McDonald, Kevin: - KEVIN McDONALD was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up near Carswell Air Force Base during the height of the Cold War-a time when B-52s routinely launched and returned carrying nuclear weapons meant to ensure America's survival. After earning a Journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin, he was commissioned into the United States Navy and became a naval aviator. Following the First Gulf War, Kevin left the Navy and spent the next twenty years flying a public-safety rescue helicopter for Travis County in Central Texas. His first book, Life Inside the Dead Man's Curve, is a white-knuckle narrative about his thirty-five-year flying career. Now retired, he lives with his wife in Austin, where he continues to write about his two greatest passions-aviation and history.