1950s action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush advanced-aircraft advanced-systems advanced-technology adventure aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-warfare aeronautics aerospace aerospace-engineering aerospace-industry air-combat air-force air-warfare aircraft aircraft-carriers aircraft-design aircraft-development aircraft-manufacturing airplanes ambition american-history american-industry american-literature area-51 atmospheric autobiography aviation aviation-history aviation-industry aviators betrayal black-projects blackbird bravery brotherhood camaraderie character-driven cia classified classified-information classified-operations classified-programs classified-projects cold-war combat combat-missions coming-of-age competition comradeship corporate-culture courage covert-operations danger dangerous-missions death defense defense-industry design destiny determination development drama duty emotional endurance engineering engineering-challenges engineering-marvels espionage excitement exhilarating existential existentialism fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilots flying friendship government government-contracts grief gripping heroism historical historical-memoir history honor hunters innovation innovation-culture intelligence intelligence-gathering intense intensity james james-salter kelly-johnson korean-war leadership literary-fiction literature lockheed lockheed-martin loss love love-affairs love-triangle loyalty masculinity maverick-aviators memoir military military-aircraft military-fiction military-history military-industrial-complex military-technology morality mortality national-security novel obsession passion perseverance personal-memoir pilots project-management projects psychological pursuit reconnaissance redemption relationships research research-and-development resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter science scientific-advancements scientific-research secrecy secret secret-missions secret-projects self-discovery skunk-works space-exploration spy-planes sr-71 sr-71-blackbird stealth stealth-technology strategic strategic-planning strategy struggle survival suspense suspenseful tactical-operations team team-collaboration teamwork technological-advancements technology tension test-flights test-pilots the-hunters thrill thrilling top-secret top-secret-projects tragedy trauma triumph u-2 u-2-spy-plane united-states victory vietnam vietnam-war war wild-weasels world-war-ii