David Westheimer (April 11, 1917 in Houston, Texas – November 8, 2005)
was an American novelist best known for writing the 1964 novel Von Ryan's Express which was adapted as a 1965 movie starring
Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard.
Westheimer, a Rice University graduate, worked as an assistant editor for
the Houston Post from 1939 to 1946 except for those years spent with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II.
As a navigator in a B-24 he was shot down over Germany and spent time as a prisoner of war in Stalag Luft III. His first novel,
Summer on the Water, was published in 1948. David Westheimer is the author of Summer on the Water; The Magic Fallacy;
Watching Out for Dulie; Von Ryan's Express; My Sweet Charlie; Song of the Young Sentry; Lighter than a Feather; Over the Edge;
Going Public; The Olmec Head; The Avila; Von Ryan's Return; and, Delay en Route.
