Stewart was born and lived most of his life in Sydney, Australia until moving south (near Canberra, Australia’s capital city) in 1993. He spent his childhood visiting airfields around Sydney, particularly Mascot and Bankstown, where he pestered ‘anyone’ to take him for a flight.

Perhaps surprisingly, Stewart’s background is that of a classically trained musician who spent the first years of his career working in both the classical and rock areas of the music industry in performance, recording, composition, music publishing, theatre and management. At the same time he was able to indulge his passions for flying and motor racing.

The flow of words started in 1978 with the publication of a best selling motor racing book, this eventually leading to a change of career to publishing and full time writing, initially in motor racing and then aviation, in which fields he has acted as editor of several publications as well as writing books.

Stewart has always said that he’s been very lucky in his life because he’s been able to make a living out of his three ‘hobbies’. Of the three, aviation is undoubtedly his number one passion, developing at a very early age and remaining with him ever since.

Stewart is happy to ‘blame’ his father for catching the aviation bug: "When I was four years old, an early RAF Avro Vulcan jet bomber visited Australia and dad and I watched it fly over our house when it arrived in Sydney. The next day, he took me out to the airport for a closer look. I still remember the scene vividly - we walked around the side of a hangar and there it was in front of us, this huge, white bat-like ‘thing’ which left me gasping. That was the end of me and I’ve loved all things aeronautical ever since. I wrote a book on the Vulcan in 1997 and it was terrific to be able to dedicate it to dad in honour of the day that changed my life forever."

These days, writing provides Stewart’s living through his books, writing articles for many publications and as editor for AERO Australia magazine. Aviation now makes up the bulk of his work although some motor racing writing is still undertaken (Holden Commodore 25th Anniversary special magazine released November 2003). Music is now just a hobby although he is still composing and recording as a relaxation when time permits.

Stewart has written 17 motor racing and 42 aviation titles and is recognised internationally for his work.

Listing of Stewart Wilson Book Titles
Chronological SW book covers 1-20, 21-40, 41-56 Photograph files may be slow on dial-up conection.
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