I regret to say that someone very important to the Aviation community has passed. His name is Francis "Diz" Dean and he was a something of a WW2 Aviation Legend since he published "America's Hundred Thousand" the single best book I have ever seen on American Fighter A/C in WW2.
I emailed Mr.Dean for some info and my response is not what I expected. Here is the copy of the email I receieved today.
Dear Mark,
Thank you for your e-mail. I am sorry to have to tell you that Diz passed away very suddenly Nov. 29th. Two years ago he was told he had congestive heart failure, however, medications seemed to have it under control. It happened so fast (we had just come back from a trip to the grocery store) when he was stricken. He was gone by the time the medics arrived.
We are happy that his latest book, The Curtiss X Planes, came out in Oct. so, at least, he was here to see it. The American Helicopter Society, in their Spring Edition, Vertiflite, gave it a great review, a two page spread, and noted that Diz had passed away but, it said Diz had "left us a wonderful gift: a story about a time of infinite creativity that will inspire future generations of V/STOL aircraft designers. Wow! I only wish he could be reading the review written by an engineer at Pratt and Whitney.
Diz had nearly completed his last book he was working on, Curtiss Planes from early on. My son and I hope we will, somehow, be able to finish it and get it published. We've had several offers of help from some noted writers. Among them, Pete Bowers! It would be a nice tribute to Diz since he worked so hard on it.
Hope all is well and, keep up your interest in aviation! Best Wishes, Evie Dean
