1950s action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure adventures aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-reconnaissance aerial-warfare africa african-safari air-combat air-force air-superiority air-warfare aircraft aircraft-carriers airplane airplanes ambition american-literature atmospheric author autobiography aviation aviators betrayal biographical biography boarding-school bravery british british-author british-empire british-literature brotherhood camaraderie character-driven character-study childhood childhood-dreams childhood-memories colonialism combat combat-missions coming-of-age competition comradeship conflict courage creativity danger dangerous-missions death destiny determination drama dreams duty east-africa emotional endurance england escapades escape escapism excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism exploration family fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilot fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying flying-ace friendship friendships going-solo greece grief gripping heroism historical history honor humor humorous hunters independence intense intensity introspection james james-salter journey kenya korean-war literary literary-fiction literature 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 planes poetic post-war psychological pursuit raf raf-pilot redemption relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry roald-dahl romance royal-air-force sacrifice safari salter second-world-war self-discovery spies spy 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 thriller thrilling tragedy trauma travel triumph true-story victory vietnam vietnam-war war war-stories wartime wartime-experiences wild-weasels world-war-ii writer writing wwii young-adult youth