David Lee Russell was born in Wilmington, North Carolina and spent his youth in the Charlotte/Gastonia area. After graduating from North Carolina State University at Raleigh with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. David then attended Naval Aviation Officer's Candidate School in Pensacola and was commissioned as Ensign-Special Duty Intelligence. He then served as an Air/ASW Intelligence Officer in Southeast Asia and Indian Ocean for Patrol Squadron Four during the Vietnam War.

David is the author of three history books on the American Revolution as it unfolded in the South (The American Revolution in the Southern Colonies, Victory on Sullivan’s Island and Oglethorpe and Colonial Georgia). He then turned his attention to aviation history and wrote: Eastern Air Lines: A History, 1926-1991, David McCampbell: Top Ace of U.S. Naval Aviation in World War II, Early U.S. Navy Carrier Raids, February-April 1942, and USS Bogue: The Most Successful Anti-Submarine Warfare Carrier in World War II. He is also the author of two European intelligence thriller fiction books.

David resides in Canton, Georgia and continues his writing projects.