Ernest K. Gann

Ernest Kellogg Gann (October 13, 1910 – December 19, 1991) was an American aviator, author, sailor, and conservationist. He is best known for his novels and memoirs about early aviation and nautical adventures. Some of his more famous aviation novels include The High and the Mighty and Island in the Sky, both of which were turned into Hollywood movies starring John Wayne. Gann's classic memoir of early commercial aviation, Fate Is the Hunter, is still in print today and considered by many one of the greatest aviation books ever written. 

Gann's nautical-themed novels include Fiddler's Green and Soldier of Fortune, which was also turned into major motion pictures. Gann was born October 13, 1910, in Lincoln, Nebraska, to George and Caroline Gann. George was a telephone-company executive in Lincoln, Nebraska; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Chicago, Illinois. Rebelling against his father's strong desire that he seek a career in the telephone business, Ernest pursued several other interests as he matured. 

He was fascinated by topics including photography, movie-making, and aviation. As a young man, he showed little interest in school and performed poorly. His parents decided that he needed discipline and that he should attend a military school. He was sent to the Culver Military Academy for his high school years. Despite many misadventures and struggles with the harsh academic environment and strict rules at Culver, he graduated at age 19 in 1930. 

He elected to pursue filmmaking and matriculated with the Yale School of Drama. After two years at Yale, Gann dropped out to pursue a career on Broadway. His first job was as assistant stage manager and the minor messenger-boy role for Gilbert Miller's play Firebird starring Judith Anderson. After Firebird closed and he could not find work, Gann went to Chicago to live with his parents. Gann's father stated, "You should see what is going on in the world. 

I suggest a trip around it." Gann spent the next year traveling and writing to a friend from Chicago, Eleanor Helen Michaud. After Gann returned from his travels, he and Eleanor were married on September 18, 1933, in Chicago. Gann and Eleanor moved to New York, where he found work at Radio City Music Hall as a projectionist and later as a commercial movie cartoonist. A chance encounter on the sidewalks of Broadway landed Gann an interview with Roy Larson, producer of The March of Time, a documentary movie series associated with Time magazine. 

While working on the documentary Inside Nazi Germany in 1936, Gann fled back to America as Hitler's troops marched into the Rhineland. Once back home, Gann moved to Rockland County, where a local airport, Christie Airport, rekindled his interest in aviation. Gann convinced some of his theater friends, Paul Draper, and Burgess Meredith, to join him with flight lessons. Draper and Meredith's flying interests tapered off, but Gann thrived in aviation and soon bought a Stinson Reliant, which was shortly thereafter lost in a hangar fire. 

He used the insurance money to purchase his second airplane, a Waco A biplane. After earning his pilot certificate, Gann spent much of his free time aloft in the Waco A, flying for pleasure. However, the continuing Great Depression soon cost him his job and dried up employment opportunities in New York. Gann sold his house and airplane and relocated his family to Hollywood, California, in search of work in the film industry. 

While hunting for movie work, Gann found great pleasure in the "honest work" he found in aviation. He worked flight instruction and charter fights for Lewis Air Service at the Burbank Airport and began to write short stories in his downtime. Unable to find permanent employment in either the movie industry or the aviation industry, Gann and his family moved back to New York. He was hired as Norman Bel Geddes's personal assistant, which included duties as a pilot. 

Gann was fired after Bel Geddes' play Siege failed. Gann then found work as General Manager for Vinton Freedley's Broadway musical Leave It to Me! Gann was fired during the middle of a play and vowed to leave the theater industry behind for good. Gann sold everything he could and moved into a rental cottage near Christie Airport, determined to find work in aviation.