Barrett Tillman

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Henry Barrett Tillman
Born (1948-12-24) December 24, 1948 (age 75)
Oregon
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
Period1964–present
Website
www.btillman.com

Henry Barrett Tillman (born 1948) is an American author who specializes in naval and aviation topics in addition to fiction and technical writing.

Tillman's most influential book to date is On Yankee Station (1987), written with

Operation Desert Storm as "a reality check on tactics".[1][2]

Biography

Early life

Born a fourth-generation

Eagle Scout,[citation needed] won two state titles as a rudimental drummer, and was a champion speaker and debater. Tillman was first published in 1964 at age 15 and graduated from the University of Oregon
in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in journalism.

Like his father, a Navy trained pilot in World War II, Tillman developed an early passion for aviation and learned to fly at age 16. Over the next several years, he flew a variety of vintage and historic aircraft, including a pre-WW II Navy trainer and a restored dive-bomber. The latter became the subject of his first book, The Dauntless Dive Bomber of World War II, published in 1976. It established the format for many subsequent books, operational histories of U.S. Navy aircraft.

Marriage and children

Tillman lives in Mesa, Arizona with his wife, Sally.[3]

Career

After college Tillman worked as a freelance writer until 1982 when he founded Champlin Fighter Museum Press in Mesa, Arizona, publishing out-of-print and new titles on military aviation.

In 1986, he moved to San Diego to become managing editor of The Hook, quarterly journal of the Tailhook Association. He remained in that position for three years before deciding to focus full-time to writing fiction. His first novel was published in June 1990. Warriors[4] depicted a Mideast air war and became an immediate best seller when Iraq invaded Kuwait two months later.

Tillman's next two novels appeared in 1992: The Sixth Battle, (written with his brother John) which captured a wide following among computer war gamers; and Dauntless, intended as the first in a trilogy. It was followed by Hellcats, nominated as military novel of the year in 1996. He has also published original fiction in the Stephen Coonts anthologies, Combat and Victory.

Tillman remains active as a magazine writer. He is a regular contributor to The Hook, Aviation History, and several firearms publications. He has also reported from Africa for Soldier of Fortune magazine.

Tillman is a former executive secretary of the American Fighter Aces Association.[5]

Works

Published works

Nonfiction

Chapters in non-fiction works:

  • R.L. Lawson, ed. History of U.S. Naval Air Power (1985)
  • Jacobs, Jan; Tillman, Barrett (August 1990), "The Wolf Gang: A History of Carrier Air Group 84", The Hook, 18 (WWII special issue): 78–87.
  • Saburō Sakai Samurai! (1991)
  • Steve Coonts, ed. War in the Air (1996)
  • Jack Sweetmen, ed. Great American Naval Battles (1998)
  • Hill Goodspeed, ed. U.S. Naval Aviation (2001)
  • Tom Clancy series, revised chapter Fighter Wing (2004)
  • Walter Boyne, ed. Today's Best Military Writing (2004)

Introductions to:

  • Another Country by
    Jeff Cooper
    (2005)
  • Fire Works by Jeff Cooper (2005)
  • To Ride, Shoot Straight & Speak the Truth by Jeff Cooper (2005)

Fiction

Awards

As of 2021 Tillman has received ten history and writing awards including the second Admiral Radford Award for Naval History and Literature and is an honorary member of three Navy squadrons. He has been honored by the Air Force Historical Foundation, the American Aviation Historical Society, and twice by the U.S. Naval Institute.[3] He received the Lifetime Achievement award from the Tailhook Association in 1998.[7]

References

  1. ^ Tillman, Barrett, Barrett Tillman: United States Navy Aviation Author and Researcher Archived November 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Pacific Wrecks (May 2, 2016).
  2. ^ Commandants Reading List Archived November 22, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b "Barrett Tillman: Enterprise". www.pritzkermilitary.org. Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Retrieved November 10, 2014.
  4. ^ Cohen, Roger (September 7, 1990). "Crisis in Iraq Inspires Spate of Books". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  5. ^ "Donald Blakeslee; led P-51 fighters, first to reach Berlin". Archived from the original on March 13, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  6. ^ "Enterprise: America's Fightingest Ship And The Men Who Helped Win World War II by Barrett Tillman". BESTSELLERSWORLD.COM.
  7. ^ Awards Archived March 6, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Tailhook Association

External links

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