Fate is the Hunter

Ernest K. Gann’s classic memoir is an up-close and thrilling account of the treacherous early days of commercial aviation. In his inimitable style, Gann brings you right into the cockpit, recounting both the triumphs and terrors of pilots who flew when flying was anything but routine.

Autobiographical, though reading at times like an adventure novel, it describes his years working as a pilot at American Airlines starting in DC-2s and DC-3s when civilian air transport was in its infancy, wartime flying in C-54s and C-87s, and later Matson Navigation's upstart (albeit short-lived) airline and various post-WWII "nonscheduled" airlines in DC-4s.