John Clayton: He measures miles in seconds

LET'S SAY Tom Clark wanted to drive from his parents' farm land in Bedford to attend the spectacular "Wings of Hope Air Show" that's set for next weekend at Pease Air Force Base.

According to MapQuest, it's a 52-mile drive.

If Tom made the trip by car, he could do it in 57 minutes.

However, if he made the trip in his F/A-18C Hornet -- which has a top speed in excess of Mach 1/7, which is about 1,122 miles per hour -- he could be there in two minutes and 46 seconds.

"And from where I'm based in Oceana, Va., I could make it to Portsmouth in just over an hour," Tom explained, "but legally, I'm not supposed to go over Mach 1. They want us to keep it at about 600 miles per hour, ground speed."

That amounts to life in the slow lane for Lt. Thomas "Natty" Clark, and I'll tell you what "Natty" stands for in a moment.

For now, what you need to know is that Tom is a 1989 graduate of Manchester High School West who now makes his living as a naval aviator. His primary assignment is as the advanced combat flight instructor for Navy and Marine pilots at NAS Oceana, but in his spare time, the Iraqi War veteran is attached to the East Coast Hornet Demo Team.

As that name would imply, that five-pilot team takes part in air shows up and down the eastern seaboard, and when Tom discovered that the air show at Pease was being resurrected for the first time since 9/11, he looked upon it as a potential home game for him.

"We were supposed to do a show at Westover in Massachusetts," he said. "When the Westover show was cancelled, we still wanted to go to New England. Then someone said, 'How about Pease?' It wasn't on our original list, but once it showed up, we pushed the paper work to get it approved. For me, getting to fly for the folks back home was one thing, but when we found out what it was for, that cinched it."

This year, all proceeds from the Pease Air Show will benefit the New Hampshire Wings of Hope Foundation. That foundation, which is led by the Brain Injury Association of New Hampshire, is committed to helping returning Iraqi War veterans who have sustained brain injuries.

"My goal is to put on a perfect show in front of the people who may have lost loved ones or who still have loved ones who are fighting world-wide," Tom said. "They can't see their loved ones, but they'll be able to see me up there. That's why it's important for me to put on a perfect show.

"If I do what I'm supposed to do," he added, "maybe they'll take comfort in the fact that, if their sons or daughters ever need air support, somebody will be there for them."

Tom's already been there for them.

Back in April of 2004, he was flying Hornets off the USS George Washington in the Arabian Gulf. He was the first U.S. pilot to drop laser-guided bombs over Fallujah. He did so in a close-support mission and the stakes were as high as they get.

"Some Marines below were in contact with enemy troops, getting shot at," he said. "They really needed us to take out a building, so we dropped two bombs and took out the building. When I got back to the boat, people were asking me about it. You know, 'What did it feel like?'

"I was extremely proud that I helped the Marines on the ground -- maybe even saved their lives -- but at the same time, I also know that I killed a whole bunch of people in that building. You're proud to do your job and do it well, but I guess I'd describe it as kind of a duality."

He'll confront that duality again in two months time.

He's heading back to the Gulf. This time, he'll be doing his take-offs and arrested landings aboard the USS Enterprise, but first, there's this little matter of the two-day Pease Air Show.

"The Hornet act is so dynamic that it has to be a solo show," he said. "There's not enough room in the sky to put another Hornet into the act, because you're always trying to stay close to the field to keep the crowd interested. That means you're pulling a lot of G's -- high G's, high air-speed, way more air-speed than carrier landings -- and a lot of afterburners."

So how did Tom Clark wind up flying a $24 million machine?

He took a non-traditional path.

"When I got out of West in '89, I went to work full-time on the farm," he said, referring to Dick and Annette Clark's family enterprise in Bedford that was Clark's Farm. "I didn't have the money to go to school, so I worked and saved and went to school when I could on nights and weekends."

While many of his contemporaries matriculated at the United States Naval Academy, Tom worked his way through Daniel Webster College in Nashua.

Upon his graduation in 1997, Tom enlisted in the Air Force. Alas, although his heart was in the sky, he was doing all of his flying behind a desk. He was an acquisitions officer until, after two years, he finally acquired the thing that would enable him to fly.

He got an in-service transfer to the Navy.

"Who knows what would have happened in the Air Force since 1999?" he said. "What I do know is that I'm very happy in the Navy."

And he is very happily married to his high school sweetheart, the former Kristi Gingras (West High, Class of '90), whose work as a critical care registered nurse at Norfolk General Hospital is every bit as demanding as Tom's.

And then there is his call sign.

Because he is the youngest of the five Clark kids -- Ramona, Debbie, Kathy and Richard III preceded his arrival -- you might think that "Natty" is a childhood nickname.

Not so.

"I try to tell people it's a reference to my neat style of dress," he laughed, "but as the newest guy in the squadron, it stands for 'Not Allowed To Talk Yet.' It's bad, but it could have been worse. They wanted my call sign to be NATTE. That was for 'Not Allowed To Talk Ever.'"

Good thing that one didn't stick.

If it did, you wouldn't be reading this and you wouldn't know about Tom's role in the upcoming Pease Air Show.

About Daniel Webster College

Founded in 1965, Daniel Webster College educates men and women for professional entry and advanced studies in the fields of aviation, computer science, management, engineering, and social science. For more information visit www.dwc.edu or call 603-577-6000.