Fate Is the Hunter: A Pilot's Memoir

This is my favorite flying book of an extensive flying library. Although biased toward WW2 fighters this exceptionally well written book of an airline pilot from the thirties and forties is a must read. Some of the hair raising experiences of this pilot would most likely have made me never start my fifty five years of flying if I had read it first. The primitive flying conditions and equipment used in the early days of the airlines and in the military while flying the "Hump" in WW2 will chill any pilot.

Having read this book in 1966 and again some two years later, and now again in it's reprinted edition It still amazes me with it's stories, mostly based on Fact. It was my Instructors bible, and he did in fact use some of the examples when I was learning to fly. Once taught never forgotten.

This classic ought to be read by every pilot. Not only is the prose superb but along the way he treats us to his Theory of LifeHe regards life as a war -- an undeclared war against fate, the fate that hunts men down. "... One can never know when, where, or how fate will strike. Yet sooner or later it does...." Blind random events without a perceptable cause. FATE. "Tell me now,... by what ends does a man ever partially controls his fate? It is obvious ... that favorites are played, but if this is so, then how do you account for those who are ill-treated? The worship of pagan gods, which once answered all this, is no longer fashionable. Modern religions ignore the matter of fate. So we are left confused and without direction". Gann concludes, "Perhaps we should hide in childlike visions of afterlife wherein those pronounced good may play upon harps and those pronounced evil, stoke fires?" The first chapter sets the theme of the book. A mid-air collision is averted simply because Gann chose to descend 50 ft to his assigned altitude of 5,000 a few moments before. The other plane was just a tad sloppy. In these days before ATC and radar, it was all position reports. Why did Gann chose to descend? Why was the other pilot 50 ft high? His only explanation is FATE, and it is as good an answer as any. At these times, Gann says, "... diligently acquired scientific understanding is suddenly blinded and the medieval mind returns. In describing NTSB investigations of crashes, a cause always has to be arrived at, even when the investigators privately know that the true explanation is that "...some totally unrecognizable genie has once again unbuttoned his pants and urinated on the pillars of science".FATE IS THE HUNTER is dedicated "To these old comrades with wings now folded"... a listing of 349 names, in an unknown order. Echoing the randomness of FATE, at random places throughout this book Gann repeats his litany: So-and-so was killed in an instrument approach to SLC. etcGann describes an encounter with freezing rain on a night trip from BNA to EWR. They picked up 4" of clear ice and carried it all the way to Cincinnati. He characterizes this encounter as his first with true disaster, "... heretofore we had not yet been thoroughly frightened or forced to look disaster directly in the face and stare it down". After having "merely nodded to fear" he found that "Now we must shake its filthy hand". They survived, landing with rudder frozen, forward visibility obscured, and empty tanks. Was it skill or fate? Gann notes that due to some unknown quirk, the DC-3 they were scheduled to fly that night was down for maintenance, and an ancient DC-2 was substituted. The DC-2 was a much better ice carrier...After a (zero-zero) takeoff from Presque Isle during which steel radio tower pieces slid to the rear, making the DC3 almost unflyably tail heavy, they proceed to Goose Bay in Labrador, and then 1300 miles to their "dubious destination"

Being a fan of aviation and spending a great deal of my time reading about various pilots and aircraft, it is without a doubt easy to confess that FATE IS THE HUNTER is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Probably one of the greatest things about this book is that you really do not have to know a lot about aviation to really understand it. While it is true that Gann writes in a style that is somewhat different from most of the more contemporary writers, it can still be said that the way that he tells this story is will entertain, inform and captivate who ever reads it. Probably the most unique thing about this book is that you do not have to know much about aviation to appreciate and enjoy it. Infact, just about anyone who has been in an aircraft can and most likely will find this story at the least appreciable and at the most an eye opener to the world of commercial aviation and the courages pioneers of commercial flight who insticts and abilities are seldom matched by todays standards. Those who have read this book know what I speak of and to those who have not read it I strongly recommend it. The pilots, the planes and the elements of flight have never been described the they have been in FATE IS THE HUNTER. Read it, enjoy it and appreciate it.

I'm a writer and an aviation enthusiast, not a pilot, but I'd have to rank this as one of the two best books I have read in the last decade, and far and away the best aviation book I have ever read.This is a rare combination -- Gann not only has many wonderful yarns to spin but is a writer of truly top-drawer literary ability. As others have said, the book stands up well to repeated reading. My copy is battered and torn, but much loved.