Martin Caidin
Martin Caidin (1927-1997) was a prolific author and screenwriter specializing in Aviation, Aviation, History, and Historical and Speculative fiction. The author or coauthor of more than 50 books and over 1000 magazine articles, he was also well known as the most prominent chronicler of the "Warbird" enthusiasts who restore and fly classic military aircraft.
Unarguably One of Us, one of his hobbies before his death was assisting local groups (he lived in the greater Orlando, Florida area) of fans put on science fiction conventions by roping his friends among the sci-fi community into attending as guests without them requiring huge paychecks to do it.
Martin Caidin is most recognizable for authoring the novels Cyborg (which both popularized the word and served as the basis for The Six Million Dollar Man and its derivatives) and Marooned, which was made into a 1969 movie starring Gregory Peck, Richard Crenna, David Janssen, James Franciscus, and Gene Hackman. He also served as the English language coauthor/text polisher for Samarai, the memoirs of Ace Pilot Saburu Sakai.