Gentlemen of Adventure

by Ernest K. Gann

Here is the story of aviation, from the first clumsy attempts to glide with makeshift machines, to the daring aircraft used in World War I ... and onward, at an everquickening pace, to a near-present that only a few dared to dream.

Genres: Fiction, Aviation

445 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Ernest K Gann was an aviator, author, filmmaker, sailor, fisherman and conservationist.

After earning his pilot license, Gann spent his much of his free time aloft, flying for pleasure. The continuing Great Depression soon cost him his job and he was unable to find another position in the movie business. In search of work, he decided to move his family to California. Gann was able to find odd jobs at Burbank Airport, and also began to write short stories. A friend managed to get him a part-time job as a co-pilot with a local airline company and it was there that he flew his first trips as a professional aviator. In the late 1930s many airlines were hiring as many pilots as they could find; after hearing of these opportunities, Gann and his family returned to New York where he managed to get hired by American Airlines to fly the Douglas DC-2 and Douglas DC-3.

For several years Gann enjoyed flying routes in the northeast for American. In 1942, many U.S. airlines' pilots and aircraft were absorbed into the Air Transport Command of the U.S. Army Air Forces to assist in the War Effort. Gann and many of his co-workers at American volunteered to join the group. He flew DC-3s, Douglas DC-4s and Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express transports (the cargo version of the Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber). His wartime trips took him across the North Atlantic to Europe, and then on to Africa, South America, India, and other exotic places. Some of his most harrowing experiences came while flying The Hump airlift across the Himalayas into China. In the years to come Gann's worldwide travels and various adventures would become the inspiration for many of his novels and screenplays.

At the end of World War II, the Air Transport Command released the civilian pilots and aircraft back to their airlines. Gann decided to leave American Airlines in search of new adventures. He was quickly hired as a pilot with a new company called Matson Airlines that was a venture of the Matson steamship line. He flew from the U.S. West Coast across the Pacific to Honolulu. This experience spawned ideas that were developed into one of his best-known works, 'The High and the Mighty.' Matson ultimately soon fell prey to the politically well-connected Pan American Airlines and failed. After a few more short-lived flying jobs, Gann became discouraged with aviation and he turned to writing as a full-time occupation.


Gann's major works include the novel The High and the Mighty and his aviation focused, near-autobiography Fate Is the Hunter. Notes and short stories scribbled down during long layovers on his pioneering trips across the North Atlantic became the source for his first serious fiction novel, Island in the Sky (1944), which was inspired by an actual Arctic rescue mission. It became an immediate best-seller as did Blaze of Noon (1946), a story about early air mail operations. In 1978, he published his comprehensive autobiography, entitled A Hostage to Fortune.

Although many of his 21 best-selling novels show Gann’s devotion to aviation, others, including Twilight for the Gods, and Fiddler's Green reflect his love of the sea. His experiences as a fisherman, skipper and sailor, all contributed storylines and depth to his nautical fiction. He later wrote an autobiography of his sailing life called Song of the Sirens.

Gann wrote, or adapted from his books, the stories and screenplays for several movies and television shows. For some of these productions he also served as a consultant and technical adviser during filming. Although it received positive reviews, Gann was displeased with the film version of Fate Is the Hunter, and removed his name from the credits. (He later lamented that this decision cost him a "fortune" in royalties, as the film played repeatedly on television for years afterward.) He wrote the story for the television miniseries Masada, based on 'The Antagonists.'

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel ("Gentlemen of Adventure") encapsulates the lives of 3 people -- 2 of them pioneer U.S. aviators who flew in World War I; the third the woman both men love -- from the early years of aviation, through the era between the wars, and on into the advent of the Jet Age. Gann has an unerring way of conveying to the reader his love for flying and its wonders.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ernest Gann’s “Gentlemen of Adventure” (4 stars) is a nice slice of historical fiction bounding through the development of aviation. It begins with two young University of Nebraska football players, and a chance meeting with Glenn Martin at the 1915 Nebraska State Fair that ignited their interest in flying … and off it goes. We see the advances in flight over the next 50 years through their eyes and their careers, and we come to understand how aviation touched so many of the big events in history during the first half of the 20th century.

Gentlemen of Adventure has similarities to Wayne Biddle’s “Barons of the Sky” (3 stars) but utilizes a different approach. Gentlemen of Adventure informs the development of flying and the aerospace industry through the careers of the two protagonists, while Barons of the Sky does so through the lives of the people who founded the corporate titans that eventually formed the military-industrial complex. Both are worthwhile.

Back to Gann – with two dozen works to his name he was prolific and arguably most famous for his The High and the Mighty. Gentlemen of Adventure is a winner and once into the flow of Gann’s writing, the narrative flies.

