Air Service, United States Army Marvin Kent Curtis (October 10, 1890 – December 24, 1957) was an American aviator, novelist, illustrator, yachtsman, and teacher.

Curtis published primarily boys’ adventure stories set in the places where he lived: the North Woods of Minnesota and the islands off the Florida coast.

After graduation from the School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois on August 25, 1917, he was ordered to Oxford, England, where he completed flight training with the British Royal Flying Corps.

[5] Curtis’ unusual behavior in machine gun class was described in War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator.

[6] Commissioned 1st Lieutenant on May 30, 1918, he was assigned to the American 148th Aero Squadron and reported for duty on the British front in France July 4, 1918.

Curtis piloted his Sopwith Camel #B7869 off the battlefield runway at 5:50 pm on his third mission in three days, another bombing run over Bapaume.

A fine fellow he was, possessed of an excellent sense of humor, once a teacher of French and German at a Missouri college, once a guide in the northern woods, and a gentleman above reproach.

He remained in German prison camps until liberated December 1, 1918, nearly a month after the November 11 Armistice ending the war.

"[10] He was teaching French, Spanish, and history to 40 boys in a remote preparatory school on Captiva Island when George Briggs arrived with the news and with the prize.

And he wrote one historical novel based on pilots in World War I. Curtis was related to Hart Crane, the American poet.

Curtis gave Howard Vincent O'Brien the title for his book, Folding Bedouins or Adrift in a Trailer.

"[16] Joseph Whitehill dedicated Able Baker and Others "for Kent Curtis, author of Cruises in the Sun and numerous other joyous mischief.

Multi-talented, Kent could do anything but add up a laundry slip: writer (5 books), artist, musician (he played the piano but couldn't read a note), actor, woodsman, cook, sailor, expert in canoeing, raconteur par excellence, but through all his talents, the humorist predominated.

He introduced sailing to the camp and led 31 Big Canadian canoe trips through the Minnesota boundary waters.