1950s action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure aerial aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-reconnaissance aerial-warfare africa african-safari air-combat air-force air-superiority air-warfare aircraft aircraft-carriers airmen airplane airplanes ambition american-literature atmospheric author autobiography aviation aviators beautiful-prose betrayal biography boarding-school bravery british british-author british-empire british-literature brotherhood camaraderie character-driven character-study childhood childhood-memories combat combat-missions coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage danger dangerous-missions death desire destiny determination drama dreams duty east-africa emotional endurance england escapades escapism espionage excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism exploration family fate fear fiction fighter-bombers fighter-jets fighter-pilot fighter-planes flying flying-ace friendship grief gripping ground-attack heroism historical history honor humor humorous hunters hunting independence intense intensity introspection introspective james james-salter kenya korean-war literary literary-fiction literature london loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty masculinity maverick-aviators memoir middle-east military military-fiction military-history military-service mischief missions morality mortality non-fiction nonfiction norway norwegian nostalgia novel obsession passion perseverance personal-growth pilot pilots planes poetic poignant post-war power-dynamics psychological pursuit raf redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry roald-dahl romance royal-air-force sacrifice salter self-discovery skill squadron storytelling strategic-bombing strategy struggle success suppression-of-enemy-air-defenses surface-to-air-missiles survival suspense suspenseful tactical-operations tanzania teamwork tension the-hunters thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrilling tragedy trauma travel triumph true-story victory vietnam vietnam-war vivid-imagery war war-stories wartime wartime-experiences wild-weasels world-war-ii writer writing wwii young-adult