James Gilbert RIP

[formationfoto]

I understand that James Gilbert has passed away after a lengthy period of illness.

As publisher of PILOT he inspired me to take up flying.

Later, when I was responsible for buying the title from him, he was a gentleman and great company.

He has a well justified place in the aviation hall of fame.

[PPRuNe Pop]

I am sad to learn JG's passing. He was always good for private flying and good to it. Thanks James RIP.

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

I am sad to hear this. He published my first (and several subsequent) article in 'Pilot', and was an absolute gentleman to deal with. I only met him once, and he was one of aviation's 'characters'. There are too few of those in GA these days - and now there's one less.

['Chuffer' Dandridge]

A great shame. IMHO, James was the last great flying mag publisher, things just havent been the same since he sold Pilot magazine on......And he published one of my flight tests too

A sad day:(

[RatherBeFlying]

He wrote one of the absolute top aviation books -- don't know how many times I've reread it.

Not just the publisher/editor of a top notch magazine.

[Whirlybird]

He published my first ever aviation article. He will be missed.:(

[G-KEST]

Really sad to learn of James' death. We first met in 1963 when we both entered the Lockheed aerobatic trophy contest for the first time and remained good friends from then on. His skills as a writer were superb and as the editor of PILOT he was never afraid of the need to oppose what he saw as being repressive regulation and bureaucracy.
A true gentleman indeed. My deepest condolences to his family.
Cheers,
Trapper 69

[QDMQDMQDM]

The Great Planes. I have been reading that since I was five years old. It still inspires me.

Many thanks.

QDM

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

Just to add to my earlier post - he did not suffer fools, and his strong non-PC character shone through 'Pilot' like a beacon. I loved it, and GA is the poorer for his passing. He also paid authors up-front on acceptance, even if he didn't plan to use the piece for a while. What a chnage to some mags I've written for where they do all they can to delay payment!

Something I wrote in a 'Pilot' article about a particular aeroplane attracted the attention of CAA. They phoned James demanding he give them my contact details. He told them he respected the privacy of his authors and if they wanted that information they were not going to get it from him.

Then he phoned me to let me know they were sniffing around, and that when they did contact me it would not be on the strength of a steer from him.

As it happens, they did contact me but it didn't come to anything, but that sort of support for even a very occasional contributor like me was typical of James. He engendered respect and loyalty, and he is a sad loss to GA publishing.

SSD

[treadigraph]

Greatly saddened to hear this - I enjoyed James' stewardship of Pilot immensely; and indeed some of the tales about him from the Tiger Club as well. Pilot was indeed a force to be reckoned with then, and there is nothing like it now.

Farewell James, and bless you for your efforts - they were much appreciated.

[Genghis the Engineer]

A big loss to our community.

Happy flying James,

G

[POBJOY]

Sorry to hear about James.will always remember those wonderful inverted runs in his bucker jungmeister at the TC shows giving a very non pc h....r salute!
the old bucker was a bit slow for the ferry flights to shows,and on one occaision i jokingly stated that i would catch him up after having a cup of tea.
well, he got there first,and in his dry style enquired if i had got lost! not at all, had a leisurely early lunch before taking off was the reply.

on another epic TC foray to the north of scotland jame's turbulent broke several inches off one side of its prop. not wanting to face normans displeasure by leaving the stricken machine hundreds of miles away,he sawed the equal amount off the good side and got it back home with the ardem engine giving hundreds of rpm more than normal (it was just like my vw beetle he said)
gods flying club can start a magazine now!!