Barrett Tillman's Web Page

Welcome to Barrett Tillman's Web Page

The place to buy your copy of Barrett's action packed, high adventure aviation books!

Barrett Tillman grew up on an Oregon wheat and cattle ranch, where he was exposed to agricultural aircraft at an early age. He learned to fly at age 16 in 1965 and became involved in restoration and flying antique aircraft. With his father he owned and operated two WW II navy planes: an N3N-3 biplane trainer and a Douglas SBD-5 dive bomber. The latter led to his first book, an operational history of the Dauntless. Graduating from the University of Oregon with a journalism degree in 1971, Tillman worked full-time as a freelance writer. In addition to 32 books, he has also written some 500 magazine articles. He founded Champlin Museum Press in Mesa, Arizona, in 1982, and served as managing editor of The Hook magazine in San Diego 1986-89. Since 1990 Tillman has been a full-time writer and novelist. His work has been honored with five awards for history, biography, and literature.

BOOK NEWS Forthcoming in March 2010: Whirlwind: Bombing Japan 1942-1945 (Simon & Schuster) VF-11/111 Sundowners 1942-1995 (Osprey, UK) - Whirlwind and my next book--a long-long overdue history of the first carrier Enterprise--represent "last-minute" efforts to preserve history while some participants are still with us. About 1/3 of the contributors to my Marianas Turkey Shoot book ("Clash of the Carriers") were deceased by the time it was published in 2005, and about half the Whirlwind veterans have departed the pattern. Of the original "Big E" crew in 1938, only four are known still living. The moral, of course, is DO IT NOW! For any military history buffs out there, it's not too early to start on the Vietnam-era veterans.

BOOK NEWS Forthcoming in March 2010:

Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan 1942-1945 (Simon & Schuster). Whirlwind will be a main selection of the Military and History Book Clubs and an alternate for the Book of the Month Club.

Awesome Book Review of Whirlwind in the Wall Street Journal!!!!

Excerpt from Whirlwind

Book Review St Louis Post-Dispatch, 21 Feb 2010 on Whirlwind by Harry Levins

VF-11/111 Sundowners 1942-1995 (Osprey, UK). The Sundowners are the next feature in Osprey's Aviation Elite Units series, one of only two Navy squadrons with aerial victories in WW II, Korea, and Vietnam.

BARRETT WINS NAVAL WRITING AWARD

Barrett has been awarded third place in the U.S. Naval Institute’s General Prize contest for 2009. His essay, “Fear and Loathing in the Postnaval Era,” appeared in the June issue of the prestigious Naval Institute Proceedings.

READ THE ARTICLE

Barrett's book, "Clash of the Carriers" is likely to become the definitive account of the Battle of the Philippine Sea. In 60 years since the Marianas Turkey Shoot, only four books have specifically addressed the greatest aircraft carrier duel of all time, the most recent being 1981. The text draws upon official sources and interviews with participants of the U.S. and Japanese navies. Forward by Steve Coonts. Read an excerpt from "Clash of the Carriers." Great Marianas Turkey Shoot Video

Pushing the Envelope was originally released in 1994 but the publisher allowed it to lapse shortly before Marion Carl was killed four years later. With co-operation of Barrett Tillman and the Carl family, the book was reissued in softcover in 2005 to meet increased reader demand. The first chapter of the original edition has been replaced by a retrospective that Barrett wrote following his friend's funeral.