FATE IS THE HUNTER is a fascinating and thrilling account of some of the more memorable experiences Ernest K Gann had in the air. He's flown in both peace and war and come close to death many times. Here he reveals the characters he's known and the dramas he's experienced, portraying fate (or death) as a hunter constantly in pursuit of pilots. This is a fabulous account of both the history of aviation and one man's life in the air.
Fate is the Hunter
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"Chicago Sunday Tribune" This purely wonderful autobiographical volume is the best thing on flying and the meaning of flying that we have had since Antoine de Saint-Exupery took us aloft on his winged prose in the late 1930s and early 1940s....It is a splendid and many-faceted personal memoir that is not only one man's story but the story, in essence, of all men who fly.
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The copper-bottomed classic from a memorable and courageous pilot.
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First Sentence
IN THE beginning many of us were scientific barbarians. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
IN THE beginning many of us were scientific barbarians. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
About a hundred years ago I walked into a bookshop in a small English town and found a hardback copy of "Fate". It was gathering dust on a high shelf - something that had been ordered and never collected the lady bookseller said. That was at the beginning of my flying career. I tried, and nearly succeeded in tracing EKG's footsteps around the globe. True the equipment was a bit more modern and we had inertial nav over astro nav, even so it was all very memorable - especially when I got to make a pencilled notation on the page of that book indicating the date I'd been there. The career has ended now, and I more or less resemble that battered hardback copy that resided at the bottom of my flight bag for nearly 17,000 flight hours. So, thanks for a story of flight and flying men that will never be beaten, EKG. My privilege to have shared the same sky. Any co-pilot slots available at our equivalent of "Fiddlers Green", I'll be along shortly.
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I have read and re-read "Fate is the Hunter" so many times that the pages are loose and falling out. You are not just reading the best aviation book of all time, you are in the cockpit behind the master himself, as he savors the illicit thrill of a zero-zero takeoff from a fog bound Presque Isle airport in a C-47 during the war, taking a load of steel girders to Goose Bay. Just after takeoff, the girders break loose and slide to the rear of the aircraft, which starts a climb so steep that the plane is shuddering in a stall. As Gann and his co-pilot are pushing the control column forward as hard as they can with their feet a crewmember is trying to move the girders back up the near vertical floor.
Gann's writing so inspired me that I wanted to become an airline pilot, but my flying ability was just slightly better than Bixby, his inept co-pilot that almost collided with the Taj Mahal, another fascinating story later on in the book. I became a dispatcher instead, an occupation I truly loved, which was also inspired by Gann's interaction with the dispatchers of his line.
I wrote Ernest Gann at his home in Friday Harbor, Washington and tried to convey just how much I enjoyed "Fate is the Hunter" and what an impact it made on my life. I received short note from him. It was very gracious and humble, and is one of my greatest treasures.
I also highly recommend "Hostage to Fortune", a chronology of Gann's incredible life from a rebellious young man that could never follow his father into business and be chained to an office, through a lifetime of adventure, to his retirement on Red Mill Farm, on an island in the Pacific northwest.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
Everyone here has given this book five stars and I am no exception. Pilots know that flying is not just transportation but a way of learning who you really are, the stuff you are made of. This book is clearly Gann's masterwork. After reading the chapter on thunderstorms, I thought that there was just no better aviation writing and I still had half the book to go. Of course, then came the chapter on flying in ice. This alone is worth the price of the book and is probably the best aviation story every told. My hair stood on end for days... A great blend of flying, adventure and good writing.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best ever aeronuatical books.
The true recounting of an extraordinary life in aviation. Right from the first airlines to recent days. It is a wonder the author survived, hence the title. Read more
Published 10 days ago by Andrew Durrant
5.0 out of 5 stars
There is no Escaping Fate.
Flight possesses a seductive mystique and "Fate is the Hunter" is one of the few books that has ever really truly captured flight's essence. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Owen Zupp
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fate is the Hunter
Brilliant writing takes you right into the cockpit and on the most amazing real flights. Aviation in the most difficult circumstances over a long career is illuminated with moving... Read more
Published 1 month ago by MR DAVID KNIGHT
5.0 out of 5 stars
the best book I read in my life
this is without a doubt the best book I read in my life, I am a pilot, but this book isn't into deep details of aircrafts, aviation, nor war, it is the life of a pilot. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Iggymate
5.0 out of 5 stars
An aviation story lie no other.
This is a book that I have read several times and it never fails to excite me.If you want to know about real airmanship from the early day's ,read this! Superb.
Published 2 months ago by Mr. M. L. Turner
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gift
This was bought as a gift so it's not my review but as far as I know, this is an excellent read.
Published 3 months ago by Kirsty Anderson
5.0 out of 5 stars
EXCELLENT
A brilliantly well-written book that makes you feel like you are in the cockpit. Certainly the best book on aviation I've ever read - and I've read a lot.
Published 4 months ago by THUNDERCHIEF
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Pilot's Bible
I read this book many years ago but passed it on to a colleague who never returned it and is now deceased. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Alastair
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderfully written book about flying
Ernest K Gann writes masterfully about the early days of civil aviation, drawing the reader into the cockpit for a an amazing flight.
Published 7 months ago by Ichabod Crane
5.0 out of 5 stars
provoking story
About 40yrs ago i had this book but lost it and talking with someone in the aviation industry reminded me of 'fate is the hunter'. i love his description of his numerous flights. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Robbie
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