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)

FMI: http://robertfdorr.blogspot.com/