As a toddler, he played in a B-29 waist dome in his backyard. His first words were about airplanes and carburetors. Growing up, he spent hours in the library leafing through aircraft books when he should have been tending to his school studies. It ran in the family. While his father was serving in the Pacific during WW-II, Patrick Dean's maternal grandmother was a riveter at Firestone constructing wings for Consolidated PBY’s His maternal grandmother worked at the Bell Bomber Plant where B-29s were being built.

He was so inspired by large aircraft he joined the U. S. Air Force in the 1960s becoming a line mechanic, a Crew Chief, and working transient maintenance. Patrick served on C-124s, C-97s, and T-28s. He developed a solid knowledge of multi-engine heavy-lift aircraft. He prides himself on having been present for the roll-out of the Lockheed C-5A. While stationed in England, he saw for the first time an Aviation Traders ATL-98 Carvair. Seeing the DC-4 conversion at that time later evolved into the book The ATL-98 Carvair which relates the fleet history. 

Aviation Author & Historian 

meet william patrick dean