1950s 20thcentury action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adultery adventure aerial aerial-combat aerial-dogfights aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare air-combat air-force airborne aircraft airplane airplanes ambition american-dream american-literature animals atmospheric aviation aviators beautiful-prose betrayal biography bravery brotherhood bumppo camaraderie captivating caza character-development character-driven character-study children'sliterature combat coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage danger dangerous-missions death defeat delawareindians desire destiny determination dogfights drama dreams duty elite emotional emotions endurance escapism espionage evocative excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism fantasy fantasyfiction farmers fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilot fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying friendship frontierandpioneerlife general grief gripping haunting heroes heroism historical historical-fiction history honor hunting huntingstories intense intensity introspection introspective james james-salter journalists juvenilefiction korean-war literary literary-fiction literature loss love love-affairs love-story love-triangle loyalty machismo magic male-bonding male-friendships malefriendship masculinity military military-fiction military-life moral-dilemmas moralandethicalaspects morality mortality narrative nationalism natty(fictitiouscharacter) novel obsession outlaws passion peril perseverance philosophy pilot pilots poetic poignant post-war power-dynamics prose psychological psychological-exploration psychological-impact pursuit redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance romanpourlajeunesse sacrifice salter scouting(reconnaissance) self-discovery skill sociallifeandcustoms socialthemes squadron strategy struggle success survival suspense suspenseful teamwork tension test-pilot-school testosterone the-hunters thompson thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrillers thrilling timeless tragedy training trauma triumph unitedstates valor victory vietnam vietnam-war visceral vivid-imagery war war-fiction war-story wartime world-war-ii wwii