Local author Felix Haynes has just released his fourth book, a nonfiction biography, which tells the inspiring story of highly decorated Navy veteran Kenneth Whiting, who was the first naval officer to conceptualize a ship that would one day prove invaluable to the US Navy, a ship able to operate airplanes, what we now call an aircraft carrier. He is often referred to as “the father of the aircraft carrier.”
Where would the Navy be (where would movies like “Top Gun” be) without Whiting’s vision?
The book, titled “Kenneth Whiting: Remembering a Forgotten Hero of Naval Aviation and Submarines”, chronicles the journey of Whiting, born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts in 1881, from his time as a Naval Academy cadet to his time commanding submarines to becoming a naval aviator during World War I. Whiting was the last naval officer taught to fly by Orville Wright himself. It also takes a deep dive into how he came up with the idea for the aircraft carrier and his participation in converting the USS Jupiter to the USS Langley, the Navy’s first aircraft carrier.
While many Navy sailors recognize Whiting’s name, seaplane tender USS Kennth Whiting and Whiting Field (a Naval Air Station at Milton, Florida) were named after him, the general public is unaware of his achievements. “Whiting was a major factor in the development of naval aviation and he’s been forgotten, this book is a way to remember him,” he said. “It was a tragedy that there wasn’t a book written about all of his accomplishments.”
In the 1980’s, Whiting’s oldest daughter started researching her father’s life, intending to write a biography about her father but she passed away before it could be written.
Notably, Haynes’ father served as a communications officer aboard the USS Kenneth Whiting. He remembers stories his father would tell about life on the ship. This was one more reason why he felt the story needed to be told and he would be the one to tell it.
Beginning in 2017, Haynes spent five and a half years, some of that time during the COVID-19 pandemic, examining Whiting’s life, including extensive research and interviews, offering readers a vivid and authentic depiction of his illustrious career as well as his personal life. He visited Whiting Field, where the Navy trains its pilots. He spent a week at the naval air station, sorting through stacks of files during the day and eating amberjack at Pensacola’s finest restaurants at night. He drove to Maine to interview one of Whiting’s granddaughters. He stayed in her garage apartment for a week, sifting through her family files and eating Maine lobster. He visited the National Archives in Washington D.C. and the Nimitz Library at the Naval Academy to uncover more documents about Whiting.
Years passed.
“My wife asked me at the beginning of this process how long it would take and I told her three years but it took a lot longer,” said Haynes. “It was all in my head and meant many days of waking up at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. and writing for four or five hours, that was my life,” he said. “It was a labor of love.”
When it came time to publish the book, he received offers from three publishers but declined them because they wanted editorial control. He decided to have Page Publishing in Pennsylvania print the book. “They made suggestions but at the end of the day I was able to say what was included in the book,” he said.
Haynes’ book can be purchased online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.