Meet Skip Carter: Fighter Pilot Turned Historical Novelist
Skip Carter is a retired Navy pilot, aeronautical engineer, and commercial airline captain whose lifelong interest in history eventually led him to the world of historical fiction. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968, Skip entered Navy flight training and went on to fly the F-8 Crusader and F-4 Phantom, serving in combat during the Vietnam War and later deploying to the Mediterranean with VF-102. He was also a graduate of the Naval Fighter Weapons School—known today as “Top Gun.”
Throughout his 24-year military career, Skip took on a wide range of assignments, from flying combat and VIP missions across the Mediterranean to earning a master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School. He also taught aerodynamics, managed weapons programs at the Pentagon, and served as part of a composite squadron supporting U.S. operations in Beirut. His final Navy tour brought him back to Monterey, California, as an instructor before retiring from active duty.
After a brief foray into the private sector, Skip returned to aviation as a 747 pilot for Atlas Air, flying routes across the globe. But it was his time stationed in Sicily—where he and his family explored the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome—that sparked the idea to write. A visit to Istanbul, once known as Byzantium and later Constantinople, further deepened his curiosity about the Roman Empire.Originally inspired to write a novel titled The Twenty-Second Siege, Skip’s research led him deep into the Crisis of the Third Century. He became captivated by the story of Gallienus, a young co-emperor thrust into leadership during one of the most chaotic periods in Roman history. That story became his debut novel, Perilous Privilege. Today, Skip brings his decades of military experience and global perspective to life through his writing, exploring themes of leadership, loyalty, betrayal, and resilience. He lives in Bedford, New Hampshire, with his wife, Pam, and is the proud father of three daughters and one son.
