# Robert J. Serling

Robert Jerome Serling (born Jerome Robert Serling; March 28, 1918 – May 6, 2010) was an American novelist and aviation writer.

## Biography

Born in Cortland, New York and raised in Binghamton, Serling graduated from Antioch College in 1942. He "deplored the name Jerome" and swapped his first and middle names as a young man. He was the older brother of screenwriter and The Twilight Zone creator Rod Serling.
Serling became full-time aviation editor for United Press International in 1960. He wrote at least eight novels and sixteen books of nonfiction. His novel The President's Plane Is Missing was made into a 1973 made-for-TV film starring Buddy Ebsen. He received the 1988 Lauren D. Lyman Award "for distinguished achievement in the field of aviation and aerospace journalism."
He had two children with his second wife, Priscilla Arone, a former Western Airlines stewardess. His daughter Jennifer is a veterinary technician.
Serling died of pancreatic cancer on May 6, 2010, at age 92 in Tucson, Arizona. He is buried beside his second wife, Priscilla Arone Serling, brother Rod Serling, and sister-in-law Carol Serling at Lake View Cemetery in Interlaken, New York.

## Fiction

| Title | Published | ISBNs | Notes |
| The Left Seat | Doubleday, 1966 | | Paperback: Popular Library, 1966 |
| The President's Plane Is Missing | Doubleday, 1967 | | Paperback: Dell, 1968 |
| She'll Never Get off the Ground | Doubleday, 1971 | | Paperback: Dell, 1972 |
| McDermott's Sky | Laurel Group, 1977 | 0930392000, 9780930392000 | Paperback: Pocket Books, 1980 |
| Wings | Dial Press, 1978 | 0803795920, 9780803795921 | Paperback: New American Library, 1979 |
| Stewardess | St. Martin's, 1982 | 0312761937, 9780312761936 | Paperback: New American Library, 1984 |
| Air Force One Is Haunted | St. Martin's, 1985 | 0312015348, 9780312015343 | Sequel to The President's Plane Is Missing, again featuring President Haines |
| Something's Alive on the Titanic | St. Martin's, 1990 | 031205159X, 9780312051594 | Paperback: St. Martin's, 1993 |

## Non-fiction

| Title | Published | ISBN | Notes |
| The Probable Cause: The Truth About Air Travel Today | Doubleday & Co., 1960 | Library of Congress 60-15194 | Paperback: Ballantine Books, 1964 |
| The Electra Story | Doubleday & Co., 1963 | Library of Congress 63-7715 | Paperback: Bantam Books, 1991 |
| Loud and Clear: The Full Answer to Aviation's Vital Question – Are the Jets Really Safe? | Doubleday & Co., 1969 | | Paperback: Dell, 1970 |
| Birth of an Industry: A Nostalgic Collection of Airline Schedules for the Years 1929 to 1939 (in facsimile) | R. H. Donnelly, 1969 | | |
| Ceiling Unlimited: The Story of North Central Airlines | Walsworth Publishing, 1973 | LCCN 73090730 | |
| Little Giant: The Story of Gates LearJet | Serling, 1974 | | |
| Maverick: The Story of Robert Six and Continental Airlines | Doubleday & Co., 1974 | 0385040571, 9780385040570 | |
| The Only Way to Fly: The Story of Western Airlines, America's Senior Air Carrier | Doubleday & Co., 1976 | 0385013426, 9780385013420 | |
| The Jet Age | Time-Life Books, 1978 | 9780809433636, 9780809433629 | Series: "The Epic of Flight" |
| From the Captain to the Colonel: An Informal History of Eastern Airlines | Dial Press, 1980 | 0803746105, 9780803746107 | |
| Howard Hughes' Airline: An Informal History of TWA | St. Martin's Press, 1983 | 0312396317, 9780312396312 | |
| Eagle: The Story of American Airlines | St. Martin's Press, 1985 | 0312224532, 9780312224530 | |
| Countdown: An Autobiography | Silver Arrow, 1988 | 0-688-07929-6, 9780688079291 | co-authored with Frank Borman |
| Legend and Legacy: The Story of Boeing and Its People | St. Martin's Press, 1992 | 031205890X 9780312058906 | |
| When the Airlines Went to War | Kensington Books, 1997 | 1575662469, 9781575662466 | |
| Steel Rails and Silver Wings: The Lindbergh Line to the Birth of TWA | Weekend Chief Pub., 2006 | 0961281499, 9780961281496 | co-authored with George H. Foster |
| Character and Characters: The Spirit of Alaska Airlines | Documentary Media, 2008 | 9781933245119 | |

## Career

* Was a United Press International, Washington, DC, reporter and manager of Radio News Division, 1945–60, aviation editor, 1960–66; air safety lecturer and consultant, beginning 1966.
* Received numerous honors of his work throughout his career: Trans-World Airlines, seven awards, 1958–65, for aviation news reporting, Strebig-Dobben Memorial Award, 1960; special citations from Sherman Fairchild Foundation, 1963, Flight Safety Foundation, 1970, and Airline Pilots Association, 1970; Aviation/Space Writers Association, James Trebig Memorial Award, 1964, special citation, 1967, award in fiction, 1966, for The Left Seat, and in nonfiction, 1969, for Loud and Clear.
* Collected commercial airline models (more than four hundred during his life) and material on aviation research.
* Member of the Society of Air Safety Investigators and the Aviation/Space Writers Association
* Brother Rod Serling hired him as a technical consultant (for which he received on-screen credit) for the airplane sequences in the episode "The Odyssey of Flight 33" of his hit TV-show The Twilight Zone. Robert Serling also received advisor or researcher credits on two other Rod Serling scripts: one each for scripts penned for Studio One and Playhouse 90.
* Something's Alive on the Titanic and The President's Plane Is Missing and ‘’Air Force One is Haunted’’ are fantasy novels set in real life high-profile backdrops.
* Was a reporter for the Washington Redskins. Travelled with the team and roomed with quarterback Eddie LeBaron.
* He was a very devout conservative Republican, in contrast to his brother’s liberal Democratic stance.
* Authored the short story "Ghost Writer" published in Twilight Zone: 19 Original Stories on the 50th Anniversary.
* In 2008, was featured speaker at the 32nd annual Airliners International collectibles show and convention in Dallas, Texas.