Who did Ernest Gann fly for?

[ACT700]

cezzna, and everybody, for that matter:

I agree that Gann is one of the best aviation writers. There is another one, though: Antoine de Saint-Exupery.
His style is very similar. He writes about a lot of the same era/type of flying Gann wrote about, but on the other side of the pond, i.e. Europe.
St. Ex also did a lot of pioneering in South America and North Africa.
"Night Flight" is like a carbon copy for what freight dogs do today-just different airplanes, and (marginally!!!) better technology.

Hey, is Gann still alive? This could be a dumb question.

 

[Spooky 1]

Gann died about 10 years ago. Was living up in Friday Harbor, WA at the time. I believe his widow may still be alive and living there. Another good aviation author from that neck of the woods is Richard Drury (sp?). Retired Tiger/Fed Ex pilot.

 

[Flyingdutchman]

You think the guy paid for his DC3 type?

 

[sleddriver77]

Does anybody have a good source for Gann's books these days? It seems like you can find Fate is The Hunter anywhere, but the others are all pretty hard to come by.

 

[cezzna]

I have purchased many of his books on e-bay. Do a search under Gann and you will find any and all of his books. Most are very cheap to buy. If any certain book isn't there at a given time, keep checking back and it will eventually turn up. I've been trying to find some of his original oil paintings as he was a prolific artist in his later years. I did see one on e-bay and bid it up to $400 but the reserve was not met. Always thought it would be awesome to have an original GANN hanging in my house!

 

[Flyingdutchman]

I bought it at a small FBO in the middle of freaking NE last year.. For 15 bucks..

 

[norskman2]

Does anybody have a good source for Gann's books these days? It seems like you can find Fate is The Hunter anywhere, but the others are all pretty hard to come by.

Try Half.com

 

[some_dude]

"A Hostage to Fortune" was out of print for many years, but I've seen a reprints recently in aviation bookstores. I assume you could find the reprints on Amazon or somewhere.

Does anybody have a good source for Gann's books these days? It seems like you can find Fate is The Hunter anywhere, but the others are all pretty hard to come by.

 

[AAflyer]

Gann flew for TransOcean. The reason they were used in the High and the Mighty as well as Island in the Sky was that Ernie Gann had worked for them after Matson Air was shut down by the government at Pan Am's demand.

Gann had left AA along with Sloniger (AA senority #1) to fly for Matson from Oakland to Hawaii. When Matson shut down Gann got hired by Orvis Nelson (who had resigned from United) When William Wellman (director of both movies) hired Gann as screenwriter Gann got Transocean involved.

AAflyer

 

[PolarTwins55]

http://www.bdkingpress.com/