Fightin' Air Force #49

When Lieutenant Happy Hawkins returns from World War II as a celebrated fighter ace, he discovers that civilian life—even with a wife and growing family—lacks the thrill and purpose of combat flying. Reunited with an old wartime buddy in 1949, Hawkins re-enlists in the Air Force just as jet fighters arrive, and he rises through the ranks to lead a squadron in Korea with nineteen aerial kills to his name. But when a colonel grounds him for a desk job as Flight Operations Officer, Hawkins faces a different kind of battle—one that tests whether a warrior can find meaning away from the cockpit.

A light-plane pilot flying reconnaissance missions over the jungle discovers that being "bush league" doesn't mean ineffective—when spotting enemy troop positions for artillery and ground forces, every scrap of courage counts. When a Japanese Zero catches him on his return run, this small-time flier has to trust his ground-support team to bring him back alive.

Henry Ryan—accomplished pilot and decorated American ace—harbors a deadly secret: he's actually Heinrich Reinhardt, a Nazi Luftwaffe officer sent by the Third Reich to infiltrate the U.S. Air Force and sabotage Allied operations from within. As Ryan racks up confirmed victories in his P-51 Mustang, his hidden orders drive him toward treachery that could turn the tide of the war, all while his fellow pilots remain dangerously unaware of the enemy in their midst.

When Major Curt Holton arrives in a neutral South American nation to pitch America's F-100C Super Sabre against the Soviet MiG-19, he's immediately challenged—both in the air and on the ground—by the arrogant Russian pilot Colonel Mikhail Kuvoyan. Tensions escalate from a tense landing competition to a full simulated dogfight at the nation's celebration, where Holton must prove his aircraft's superiority while keeping his composure against an opponent determined to humiliate him.