Guy Gilpatric

John Guy Gilpatric (January 21, 1896 – July 7, 1950) was an American pilot, flight instructor, journalist, short-story writer and novelist, best known for his Mr. Glencannon stories. John Guy Gilpatric was born on January 21, 1896, in New York. He was the son of a Scottish immigrant. In his autobiographical book Flying Stories, he writes that he was seven years old when he saw photographs of the Wright brothers’ first flights, and decided he wanted to become a pilot. He got his pilot's license at 16, in 1912. On November 28 of that same year, at Dominguez Field in what is now Carson, California, he set a new United States altitude record. Flying a Deperdussin airplane, with a passenger aboard, he achieved an altitude of 4,665 feet.While still a teenager, he began working as a stunt pilot and as a flight instructor. He taught at both the Moisant Flying School and the Sloane Aviation School. He was a test pilot and instructor at the Garden City Aerodrome in New York, where in 1915 he joined the Heinrich Aeroplane Company, quickly becoming chief pilot. In June of the same year, he moved to Toronto to instruct at the Curtiss Flying Boat School and was involved in training Canadian military pilots.In a 1931 letter to Time magazine, he wrote, "Early in the spring of 1914, I landed a Sloane-Deperdussin monoplane, 50 h.p. Gnome motor (some power fer them days, by gravy!) in the sheep meadow at 66th Street [New York City]. Was arrested for something—possibly, publicity for the cop who arrested me— and discharged by Magistrate MacQuade next morning. The Aero Club of America suspended my license for six months."He was a demonstration, stunt and test pilot and performed in various movies. For one film, the script called for him to crash an airplane. Gilpatric did so and survived the crash. However, the footage did not come out well, so he had to repeat the stunt.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Gilpatric enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Service as a first lieutenant. He was stationed overseas as an engineering officer in the First Aero Squadron, American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). He then became a journalist in France for some time before moving to Antibes, where he worked as a publicity agent. It was there that he got the inspiration for his Mr. Glencannon stories, which were published in the Saturday Evening Post. In 1940, he and his wife Louise returned to the US. In 1943, his book Action in the North Atlantic was made into a film.