Dr. John Provan III wurde 1956 in Steubenville, Ohio, geboren. Sein Vater war als Hauptfeldwebel (Chief Master Sergeant) fast 30 Jahre lang bei der U.S. Air Force in den U.S.-Basen Kaiserslautern, Sembach, Langley AFB und Rhein-Main Air Base stationiert.
Als ambitionierter Sammler beschäftigt sich Dr. Provan seit mehr als 35 Jahren mit der Leichter-als-Luft-Fliegerei. Nach dem Abschluss an der University of Maryland schrieb er seine Magisterarbeit an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt über deutsche Luftschiffe im Ersten Weltkrieg. Ebenfalls in Darmstadt promovierte er mit einem Thema zu den deutschen Luftschiffhallen. Seitdem hat er mehrere Publikationen zu Themen der Luftfahrt vorgelegt, zum Beispiel über die Berliner Luftbrücke, LZ-127 und Graf Ferdinand von Zeppelin.

John Provan III was born in 1956, in Steubenville, Ohio. His father, an Air Force Chief Master-Sergeant John Provan Jr., who was assigned to Germany for almost 20 years, where he grew up in the Kaiserslautern, Sembach and Rhein-Main areas. John has collected for more than 35 years and has amassed the largest private library on LTA, with over 1,200 books and 20,000 photos. His primary interest has evolved though, in now preserving the history of American Forces in Germany. Here alone, he has obtained some 250,000 images, films and sound recordings from 1945, to present
Provan obtained his B.A. from the University of Maryland in 1979. He wrote his M.A. thesis on the “German Airship during World War One” and PhD thesis on the “German Airship sheds”, both degrees from the University of Darmstadt. Dr. Provan has organized numerous exhibits and/or written books on various topics, to include: Thomas Edison, 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers, the Dornier Do-X, AFN-the American Forces Network, the Kinderlifts and the Berlin Airlift. He has also appeared on several TV documentaries; for the History Channel, HR, ZDF, A&E and AFN.