“During my career as a newspaper publisher, legislator, university regent and private foundation leader, I have encountered few truly gifted strategic communicators. I count Don Porter among the very best in the business. Beyond his obvious skill sets as a writer and strategic communicator, he exudes loyalty to his clients and acts with discretion and high ethical grounding in all matters.”

                   — Jack B. Jewett, retired president and CEO, Flinn Foundation

“Don, the life of Allen Paulson is a great story and you have put together an excellent book.”

                    — Murray Smith, publisher, Professional Pilot magazine

“Every so often, a book emerges to cover a chapter in vertical flight history that has previously gone virtually untouched; the latest offering from veteran author and aviation historian, Donald J. Porter, is just such a book. The author’s efforts in documenting one of the most important—yet largely unheralded—aerospace companies in America are to be applauded. Thoroughly researched and well written, 'Howard's Whirlybirds' will make a welcome addition to the bookshelves of helicopter enthusiasts and aviation historians alike.”

                — Vertiflite magazine, November/December 2013

“This is the book to understand the company and its innovations, warts and all as the author states. Porter lives up to the promise as he writes insightfully of the designs and, importantly the people behind the designs—from the engineers to the mechanic who peened out a bearing race to allow a flight test to go forward. Porter delivers on that promise well and openly pens that this is not the book to explain the detailed history of any particular helicopter. No, this book is to understand the company and its troubles with the military as well as Congress—always delivering innovative helicopter designs but not truly financially successful until the AH-64 Apache.”

                    — Travel for Air, December 2017

“Terrific read about an age when individuals in a relatively small organization could beat out the big guys with savvy and guts and produce a superior product. The portraits of Hughes and his merry men are intuitive and very informative. Well worth the time and price.”

                — Morris Orens

“I so enjoyed your book. I was overwhelmed at the amount of data, interviewing and writing it took to write the book. You had to ‘dig deep’ to find out some of the things you reported, which is an indication of an excellent writer.”

                — Marti Ferry

“Author Donald Porter, who has published other corporate biographies, delves into the burgeoning interests of Hughes in 'whirlybirds', following the single flight of the mammoth HK-1 Spruce Goose. I was amazed at how once I started reading I didn't want to put it down. Flowing from one chapter to another was seamless. It's one of those books you read and don't want it to end.”

               — Gary Lecore for the American Aviation Historical Society

“Brian Barents [Learjet president] was most complementary on my assisting you with the book and had asked me to order 100 copies for giveaways in the corporate office.”

                — Bill Robinson, former vice president, Learjet Inc.

“Don Porter did a masterful job, not only detailing the development of the various helicopter lines, but also recounting the little known back stories and his own personal accounts that are absolutely fascinating. Knowing the author lived many of these times while himself working as part of the Hughes helicopter production team, made this read especially entertaining and interesting.”

                — Dan Megna for VERTICAL magazine

“It is so refreshing to read more about what Howard accomplished in his life . . . especially with regard to the helicopter division . . . than all of his personal life. Donald did a wonderful job and has the facts correct.”

                — Sharon Nichols

 “Whether you are a helicopter professional, a 'rotor-head' enthusiast or just a lover of aviation history, Donald J. Porter's new book, 'Howard’s Whirlybirds: Howard Hughes’ Amazing Pioneering Helicopter Exploits', published by Fonthill Media, is a remarkably insightful look back on a man, a company and the incredible flying machines that they developed and produced. Porter goes to great lengths to provide some of the incredibly fascinating and little-known back stories of individuals, innovation, success and failure.”

               — VERTICAL magazine, August 2013

“The work (Learjet book) reflects a lot of research and I commend you for it . . . too many writers are prone to take short cuts.”

                — Jim Greenwood, former public relations director for Lear Jet Corporation

“You have an extremely valuable trait—your ability to learn about our people and business and then project what we really want to tell our audiences.”

               — Joseph L. Lucia, vice president, SFE Technologies

"All I say is that you came into the picture when we were about to settle for second best. In a nutshell, you were easy to work with, fast, responsive and knew how to say what we wanted to say.”

               — Paula Freiderichs, American Poly-Therm Co., Inc.

“You were thorough and came up to speed on a complex project in very little time, thus keeping the cost to our client down. Your writing skills were excellent.”

               — Linda Page, administrator, Robert G. Holderness & Associates

“You have always been professional in both the quality of your work and your adherence to delivery dates. These traits are very highly regarded in the publishing field.”

               — Jeff Worsinger, acquisitions editor, TAB Books, Inc.

“Your  previous technical writing experience made for a quick grasp of our product's features and benefits, which translated into a successful market introduction.”

               — Donald Grind, president, Solution Centers International

“I've worked closely with Don Porter for over six years, on such projects as annual reports, quarterly reports, press releases, technical brochures, catalogs and speeches. He is an intelligent writer with the discerning ability to write the same story from numerous angles. He is always prompt and has often come up with well-thought-out copy on very short notice. He has a firm understanding of business management, public relations, technical aptitude, diplomacy and a keen sense of humor.”

               — Joan Bromberg, corporate administrator, SFE Technologies

“The best indication of how we feel about your writing services is how many times we come back for more.”

               — Stuart Baker, president, Amistar Corporation