AIR WARS
I supposer it would be natural for anyone born when the Wright Brothers were still active in the aviation news of the day, to be somewhat addicted to reading everything available concerning flying. I read my share of them, I''m sure, and always felt they were the men who actually won the war against the hordes of Huns who were not exactly dummies themselves and often proved to be worthy antagonists in air battles.. I came across a novel approach to the old WWI flying Aces theme just recently - a novel called “Flight of Eagles”by Jack Higgins.
One would think just about every twist concerning the switching of twins had been worked by those who compound fiction stories, but here's a new and different one -.at least for me. It tells of the exploits of twin brothers who were war time aces - the one for the RAF and the U S Air Force and the other for the Luftwaffe. It all seems to make good, logical sense, too, and is not at all difficult to understand how sides were chosen and how each man acted according to his feelings.
There must have been a number of families during World War II who were divided in their feelings concerning Axis thinking and that of the Allied nations. This book deal with one particular case and does so with amazing temperance and without upsetting anyone violently. The love of flying which both boys exhibit - a trait inherited from their father who was a "fliyer" in World War I, overshadows the "reason" behind the war. The twins are almost robots in one sense and as they fly they express their views only in a secondary sense.
I think most readers will anticipate that, sooner or later, the brothers are going to meet each other and that they will be forced to make decisions about taking each others lives. They meet several times and, as one might expect, in unusual circumstances. Yet, they remain brothers in every sense of the word and somehow it works out well with several unexpected twists along the way and at the very end.
Those persons interested in the aircraft of various nations of the era - the Russians, Finns, British, Germans, and Americans will find this book of special interest. "Jack Higgins" also writes under the name "Harry Patterson." There are also some interesting sidelights on the personal feelings of many Nazi-like personalities of the time.
A memorable feature of "Flight of Eagles" is a small Teddy Bear dressed as an "aviator". It was an on-craft mascot of the father of the twins in WWI and a passenger on every flight he made. It was also the mascot of one of the boys in World War II. You will find it interesting to follow the adventures of the mascot bear "Tarquin" as a secondary theme of the overall story.
Question: how close did Dwight Eisenhower ever come to being killed? You find out when you read "Flight of Eagles" - and you'll wonder if it is fact or fiction. I'm still deciding.
A.L.M. April 7.2004, [c524wds]
