From the Ground Up: From the Tractor to the Sabre

Driving an old tractor around the fields on the farm wasn’t too exciting for Talmage E. “Tom/Tal” Miller until one of the National Guard biplanes had a forced landing nearby. He ran to get a closer look at this big bird — too late. They got it fixed and blew dirt in his face when they took off. That instilled a bug in him to learn to fly, which he did one night at Denver Municipal Airport in 1936. His training was delayed when his father was transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska. WWII came about and he learned to fly in the Enlisted Reserve under the CPT program, where he soloed in 1942. He graduated from the Central Instructors School at Randolph Field and was assigned to Tex Rankin’s Primary Flight Training School. The war was winding down and less demand for pilots closed the flight schools. Tex Rankin helped him get into cadet pilot training at Santa Ana, California. He got his wings in Douglas, Arizona, and was assigned to “bombing through overcast" school flying North American B-25s. When the war ended, he returned to the farm, but eventually landed an instructor job at Sky Ranch Airport before being hired by Combs Aircraft, a Beechcraft dealer, to sell airplanes. He flew everything from the Bonanza to the King Air 200 turboprop and won many awards for aircraft sales. He later founded his own airplane sales company with Bill Haines, chief pilot for the Dillon Company. They sold many kinds of airplanes, from DC-3s to North American Sabreliner models 40 and 60 in many parts of the world. He collected many friends and stories along the way. His book describes encounters with Olive Ann Beechcraft, Roscoe Turner, Paul Mantz, Frank Tallman, Elrey Jeppesen and many other well-known names in the aviation industry.Di Freeze interviewed many well-known aviators during nearly a decade as editor-in-chief and feature writer for a national aviation publication. She is the author of the Passion for Flight (In the Cockpit With ...) series and offers her writing and editing services through Freeze Time Media.This version of From the Ground Up: From the Tractor to the Sabre is Black & White on White Paper, 6” x 9”, 398 pages. From the Ground Up: From the Tractor to the Sabre is also available in a large print, 7” or 10” version (440 pages), and as an ebook.