cover image Double Ace: The Life of Robert Lee Scott Jr., Pilot, Hero, and Teller of Tall Tales

Double Ace: The Life of Robert Lee Scott Jr., Pilot, Hero, and Teller of Tall Tales

Robert Coram. St. Martin’s/Dunne, $26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-04018-3

Military historian Coram (Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine) delves deeply into the life of Scott (1908–2006), a famous WWII flying ace who was once known for his bestselling 1943 book, God Is My Co-pilot, but is now largely forgotten. Coram concludes that the Georgia-born Scott was an avid storyteller and egotistical self-promoter convinced of his own destiny. Last in his 1932 West Point class but obsessed with flying, Scott joined the minuscule Army Air Corps. Yearning for action after Pearl Harbor, he obtained an assignment to the Air Transport Command, flying from India to China, where he quickly obtained a fighter and joined the Flying Tiger missions. Scott’s flamboyance was catnip to journalists who were desperate for heroes during the war’s early months, and it made him a media darling. After returning to the U.S. in 1943, he dictated his book, which was turned into a popular movie that Coram finds hackneyed and inaccurate. Scott’s tactlessness and love of publicity derailed his career, but he made news after retiring by walking the length of China’s Great Wall and helping establish the Museum of Aviation in Warner Robins, Ga. Coram’s mixed feelings about Scott are convincing, and the bad behavior makes for entertaining reading. Agent: Brian DeFiore, DeFiore and Company. (Sept.)