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Cpt. Robert B. Hotz
Robert Bergmann Hotz (May 29, 1914 - February 9, 2006) was an award-winning aerospace journalist, author and arms-control expert who served on the presidential commission that investigated the spac...view moreRobert Bergmann Hotz (May 29, 1914 - February 9, 2006) was an award-winning aerospace journalist, author and arms-control expert who served on the presidential commission that investigated the space shuttle Challenger accident. His career as a journalist spanned more than 50 years, in which he pioneered news coverage of international military and aerospace affairs.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he graduated with a BS in Economics from Northwestern University in 1936 and went to work as a reporter on the staff of the Paris Herald Tribune. In 1938, he became New York bureau chief for the Milwaukee Journal, a post he held until the beginning of WWII. He was commissioned as a captain in the U.S. Air Force in 1942, serving two tours with the 14th Air Force in China, in B-25 bomber combat operations and on the staff of Gen. Claire Lee Chennault. He was awarded the Air Medal with Oak leaf cluster and ended the war in 1946 with the rank of major.
He was editor and then publisher of Aviation Week and Space Technology Magazine from 1955-1980, where the coverage he directed was honored by the Aviation Space Writers Association and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed Hotz to the General Advisory Committee of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, where he served throughout the Reagan Administration and during the administration of President George H. W. Bush.
In the aftermath of the 1986 space shuttle Challenger accident, President Reagan appointed Hotz to the presidential commission that investigated NASA’s space shuttle program.
Hotz was the author of four books, most notably With General Chennault: The Story of The Flying Tigers (1943). He also edited Gen. Chennault’s memoirs: Way of a Fighter (1946).
He retired to Rams Horn Farm in Myersville, Maryland, where he raised Angus cattle and peacocks. He died on February 9, 2006, at the age of 91.view less