Ernest K. Gann - Aviator and Author

[Dave Homewood]

I recently watched the film "Fate Is The Hunter", which was very loosely based on the book of the same name by Ernest K. Gann. I thought the film was watchable but dated, and slow paced. But I read up on it online and discovered that Gann hated the film and said it was nothing like the book. He demanded they remove his name from the credits, though some prints got released with him still credited, but he never got any residual copyright payments from the film as a result of his decision to disassociate from it.

I then started to look up the man himself. Gosh, what an interesting career he had as a pilot, and as a writer. He wrote about what he knew, so most of his books are about aviation apparently.

I have never seen nor read any of his books, but I am sure some of you here will have. So I wonder if they're good to read?

From his Wikipedia page, this is a list of his books and also the films that were adapted from them.

Novels
Island in the Sky.† New York: Viking, 1944
Blaze of Noon.† New York: Holt, 1946
Benjamin Lawless. Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York: Sloane, 1948
Fiddler's Green. Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York: Sloane, 1950
The High and the Mighty. Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York: Sloane, 1953
Soldier of Fortune. Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York: Sloane, 1953
Twilight for the Gods. Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York: Sloane, 1956
Trouble with Lazy Ethel. Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York: Sloane, 1958
Of Good and Evil. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1962
In the Company of Eagles. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1966
The Antagonists, AKA Masada.‡ New York: Simon & Schuster, 1970
Band of Brothers. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973
Brain 2000. New York: Doubleday, 1980
The Aviator. Farmington Hills, Michigan: GK Hall, 1981
The Magistrate. Westminster, Maryland: Arbor House, 1982
Gentlemen of Adventure. Westminster, Maryland: Arbor House, 1983
The Triumph.‡ New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986
The Bad Angel. Westminster, Maryland: Arbor House, 1987

† Published as Armed Services Editions
‡ Two-part series

Nonfiction
Articles
Gann contributed numerous articles to the aviation magazine Flying. In one series, he described his exotic travels with Dodie in their Cessna 310, the Noon Balloon, named because of its typically late departure time.[25]

Autobiographies
Fate Is the Hunter (memoir). New York: Simon & Schuster, 1961
A Hostage to Fortune (autobiography). New York: Knopf, 1978
Song of the Sirens (memoir). New York: Simon & Schuster, 1969

Guides
Sky Roads. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1940
All American Aircraft. 1941
Getting Them into the Blue. 1942
Ernest K. Gann's Flying Circus. Macmillan, 1974
The Black Watch: The Men Who Fly America's Secret Spy Planes. New York: Random House, 1989

Adaptations

Feature films
Blaze of Noon (1947) (novel)
The Raging Tide (1951) (novel Fiddler's Green, screenplay)
Island in the Sky (1953) (novel, screenplay)
The High and the Mighty (1954) (novel, screenplay)
Soldier of Fortune (1955) (novel, screenplay)
Twilight for the Gods (1958) (novel, screenplay)
Fate Is the Hunter (1964) (memoir)
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark (1980) (story)
The Aviator (1985) (novel)

Television
Masada (1981, TV miniseries) (novel The Antagonists)


I believe I have seen The Last Flight of Noah's Ark many years ago. I need to see it again as I cannot really recall much other than a B-29 was involved.

Anyway I just wondered if anyone here has read his books, and would they recommend them?

And I also wanted to share this article I also happened across, as he came to New Zealand and got a NZ licence.

Author To Fly On Trail Of New Book


“The Press" Special Service

AUCKLAND, Jan. 29.

The American author Ernest K. Gann is a man who believes in getting first-hand experience before putting a story down on paper. This week he was in Wellington undergoing Department of Civil Aviation tests for the transfer of his American airline pilot licence to New Zealand.

On Thursday freshly authorised to captain a Polynesian Airlines DC3 on services between Western Samoa and nearby Pacific islands, Mr Gann took off for Samoa, looking for experiences and material for a new book.

“By flying for Polynesian I hope to pick up a story,” he said.

This was the way he had begun writing. Books like “The High and the Mighty” and “Fate is the Hunter” were prompted by his flying experiences.

Before he wrote “Fiddler’s Green” Mr Gann worked as a commercial fisherman, and before he started “Twilight for the Gods” on the typewriter, he captained a square rigged sailing ship from Scandinavia to Tahiti. Mr Gann flies his own twin-engined amphibian in the United States. He said that in Western Samoa he was seeking the

Polynesian background for his next book. “It’s completely unspoiled,” he said. “Tahiti’s just a tourist trap.” Most pleased with “Fate is the Hunter” because of the book’s acceptance among flying people, Mr Gann is less happy with Hollywood. “They’ve just made a movie of the book,” he said. “It went through the mangle. I walked out half-way through. It was completely unrecognisable.”

