Joseph A. Conforti
Retired Airline PIlot, Former Marine Aviator, Author, Filmmaker and Cartoonist
Joseph A. Conforti grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston. After graduating from high school in 1969, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and served a combat tour in Vietnam as an intelligence scout. Returning home, he attended Northeastern University, where he majored in flight and industrial technology, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1975. Upon graduation, Joseph was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps and attended flight training in Pensacola, Florida and Kingsville, Texas. He received his Navy Wings of Gold in September of 1977 and served with Marine Observation Squadron 1, where he made multiple deployments overseas during his active-duty service.
Leaving active duty in 1981, Joseph flew for both a small commuter and a freight airline. He was hired by People Express Airlines in 1983 and joined the Marine Corps Reserve, serving with Marine Observation Squadron 4. Joseph’s next assignment was with the 25th Marine Regiment, where he served as an air officer with the infantry. His unit was activated for the First Gulf War in 1990, and he saw combat during Operation Desert Storm. Joseph retired from military service shortly after returning home.
Joseph returned to academia in 2004, taking leave from the airlines. He attended Emerson College in Boston, earning a Master of Arts in Media Arts in 2006. Joseph went on to write, direct, and produce several independent documentaries and feature films. His first screenplay, The 19th Province, was loosely inspired by his experience in the First Gulf War and was optioned by Sundancer Productions. In Plain View, another of his scripts, was optioned by Out of Pocket Films. Joseph’s last documentary, Sammy’s Story, was acquired by Multicom Entertainment of Los Angeles.
Joseph is also a talented cartoonist. His cartoons have appeared in various magazines, such as Air Line Pilot and Leatherneck. His cartoon strip, The Wrong Stuff, ran for several years in airport newspapers across the country.
The Crash Pad is Joseph’s debut novel. Written over a period of ten years after his retirement, it’s based on his experience as an airline pilot during the 1980s airline deregulation era. Inspired by true events, it follows five misfit pilots living in a ramshackle New Jersey crash pad, as they navigate through the personal mayhem and madness of airline deregulation.
My Mission:
Whenever I create any work, whether a screenplay, cartoon, or short story, i constantly remind myself of the old maxim, thou shalt not bore. In that regard I write and draw mainly about subjects I know.
Military Service
Graduation Parris Island, S.C. in 1969
Home on leave in Brookline, Ma. in December 1969. Heading to Vietnam in a few days.
In Vietnam with some buds, circa 1970
Sitting on a bunker on Hill 190, 17 miles NW of Da Nang, Vietnam. 1970.
Searching a village for arms cache in the Arizona Territory, south of Da Nang, 1970.
Reunion at Da Nang Airbase, 1970, we're all buds from the same town of Brookline, Ma. and graduates of Brookline High School. We're all Marine infantrymen, except for the tall Air Force guy on the left. He was a fireman at the airbase. Slept in a real bed, had hot showers and hot meals. Talk about being jealous.
Getting commissioned on the U.S.S. Constitution, 1975.
Flight School, NAS Kingsville, Tx, Getting into the T-2 Buckeye, the basic jet trainer. 1977.
Getting ready to fly a training sortie in the T-2 Buckeye. Basic Jet Training-1977
Kingsville, Texas...in front of the Basic Jet Trainer, the T-2 Buckeye. We lovingly called it "the pregnant guppy." Fantastic aircraft!
Advanced Jet trainer from my squadron, the TA-4J Skyhawk.
Receiving my Naval Aviator wings: September 1977
Standing in front of the OV-10A as a new squadron pilot: 1977.
VMO-1 Squadron Patch
Formation-four ship of Broncos. Somewhere near MCAS New River, N.C. Circa 1979-80.
In the OV-10 Bronco cockpit, who knows when and where?
Getting ready for a mission, MCAS New River, NC. circa 1981.
With squadron mates, getting ready to fly a two-ship from Okinawa to the Philippines. Long over-water flight. About 5 hours as I recall.
Ov-10 Bronco flying near Mt. Fuji.
Somewhere in the desert playing Spades. Probably 29 Palms, CA. We called it Twenty-nine Stumps.
With my room in Okinawa, circa 1977-78. We were both Vietnam veterans. He was in the Army while in Vietnam and was wounded. He was med-evaced to Japan for recovery. He went to college there, and eventually learned to speak fluent Japanese.
Desert Storm-1991
Chowtime in Manifa Bay, Saudi Arabia. Desert Storm, 1990-91.
With my Tactical Air Control Party (TAC Party) during Operation Desert Storm, 1991. I was the battalion air officer on left. Incredible Marines!
TA-4J Skyhawk. Advanced Jet Trainer. Jet is from VT-21, my squadron.
OV-10 Bronco.
Aviation Career
In the captain's seat of a Continental Airlines jet: circa, who knows? Sometime in the 1990s.
Convair-240. First flying job after getting out of the Corps. Fifteen bucks an hour as a first-officer. Lots of oil stained shirts. An experience.
Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, flying for Air Virginia, 1982
PeopleExpress B-737. The two-faced tail.
PeopleExpress B-727
Continental B-737
Me standing beside a Continental B-737 300.