Robert Gandt (born December 15, 1939) is an American author and aviator. Gandt has written and published more than a dozen books on military and aviation history and military adventure fiction.

Biography

Gandt was born in Springfield, Missouri, and raised in nearby

Coffeyville, Kansas Coffeyville is a city in southeastern Montgomery County, Kansas, United States, located along the Verdigris River in the state's southeastern region. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,826. Coffeyville is the most pop ...

. At age twenty he was the youngest aviator and officer then on active duty in the U. S. Navy. After accumulating over 300 carrier landings and nearly 2000 hours in the

A-4 Skyhawk The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a single-seat subsonic carrier-capable light attack aircraft designed and produced by the American aerospace manufacturer Douglas Aircraft Company, and later, McDonnell Douglas. It was originally designated A4D und ...

, he joined

Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for ...

as an airline pilot in 1965. With the sale of Pan Am's Atlantic routes in 1991, he transferred to Delta Air Lines as a captain and check airman. In 1985, Gandt was a founder and team member of the Redhawk Formation Aerobatic Team, flying SIAI-Marchetti SF.260 military trainers in precision formation aerobatic routines. Gandt's writing career began in the mid-1970s when he was based in Hong Kong. ''Season of Storms: The Siege of Hong Kong 1941,'' was drawn from the newspaper series he produced for th
South China Morning Post
His subsequent works were derived from his own experience and connections to military and aviation figures. Gandt's naval aviation chronicle ''Bogeys and Bandits'' (Viking, 1997) was adapted for the CBS series Pensacola: Wings of Gold, for which Gandt worked as a writer and technical consultant. The first of his novels, ''With Hostile Intent,'' was published by Penguin Group in 2001. With co-author Bill White and with a foreword by Senator John McCain, Gandt wrote ''Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship'' (Random House, 2009), which won the Admiral Farragut Book Award. His multi-viewpoint account of the World War II battle for Okinawa, ''The Twilight Warriors'' (Random house, 2010) was the winner of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature.Naval Order of the United States, 2012 Spring Edition
Retrieved 1 December 2012. Gandt’s best-selling book ''Angels in the Sky'' (W.W. Norton, 2017) recounts the saga of the volunteer airmen who fought in Israel’s 1948 war of independence. He is a graduate of Charter Oak State College with a B.A in History. He is a member and contributor to The Tailhook Association, The Authors Guild, Mensa International, the Experimental Aircraft Association, Quiet Birdmen and the Naval Order of the United States. Gandt holds a black belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate.

Works

Non-fiction

* ''Season of Storms: The Siege of Hong Kong 1941'' (SCMP Press, 1981) ASIN BooooEDW4G * ''China Clipper: The Age of the Great Flying Boats'' (Naval Institute Press, 1991/2010) * ''Skygods: The Fall of Pan Am'' (Wm. Morrow, 1995/2012) * ''Bogeys and Bandits: The Making of a Fighter Pilot'' (Viking, 1997) * ''Fly Low, Fly Fast: Inside the Reno Air Races'' (Viking, 1999) * ''Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship'' (Broadway/Random House, 2008) * ''The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of WWII and the Men Who Fought It'' (Broadway/Random House 2010) * ''Mastery: A Mission Plan for Reclaiming a life of Purpose, Fitness, and Achievement '' (Dominus Press, 2015) * ''Angels in the Sky: How a Band of Volunteer Airmen Saved the New State of Israel'' (WW Norton, 2017)

Novels

* ''The President's Pilot'' (Black Star Press, 2014) * ''With Hostile Intent'' (Signet, 2001) * ''Acts of Vengeance'' (Signet, 2002) * ''Black Star'' (Signet, 2003) * ''Shadows of War'' (Signet, 2005) * ''The Killing Sky'' (Signet, 2006) * ''Black Star Rising'' (Signet, 2007)

Screen Credits

* "Boom," ''Pensacola: Wings of Gold (CBS TV Series)'' 1998. * "Blue Angel," ''Pensacola: Wings of Gold'', 1998. * "Rules of Engagement," ''Pensacola: Wings of Gold,'' 1999. * Technical consultant, Season 2, ''Pensacola: Wings of Gold,'' 1998–99. *
Chasing Reno Gold
" air racing documentary as writer, host, consultant, 2012.

Awards

*Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature, 2011, for ''The Twilight Warriors''.
Admiral Farragut Book Award
2009, with co-author Bill White for ''Intrepid''.

In the Media

*Commentator on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" television segment titled

: a discussion about Pan American Airlines. *Commentator in the BBC Documentar
''Airline: The Story of Pan Am''
titled , BBC. *Guest expert speaker in the PBS television series
They made America: Gamblers
" discussing Pan Am founder Juan Trippe. *Commentator in documentary

" on Pan Am. *Guest speaker in PBS documentary series
Chasing the Sun
" on the history of commercial aviation. *Lecturer
Embry Riddle University President's Series
February 27, 2012. *Commentator on the three-part PBS series �
Across the Pacific
” about Pan Am’s historic flying boat era.

References

External links

Gandt.com
Official Site
Amazon.com author's page

Crown Publishing Group Press Release

U.S Naval Institute Catalogue

Random House, Inc., Authors, Robert Gandt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gandt, Robert 1939 births Living people 20th-century American novelists American male novelists American military writers United States Navy officers American naval historians American historians of World War II United States Naval Aviators Aviators from Florida Mensans Charter Oak State College alumni American commercial aviators American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers