Flight of the Intruder (novel)
| Author | Stephen Coonts |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Techno-thriller novel |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| Followed by | Final Flight |
Flight of the Intruder is a novel written by Stephen Coonts in 1986 telling the stories of United States Navy aviators flying the A-6 Intruder – a two-man, all-weather, aircraft carrier based strike aircraft on missions during the Vietnam War. The main character is Jake "Cool Hand" Grafton, a naval aviator who appears in a series of sequels. The book, which was made into a movie of the same name and adapted into a video game, marked the beginning of Stephen Coonts' career as a best-selling novelist.
Flight of the Intruder begins with a night attack mission flown by Jake Grafton and his navigator Morgan “Morg” McPherson from the USN aircraft carrier, USS Shiloh, striking a target in North Vietnam. Although there are many militarily valuable targets in North Vietnam, Grafton and other aviators are instead routinely ordered to hit worthless targets—typically “suspected truck parks”. The pilots are barred from hitting the more valuable targets because of restrictive “rules of engagement” imposed on American forces. Despite the minimal damage even a successful strike will inflict on the enemy (whom the aviators refer to as “Gomers”), North Vietnamese airspace is heavily defended, making the missions extremely dangerous for the aviators. Grafton and Morg elude most of the defenses, but a stray shot fired by a lone farmer on the ground fatally wounds Morg.
Traumatized by the loss of his good friend, Grafton begins to question whether his efforts have been worth it. He is eventually paired up with Virgil 'Tiger' Cole as his new navigator. Cole, an aggressive veteran with experience over the most heavily defended areas of North Vietnam, becomes aware of Grafton’s frustrations, and the two begin to plan an unauthorized mission against a Communist Party center in Hanoi, which will be a serious violation of the restrictive rules of engagement. With the help of one of the Shiloh’s intelligence officers, Cole and Grafton locate and plan the mission. Flying the mission nearly proves fatal due to problems with the A-6’s weapons system. Once completed, they don't even know if they successfully hit anything.
Grafton’s superiors soon learn of the unauthorized strike—there is no way to hide the fact that Grafton’s plane was shot at by Surface to Air Missiles, yet no SAM sites were positioned near the target they were supposed to hit.
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Wikipedia