Sam McGowan

Air Force veteran and accomplished author Sam McGowan spent 12 years in the US Air Force in the 1960s and 70s, much of it on aircrew duty in Lockheed's C-130 Hercules. He flew more than 300 missions (over 1,200 sorties) during two overseas tours and two temporary duty assignments, and in addition to routine airlift missions, he flew classified flare and leaflet missions over Laos and North Vietnam and in the vicinity of North Korea. In his second and final overseas tour, his primary duty was...See more

Air Force veteran and accomplished author Sam McGowan spent 12 years in the US Air Force in the 1960s and 70s, much of it on aircrew duty in Lockheed's C-130 Hercules. He flew more than 300 missions (over 1,200 sorties) during two overseas tours and two temporary duty assignments, and in addition to routine airlift missions, he flew classified flare and leaflet missions over Laos and North Vietnam and in the vicinity of North Korea. In his second and final overseas tour, his primary duty was dropping huge 10,000 and 15,000-pound bombs. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters. After leaving the Air Force in 1975, McGowan entered the civilian aviation field and worked as a flight instructor, air taxi pilot and corporate pilot with two major corporations. He began writing when he realized no one else was going to tell the story of the troop carrier/tactical airlift mission. He has authored more than a dozen books and novels, and dozens of magazine articles. He is now retired and lives near Houston with his wife Ronda and their two dogs. See less