddaughter of test pilot Jaxon C. Scott.
During the process, she notices a strange dial on the instrument panel. Only minutes in the air, the needle on the odd dial begins to spin backward—a flash of blinding light follows, and she wakes up in 1981.
Officer JAXON C. SCOTT of the U.S. Air Force has his future all mapped out. The 1980s are looking good. With an exciting career ahead of him, life couldn’t be any better, until a teenage girl shows up on the base. Upon investigation, her arrival proves to be as mysterious as the girl herself. Stranger still, she knows things about him that no one other than family could possibly know.
A series of circumstances has the girl staying with him and his mother. But due to the nature of his top-secret work, the timing of her appearance, and her intimate knowledge of his family, he’s convinced she’s hiding something much greater than her identity.
Darcy Flynn 