1950s action action-packed adrenaline adrenaline-fueled adrenaline-rush adventure aerial aerial-combat aerial-maneuvers aerial-reconnaissance aerial-warfare air-combat air-force airborne aircraft airforce airplane airplanes ambition american-literature atmospheric aviation aviators battlefield beautiful-prose beautifully-written bestseller betrayal bravery breathtaking brotherhood camaraderie captivating challenge challenges challenging character-development character-driven character-study classic combat coming-of-age competition competitive-spirit competitiveness comradeship conflict contemporary-fiction courage danger dangerous-missions death descriptive desire destiny determination dogfights drama dreams duty elite emotional emotional-turmoil emotions endurance escapism espionage evocative excitement exhilarating exhilaration existential existentialism failure. fate fear fiction fighter-jets fighter-pilot fighter-pilots fighter-planes flying friendship friendships glory grief gripping haunting heroes heroics heroism hierarchy historical-fiction honor hunters hunting intense intensity introspection introspective james james-salter james-tags:-military korean-war leadership life-changing-experiences literary literary-fiction literature loss lost-love love love-affairs love-story love-triangle loyalty lust machismo male-bonding male-camaraderie male-friendship male-friendships masculinity military military-fiction military-life mission moral-dilemmas morality mortality narrative novel novels obsession passion perseverance pilot pilots poetic poignant post-war post-world-war-ii power-dynamics prose prose-style psychological psychological-exploration psychological-impact pursuit redemption relationship relationships resilience risk risk-taking rivalries rivalry romance sacrifice salter self-discovery skill squadron strategy struggle stunning-prose success survival suspense suspenseful teamwork tense tension testosterone the-hunters thrill thrill-seeking thriller thrillers thrilling tragedy training trauma triumph victory vietnam vietnam-war visceral vivid vivid-imagery war war-fiction war-movie war-story wartime world-war-ii wwii young-men