Fightin' Air Force #11

When American pilots spot a mysterious high-performance aircraft decimating enemy MiGs over Korea, suspicion falls on a decorated former ace—until General Danty discovers the truth is far more unconventional. Joe Fielder has been secretly flying an experimental delta-winged prototype into combat, and when he's forced to prove the plane's worth to skeptical inspection board members, he puts on a devastating aerial display that changes everything. But the real revelation comes when Fielder reveals just how many of these advanced fighters are already engaged in the fight, and who's really been piloting them.

Captain Dink Peebles has flown over two hundred missions in his B-17, and the strain is showing—trembling hands, worry lines, and a growing twitch that he stubbornly refuses to acknowledge. When he's called upon to fly a crucial pathfinder mission to locate a hidden German factory, his fatigue and judgment become a dangerous liability, even as his crew and commanding officers depend on his skill. Can Peebles complete the mission and finally accept the rest he desperately needs, or will his refusal to ground himself cost him everything?

Captain Ben Tanber planned to retire from test piloting after one final flight, but when his successor seems inexperienced with the experimental XF-119 rocket plane, he volunteers for the preliminary tests instead. Convinced the aircraft has a critical flaw in its wing design that will fail during a snap-roll maneuver, Tanber prepares to push the needle-nosed fighter to its limits—knowing the test might prove him right in the worst way possible.

Captain Toby Wradek volunteers for a one-way mission over enemy lines when he learns that a childhood village—and a resistance leader sheltering there—faces German capture, though his P-51 doesn't have enough fuel to make the return trip. Flying into occupied territory, Wradek battles enemy fighters and drops his payload on the German position before his engine fails, forcing him to attempt a desperate landing. What unfolds in the village will test whether his sacrifice was in vain.

Slim Clovis never quite plays by the book—a former Wild West showman who enlists as a fighter pilot during the Great War and becomes the only ace in the Air Corps sporting spurs. When a commanding general orders him transferred to reconnaissance duty as punishment for his rule-breaking ways, Slim finds himself outmatched in a slow D.H.4, yet manages to prove his mettle in ways no one expected. This is a tale of an unorthodox pilot who turns unconventional thinking into victories, one mission at a time.

Lt. Jeff Baldwin is a skilled Navy pilot who's developed a powerful aversion to carrier duty—after two costly crash-landings, he requests a transfer to solid ground, only to find himself reassigned to Carrier X for a dangerous strike against Japanese airfields near Tokyo. When mechanical failure and bad luck seem to follow him everywhere he operates from a ship, Baldwin must confront whether his carrier complex is real or simply self-inflicted.

Lt. Davis is a fresh pilot fresh from Kelly Field who learns the hard way that ground support flying demands nerves of steel—when Captain Desanto takes him on a low-level attack run over Korea, Davis plays it safe and stays too high, earning him a week of punishment embedded with the troops on the line. By the time he returns to the cockpit, Davis understands what the ground forces need, and he's ready to prove he can fly dangerously low and keep his nerve.

Captain Mike Andrews convinces his commanding officer to let him attempt a dangerous solo raid on a heavily fortified German ammunition dump in Western Europe, having identified a critical weak point in the enemy's defenses. Flying low enough to evade radar detection, Andrews pilots his P-51 toward the target, knowing the odds are stacked against him. This 1958 tale from *Fightin' Air Force* #11 packs wartime tension and individual valor into two swift pages.

Captain Dan Andrews prides himself on his impeccable appearance and custom-made shoes—until his Sabrejet gets hit over the Korean front and he's forced to bail out behind enemy lines. Stranded in mud and under fire, the flyboy who scorned the infantry as "lesser types" finds himself depending on the very ground soldiers he looked down on to survive. When Andrews finally makes it back to friendly territory, a hard-won respect replaces his cockiness, and he discovers that some lessons can't be learned at thirty thousand feet.

A B-29 crew takes on the dangerous mission of flying directly into a hurricane's eye to gather vital storm data that will save lives and property across affected regions. Battling 150-mile-per-hour winds and mounting damage to their aircraft, the men must hold steady long enough to compute the storm's speed and direction before attempting their harrowing return flight home.

With the Germans ready to surrender and peace nearly within reach, Colonel Baker faces an agonizing dilemma: a B-26 bombing run is already airborne toward German marshalling yards, and he's desperately trying to recall Captain Bill Osborne's formation before the surrender becomes official. As the minutes tick away and orders clash with conscience, the flight circles the target waiting for word while the Colonel fights through the chain of command to stop a mission that may become meaningless at any moment.