Greetings Loyal Airmen, as we pen this week's Flight Log, Colorado is getting set to get dumped with more snow as March is totally roaring in, across the entire country, like a Lion.  Our daughter and friends in Chicago have finally seen the white stuff…lots of it, and the past two days have seen the East Coast buried once again under that heavy snow blanket.  One has to wonder if we might not end up with a white Easter after all?

Okay, time to get to our main topic of the week and by the title, you already know we're about to discuss one of the greatest four-legged film stars of all time, Rin Tin Tin!

As most of you Loyal Airmen know, the Air Chief is a huge fan of the movie serials.  A while back, while searching through the DVD bargain bins of a local retailer, we found a collection all four serials featuring the amazing German Shepherd dog-star, Rin Tin Tin produced by Mill Creek Productions.  We picked it up, having seen one of these serials long ago on TV as a child.  We also recalled the 1950s TV series, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.  So we were naturally anxious to view these adventure cliffhangers.  In the process, our natural writers' curiosity got the best of us and we started surfing the web to learn more about this well known furry friend.

During the days of World War One, an American soldier named Lee Duncan,while serving in battle torn France discovered a female German Shepherd who had just delivered a litter of puppies.  These dogs had been used by the German Army for various missions in combats; primarily to deliver messages from one unit to another.  Duncan, an animal lover, decided to help the Mother and give her and her puppies a home by finding other soldiers to adopt them.  But he kept two for himself, a girl, he called Nanette, and a male he christened Rin Tin Tin.  Upon his return to the states, after the war, poor Nanette became ill on the sea voyage back to New York and died of pneumonia there.  Duncan return to California by train with swiftly maturing Rinty, as he nicknamed him.

Duncan soon became involved with silent movies and during one particular film, a domesticated wolf which had a crucial part in the story began to give its handlers a difficult time and the director could not shoot the scenes he needed properly.  Someone suggested using Duncan's German Shepherd, as they had observed how well mannered and trained Rinty was.  So Rin Tin Tin got his first action role playing a wolf.  It was the beginning of a wonderful career for both Rinty and his owner.  Rin Tin Tin would go on to star in many silent epics and continued to work into the era of the “talkies” filming his one and only serial, “The Lightning Warrior,” which is one of the four serials in the Mill Creek collection.

Rin Tin Tin died on Aug. 10th, 1932 and was buried in a bronze coffin.  Of course long before his passing, he did sire many pups, one of which looked exactly like him and Duncan named Rin Tin Tin Jr.  It was Rinty Jr. who would go on to greater success yet, starring in three cliffhanger serials and working along such notable serial action stars as Buster Crabbe and Kane Richmond.

By the 1950s television was here and Rinty Jr. moved effortlessly into this new media with his own half hour series, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, wherein he lived with a young boy, Rusty, on a U.S. Cavalry fort in the American west.  Prior to the debut of this show, there had been a Rin Tin Tin comic book produced by Dell.  With the advent of the show, they merely changed the title to include the Rinty's new friend, Rusty.  The Air Chief has many, many fond memories of this series.

Rin Tin Tin Jr. and his descendants would continue to be featured in both movies and TV shows well into the 1980s, from RIN TIN TIN K-9 to the Adventures of Rin Tin Tin Jr. wherein he was member of an EMT crew of paramedics in Los Angeles.  To this day he is still remembered fondly by two generations who grew up enjoying his adventures. Writer Susan Orlean authored a comprehensive book on his incredible life and the man who, through loved, fostered that wonderful adventure.  The Air Chief is putting it on his Amazon wish-list right now.

And there you go, Loyal Airmen.  On other fronts, as Spring nears, many schools are getting ready for their March Spring break.  Recently the Air Chief was invited to participate, with several other comic creators, on a fun program called “Getting Your Geek On,” to be sponsored by the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery.  During the last week of the month, when school kids here are on vacation, the museum will be presenting a three hour block of activities featuring different fun themes from the exploration of space to robots and video game.  On Friday, the block is entitled “Creating A Comic Book Superhero,” which is the program the Air Chief will be involved with along with fellow writer Todd Jones and artist Lee Oaks.  It looks to be lots of fun. Then the very following week, the museum will be repeating the entire program for the children of nearby Loveland, who will have that particular week off.  So we get to do the program twice.  The Air Chief is truly looking forward to these events.  It is always fun to work with young kids, their imagination is limitless.

And there you have our Flight Log for this week, Loyal Airmen.  With fingers crossed, we'll be announcing the release of our latest Airship 27 pulp title.  This one is truly special. More next week. Till then, stay warm and thanks as ever for stopping by.

Ron – Over & Out!