American Fighters Of World War Two, Volume one

René Jacquet - Francillon ( March 11th, 1937 - March 8th, 2018 ) was born in Italy. He grew up in Provence ( France ) and witnessed the ballet of American aircraft during " Operation Dragoon ", the landing operation of Allied invasion of the area ( August 15th - September 14th, 1944 ). His interest in aviation began probably at this time. 

Holder of Ph.D. ( Philosophiæ doctor : Doctor of Philosophy ) in Economics and graduated from the University of Lausanne ( Vaud, Switzerland ) in Economics of Air Transport, he emigrated to the United States in 1961. René Jacquet - Francillon has worked as a consultant for several  aircraft manufacturers. He took part as engineer at Douglas to the giant cargo plane CX - HLS programme ( Cargo Experimental, Heavy Logistic Supports ). 

In 1958, he published his first book on aviation in Belgium. In August 1982, he started to collaborated with Le Fana de l'Aviation magazine. René Jacquet - Francillon has published many books and articles about aviation in Europe and the United States as well. He used to live in Vallejo ( Solano, California, United States ), until he died of pneumonia at the age of 80. 

Here are some of his publications : Pilotes de B - 52 ( with Peter B. Lewis, 1991 ), Du Comet à l'A380 : Histoire des avions de ligne à réaction ( Collection Docavia, No. 53, 2005 ), La grande histoire du ravitaillement en vol ( 2008 ), Mustang, le North American P - 51 ( 2014 ), Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club : U.S. carrier operations off Vietnam, 1964 - 1975 ( 2018 ). 

( source : Wikipedia )