PRESS, 30 JANUARY 1965

[ZacYates]

Fate Is The Hunter consistently pops up in "Must Read Aviation Books" lists...I haven't yet! The aero club has a copy.

I did read Band of Brothers (Ju52 on the cover?) as a kid but was too young to appreciate it, I'll revisit it if I find my copy.

[tbf2504]

Fate is the Hunter was widely used as a reference for newbie commercial pilots as if you read it carefully, there are many lessons to be learned about the right way to fly and how easy things can go wrong.

[FlyingKiwi]

Fate is the Hunter is the only book of his I've read, but it is very very good, I had heard a lot about it before I read it so had high expectations and it lived up to them.

[Dave Homewood]

That is good to know, Leo.

[Mustang51]

Dave, Have to say that I have a tenuous connection with Fate is the Hunter through my connection with the B.25 we flew across the Pacific. While in Stockton doing the rebuild I met Arthur P Zottarelli - "Zott" or "Zottzaballs" to his friends. He named me "Pedro". He was an American amongst Americans. So easy to get on with, a dry sense of humour very much like Australians or New Zealanders. He and I became very good friends. Zott flew "Miss Piggy", a Callair as a cropduster - his words - not an aerial applicator. Pretty much when we arrived in California he called his dad who loaned us one of his cars rather than have the cost of a rental....many stories there. Was not until a short time later that I found out that Zott was not just a cropduster but also a highly respected warbird pilot. He did not tell us that, it came from others. We also found out that his dad John had flown for the airlines and Zott had flown with him at one stage as a father/son team. Zott was very laconic and one day we went to his dad's place to pick up something...don't remember what. I was in the lounge room and noticed Fate is the Hunter on John's bookshelf and just said "Ernie Gann". Zot said..."What about Ernie?". I mentioned that his dad had a copy of the book and that I had seen the movie with Rod Taylor which was nothing like the book as I remembered it. Zott said "Ernie....he and dad are great friends. he has a place in the hills not far from here". He asked me if I had really read the book and said I had but it was something like 20 years before. Zott pulled out the book and there was a dog-eared page. He said read that....It was the story of his dad John who had flown with Ernie in transports across the Atlantic during the war. I wont mention the story details....do that yourself. Both John and Zott were very self effacing individuals and if it were not for that chance remark about the book I would never have known the story behind them.

Zott was a fantastic guy and we became very good friends not just about the B.25 but I returned to do the same with the PV-1 years later....Many, many fond memories of Zott. BBQs in his lounge room over a wood fire as it was too cold outside, him looking seriously at his Son Anthony John and saying "The Low Bud warning light is lit" to which he jumped up and replenished all our cans of Buwdweiser Many memories. Zott later flew C.130s for Southern Air transport and I have lots of stories of that - numerous not for publication. Zott moved from California to Boise in Idaho and had an active part in the rebuild of the P-51 "Boise Bee". Zott was killed while riding his motorbike to the airport when an idiot in a pickup pulled across in front of him to get a parking spot. Such a tragedy, such a waste. My friend Zott.....,

[Dave Homewood]

Great story Ando, with a sad ending.

[f1xena]

OMG..you haven’t read Fate Is The Hunter? Shame on you😂
I first heard of it in my early airline days with Ansett NZ. A dog-eared copy was doing the rounds and all my colleagues were raving about it. Sure enough, it is a ripping yarn, and encouraged me to seek out more of Gann’s books. The High And The Mighty is a great story of a flight from California to Hawaii in a DC6 (7?) later made into a movie of the same name starring John Wayne. Gentlemen Of Adventure is another, great read, based on the exploits of famous aviators of the 20s and 30s. Gann’s autobiography A Hostage To Fortune is also excellent, with many of his real life experiences mirroring the events of Fate Is The Hunter.
I spent months scouring secondhand book shops seeking out copies of his books in the 90s. With Amazon and e-books now, they are much more accessible. Do yourselves a favour….look them up and have a read. You’ll love them (as will every aviation fan)

[oj]

The High and the Mighty was also made into a radio play which our family followed with great zeal back in the late 1950s.
At that time I thought the aircraft was a Boeing Stratocruiser, but I see above it was reckoned to be a DC6 or DC7.
Might check that out a bit further ...

[oj]

Wikipedia says it was a DC4, Honolulu to San Francisco.
I remember that route from the radio play, which doesn't get a mention.