Thu, Jun 16, 2016
Was Well Known For Writings On Aircraft And The U.S. Military
The family of Robert F. Dorr, recognized as a master historian in the field of the U.S. military and its aircraft, announced that he had passed away at INOVA Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, VA Sunday due to brain cancer. He was 76.
The Air Force Times reports that Dorr wrote for the Military Times newspapers for decades. He also published about 80 books, 6,000 magazine articles, and 3,000 newspaper columns over a 60-year career.
Dorr had been an airman in South Korea for four years, and then became a foreign service officer for the State Department for 25 years. He started writing at 16 years old, and his first piece for the military was an unsolicited article published in Air Force Magazine making a case for fighter escort for strategic bombers.
His books were extensive histories of the Air Force and the U.S. military. He published "Desert Shield: The Build-Up: The Complete Story" in 1991, which sold 100,000 copies. He later turned to writing fiction in a number of genres.
Dorr's friends said what made his writing so compelling is that he approached subjects from the perspective of the "little guys." In a blog post in December, Dorr wrote "I interviewed the big guys to convey to them what the little guys wanted. Their own base visits were orchestrated and rarely told them what real airmen wanted and needed. My column was for the staff sergeants and the captains — not the very junior-most airmen but the ones doing the work. We have always had better than we deserve and we owe everything to them."
He wrote not only about airplanes, but the men and women who made them fly.
Dorr announced in a blog post last November that he had been diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme, an incurable form of brain cancer. He wrote as long as he could, posting stories to his blog about his life and career.
(Image posted to Facebook)
More News
DETRESFA (Distress Phrase) The code word used to designate an emergency phase wherein there is reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and i>[...]
Aero Linx: The International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) The International Association of Missionary Aviation (IAMA) is comprised of Mission organizations, flight sch>[...]
Also: EP Systems' Battery, Boeing SAF, Repeat TBM 960 Order, Japan Coast Guard H225 Buy Despite nearly 100 complaints totaling millions of dollars of potential fraud, combined with>[...]
Also: Viasat-uAvionix, UL94 Fuel Investigation, AF Materiel Command, NTSB Safety Alert Norges Luftsportforbund chose Aura Aero's little 2-seater in electric trim for their next gli>[...]
Also: Moya Delivery Drone, USMC Drone Pilot, Inversion RAY Reentry Vehicle, RapidFlight UAVOS has recently achieved a significant milestone in public safety and emergency services >[...]