[Joe White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review notes : Gentlemen of Adventure
Ernest K Gann
1/2/14 Goodreads 3 stars

This is a historical aviation history saga featuring 3 very highly co-dependent
characters that seem to take forever to develop from 1 dimensional to at least 2
dimensional somewhat more fully animated personalities. The author presses two
male personalities into a fanatical character envelope where flying is all that
matters, and takes precedence over the sustainability of an ongoing stable
lifestyle. While this reflects some actual people who are obsessed with an
involvement in a particular lifestyle of activity or study, it had to be
twisted here to include the co-dependent relationship between the 2 men. To
complicate matters, there was the obsession of one, (Kiffin), to be attached to
the wife of the other, (Toby), who had zero social recognition that his wife
might not want the second man (Kiffin), hanging around. By the halfway point
there is the expected sex of Kiffin with the wife, which results in a fourth
character, the son, and it is never clear whose son he actually is throughout
the remainder of the book.

There are short segments of flying narration from the in-cockpit viewpoint that
are extremely informative and provide the reader with probably a very realistic
depiction of flying and warfare under duress and less than ideal conditions.
There are observations of warfare characteristics that shed the same enlightened
perspective on the fact that trench warfare in W1 was not glamorous, flying in
W2 was not all about the eighth Air Force bombing missions in Europe or the
Pacific Naval fighter engagements, which most fictional historical accounts
focus on.

The two men begin as volunteers for the French air service prior to any US
involvement in W1. This was to allow them to get flying time at any cost. This
pattern of jumping into pre-US involvement hot zones was expanded to include
flying experience for Spanish forces against German and Italian planes in the
Spanish civil war, and to a lesser extent, flying for Chiang Kai-shek's early
air service against the Japanese well before the attack on Pearl Harbor. While
these flying pursuits were useful to demonstrate some lesser known facets of
military history where US fliers were involved, they discounted the
believability of the novel from the fact that the most defective character
(Kiffin), with the least moralistic viewpoint would fly under any extremes of
risk in poorly organized underdog situations just to be in the cockpit. The
episode in Spain landed Kiffin in prison, to be executed, only to be bailed out
by the third co-dependent, the wife (Lily) of Toby, intervening on Kiffin's
behalf and inevitably having sex with a Spanish official to extract Kiffin. This
wasn't presented as James Bondish enough to be exciting, and was so far from
normal possibilities that it weakened the sense of realism form the standpoint
of the main characters. Sure it happens all the time in war and in ordinary
life, but the characters here didn't have the development to support an
altruistic overseas love expedition.

I don't think that one singular flier,(Kiffin), would realistically have flown
for the French in early W1, and the Chinese, and Spain in the pre-build to W2.
Also note that the overseas flying stints ended with him in German prison in W1,
severly injured with the loss of a leg in China, and in prison to be executed in
Spain. Just to top off the absurdness of his character, faced with very terminal
cancer, he steals a plane and flies into the Pacific at the ending. The author
did not develop a strong enough character to support these actions and drama.

The short bursts of first-person cockpit performance are interspersed
sporadically across the full pageant of historical flight. This history is
paraded in the background and alluded to while the cardboard cutout main
characters appear to remain static and only move forward in time as a result of
the rolling background. I think that most actual historical fliers and Airline
innovators got mention as background characters. In my opinion if you want to
read a historical time-line, then drop the "gone with the wind" author narrative
of this saga, and simply read the actual historical details which may be
presented in more detail and in a more interesting and informative manner.

Near the half way point I was ready to give this 1 star and bail, because of
the lack of development in the main characters, and because of the perverse and
depressing lifestyle they represented.

The second half of the book seemed to somewhat flesh out these main characters
with more believable details and a more positive direction for their actions.
In particular, the Toby character began to be more fleshed out and had a
believable W2 experience that was above the norm.

The wife character (Lily) had suppressed desires to fly or to take more charge
of her life and be a little more independent. However this aspect of her
personality was minimally explored except for her service in the Air freighting
of US planes during W2. I supposed that this allowed the author to put a face
on, and give a first person feel to a service that is a largely unknown
historical nugget to the "average" person on the street.
The downside to her character compared to more contemporary accounts of
independent women, is that she never declaratively became independent, and she
had the strange attachment to the extraneous male friend (Kiffin), whom she was
never able to get rid of and force her husband to observe independently from an
arm's length viewpoint as a dubious influence..

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting history and characters.

[Conrad · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I really liked about this book was the seamless integration of the fictional storyline into the factual historical story of aviation history. A very enjoyable read!

[Chris Tschirhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Sweeping aviation book of the early days.

[Toesnorth's mom]

excellent

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great overview of aeronautical history wrapped up in a story. Strange rape storyline I didn't quite understand though.

[Beedo180 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Follows two friends tumultuous relationship from Jennys to the jet age. Both make their marks in history. Interesting human and aviation story.