Robert Jackson was born in the north Yorkshire village of Melsonby in 1941. A former pilot and navigation instructor, he was a squadron leader in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, experience that strongly influenced his writing career. A prolific writer, he has written more than fifty factual works devoted to aviation and military subjects, including Air Force: The RAF in the 1990s, operational histories of a wide range of aircraft, and reference works such as the Guinness Book of Air Warfare. He has also authored more than twenty novels, most of which take place against the backdrop of World War II, and has written popular science features for the Press Association.