William T. Larkins

Bakersfield native, and Oakland adopted son William T. “Bill” Larkins has been photographing aircraft for over 75 years. He is the author or co-author of 9 books on the subject of aviation history, and his photos can be found on numerous WEB sites on the internet. He continues to assemble information that will allow for the complete and correct identification of the aircraft in the photos he has taken and collected. It was his interest in aviation that led to an interest in photography and eventually a pilot’s license and three years in the AAF in World War II followed by another three in the California Air National Guard. In 2006 he was honored with the Admiral Radford Award for excellence in naval aviation history and literature. Not to forget that Bill worked as an audio-visual specialist for UC Berkeley for 31 years.

Bill was also good friends with Roger K. Heller, who among his many talents, was passionate about the Sacramento Northern Railroad. For a short period in the late 1940s, the two of them took many photographs and video of the railroad. They worked so closely together it is difficult to know who actually took which photographs, but everyone who has viewed these images agree that they were among the best taken during that era.

You can find a large selection of Bill’s aviation photos at:

and a list of his books at:

and a more detailed biography relative to his interest in aircraft:
http://home.earthlink.net/~wtl/