1950s action adrenaline adrenaline-rush advanced-technology adventure aerial-combat aerial-warfare aeronautics aerospace aerospace-engineering aerospace-industry africa african-safari air-combat air-force aircraft aircraft-design aircraft-development aircraft-manufacturing airplanes ambition american-history atmospheric author autobiography aviation aviation-history aviation-industry aviators betrayal biography black-projects blackbird boarding-school bravery british british-author british-empire british-literature brotherhood camaraderie character-driven childhood childhood-memories cia classified classified-information classified-operations classified-programs classified-projects cold-war combat coming-of-age competition comradeship corporate-culture courage danger death defense defense-industry determination development drama dreams east-africa emotional engineering engineering-marvels england escapades espionage exploration family fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilot fighter-pilots flying flying-ace friendship government government-contracts gripping heroism historical historical-memoir history honor humor humorous independence innovation innovation-culture intelligence intense intensity james kelly-johnson kenya korean-war leadership literary-fiction literature lockheed lockheed-martin loss love loyalty masculinity memoir middle-east military military-aircraft military-aviation military-fiction military-history military-industrial-complex military-technology mischief mortality national-security non-fiction nonfiction norway nostalgia obsession passion perseverance personal-growth pilot pilots planes project-management projects psychological raf reconnaissance redemption relationships research research-and-development resilience risk risk-taking rivalry roald-dahl romance royal-air-force sacrifice salter science scientific-research secrecy secret secret-missions secret-projects self-discovery skunk-works space-exploration spy-planes sr-71 sr-71-blackbird stealth stealth-technology storytelling strategic-planning survival suspense suspenseful tanzania team-collaboration teamwork technological-advancements technology test-flights the-hunters thrill thrilling top-secret top-secret-projects tragedy travel triumph true-story u-2 u-2-spy-plane united-states victory vietnam vietnam-war war war-stories wartime wartime-experiences world-war-ii writer