John G. Lambert

John G. Lambert joined the US Naval Reserve and served aboard the (Essex Class) aircraft carrier USS Bon Homme Richard, CVA-31, in 1965-1966 on a West-Pac for 9 months, as an Avionics Technician in VAW-11. With keen interest in the sea, he surfed on the west coast, and later became an advanced scuba diver. Hobbies were diversified from boating to water skiing, snow skiing and photography. He learned to fly in 1970, then purchased plans, and built his own plane, a Burt Rutan designed VariEze. He raced it, and flew it from coast-to-coast and border-to-border. A member of the EAA, he headed up a experimental aircraft builders group in San Diego for a number of years, and became both active with (and historian of) an experimental aircraft racing group. With his background in the navy, and aviation, he wrote a book on the history of the WWII aircraft carrier USS Independence, CVL-22, at the request of the ship's Reunion Group. The book has involved approx. 14 years of research, with trips across the nation to places including NARA - The National Archives in College Park MD, and NARA San Bruno CA, the Naval Air Museum in Pensacola, Tailhook Association in San Diego, to name a few. First released in 2011, with file changes made since for inclusion of additional historical data and photos. The final (and last!) major edit to the book is the 2021 edition. John was invited to a joint (NOAA / Navy / Boeing / Coda Octopus) mission (by Dr. James Delgado) to obtain new 3D side scan sonar images of the USS Independence hull, resting on the bottom of the Pacific off Half Moon Bay California in 2015. In 2016 he participated as a "Scientist Ashore" on Dr. Robert Ballard's EV Nautilus mission with 4 days of live stream U/W video and photography of the USS Independence. See the web site for the book: http://www.ussindependencecvl22.com A High School Reunion book was published in 2013 for his reunion group. As a historian for a devoted group of pilots racing their experimental airplanes, a new book has been published about: RACE (Rutan And Composites Enthusiasts) Canard Air Racing, covering the span of years from 1983 - 2005. Currently available is a full Color Hard Cover Edition with over 1,000 photos, Race Results, and short stories. All three books are available for order in book stores, or on Amazon.com