Colonel William W. Whitson, USA (ret.) “gained a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Military Academy in 1948. He then pursued a twenty-two year military career in a variety of assignments including a topographic survey of the Philippines; General’s Aide at the United Nations; completion of a Ph.D. in international relations and economics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; instructor at West Point in the economics of national security and international relations; ranger and parachute training; advisor to the Dean of the Korean Military Academy; company command and battle group operations officer with the 82nd airborne division; Chinese language training; political analyst with the American Embassy in the Republic of China (Taiwan); political analyst with the American Consulate in Hong Kong; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Systems Analysis.”

Colonel William W. Whitson is the author of the Born of Flight Series; which includes: Something Glorious; The Fledgling; Apprentice Warrior; and, Test of Battle.  Colonel William W. Whitson is also the author of Military and Political Power in China in the 1970's; The Chinese High Command: A History of Communist Military Politics, 1927-71; Foreign Policy and United States National Security; and, Doing Business with China: American Trade Opportunities in the 1970s.

According to the book description of Something Glorious, “The first book of the Born for Flight series revolves about a young man and his family who are intimately involved in the race to be the "first to fly" in a powered flying machine. This historical novel develops a rich picture of the United States at the turn of the 20th century, with its explosion of technology and industry and the associated politicians and tycoons such as Theodore Roosevelt, Morgan, Vanderbilt and Astor. The history of the beginnings of aviation is the big story it offers. We are plunged into the middle of the exciting effort to achieve "first flight," culminating millennia of man's dreams of flight. With the interjection of the Harrison family into the story, the author strikes a suitable balance between history and fiction. John Harrison, in his quest for doing "something glorious" becomes embroiled in the race for first flight. His upbringing does not prepare him for the conflicts he faces with his wife, Maggie, over their psychically gifted son, David, who is torn between the two worlds of his parents -- the practicality of his engineer father and the gender world of his sensitive mother.

This novel sets the stage for young David's important involvement in the flying game in the follow-on volumes. One can sense that David will emerge as a significant figure as a pilot, and that the reconciliation between John and Maggie, on which this volume closes, will mark a new direction of John's efforts to do "something glorious" with his life.”

According to the book description of The Fledgling, “The Scene: Hammondsport, NY, the soul of American aviation research and development between 1905 and 1912; Rheims, France, the first International air races in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The Conflict: The Wright brothers have gained fame for their first flight in November, 1903. Over the next decade, Glen Curtiss, Alexander Graham Bell and other daring pioneers challenge the Wright's initial advantage and compete for towering fame and enormous fortunes through that first great era of air races and death-defying exhibitions. This is the ongoing story of the Harrison family who commit their hearts and minds to building safer airplanes that can also fly faster, higher and longer distances.”

According to the book description of Apprentice Warrior, “As war clouds loom in Europe, David Harrison enters the United States Military Academy at West Point in the summer of 1912. The major thread of the story traces his effort to make sense out of his passion for flight, his extraordinary intuition, the ideals of West Point and a prospective career in the Army. A secondary theme is the development of the airplane for combat. During the summer of 1915, one year before his graduation, the two themes become entangled. Major Billy Mitchell sends David to London to discover what military airpower is all about. He visits factories and front line squadrons, meets designers and pilots. Suddenly, everything he believes about himself and his future is challenged one July afternoon when he witnesses death in the skies of France.”

According to the book description of Test of Battle, “From the author of Apprentice Warrior comes a story of the odds a special breed of men faced when air battle first came of age: wings and engines that fell apart without warning; guns that jammed; toxic fumes, nausea, noise, vibration, g-forces, frostbite, windburn, fear, insomnia and chronic exhaustion. In this story David Harrison surmounts these odds to meet the two great tests of battle: leaving home to search for his warrior self and his struggle to return home after he finds it.”