Noel Sainsbury

Born in New York City on June 11, 1884, Noel Everingham Sainsbury, Jr. was educated in Switzerland and the United States before first working as an engineer. He later served in the U.S. Navy and flew missions during World War I, part of the first generation of American combat pilots.

That aviation background shaped much of his fiction. Beginning in the late 1920s, he wrote juvenile adventure novels and series stories including the Bill Bolton and Billy Smith flying books, and he also contributed to other popular series and sports stories, sometimes using pseudonyms. His work is closely tied to the era when flying captured the public imagination.

Sainsbury spent his later years in Florida and died on July 1, 1955, in Lake Worth Beach. He is remembered today for lively children's adventures that mixed technical know-how with the thrill of action and discovery.