Marvin Arnold grew up during World War II and although he was born in Oklahoma, he spent most of his younger years living wherever his Air Force father was stationed. The author attended the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University.
He became a civilian pilot at age nineteen, served on active duty with the Naval Air Reserve as an aircrewman and a pilot in the Guard, currently holding a commercial pilot's license with instrument, multi-engine and seaplane ratings.
The author has owned and flown over one hundred different types of aircraft throughout his years of flying experience. He owned and operated the fixed base operation at Amon Carter Field in Fort Worth, was a qualified air taxi and charter pilot for Greater Southwest Aviation, managed Flight Dynamics aircraft flight training school, owned and operated Mid-Cities Aviation aircraft service and repair facility.
As a design engineer, he worked in cockpit and environmental design groups on aircraft like the C-142, F-8 Crusader, F-111 and C-5A, finally retiring as Chief of Avionics Engineering at Aerospatiale Helicopter. He and Suzie, his wife of forty-five years, have lived in Texas since 1960. A long time old car and airplane enthusiast, air museum curator and historian; Captain Marvin Arnold is imminently qualified to write on almost all aviation related subjects.
What was it like to be a part of the generation born in the 1930s, too late to fly dirigibles or be barnstormers and too young to fly the B-17s and P-51s or design the new post war aircraft like the P-80 jet and Bell X-1 rocket.
These were the men that picked up where the aviation pioneers left off and established the United States as the unchallenged world leader in the aviation industry.
Flying Stories, the author's second book, is about one of those kids, too young to go to the last big war, but who grew up in its midst. The story of one of the faceless thousands of young engineers who helped make air travel safer than riding a bus.
These are stories about the golden age of civil aviation and the forgotten aircraft engineers and pilots of the 1960s and 70s.
The author's third book is a novel titled "Flight of the Setting Sun." It is an action adventure love story about a China Clipper pilot who becomes a major aircraft industrialist against all odds.