Stephen Coonts is masterful in placing the reader in the cockpit of 3 diverse aircraft under radically different sets of circumstances. The book title The Sea Witch is from the first novella, which stars a fascinating workhorse aircraft – the giant PBY Catalina, a do-anything seaplane of World War II. A young dive-bomber pilot is asked to leave his squadron for alleged reckless behavior and ends up assigned as co-pilot in a Catalina squadron. The fact that he has never flown this aircraft apparently is not taken into account. On his first flight in the Sea Witch his piloting skills are tested to the maximum following a raid on a Japanese occupied island. Coonts explores the aviation during World War I in the second novella –The Seventeenth Day – and the incredible daring and skill required of the pilots of that era. American Paul Hyde dropped out of college to join the “great adventure” of World War I as a pilot for the Royal Flying Corps of England. He soon finds out that it is a very serious business with the biggest challenge to last beyond the 17-day life expectancy of the average pilot. This short novella covers his 17th day and describes in detail the harrowing challenges faces by those daring pilots.Al-Jihad, the last novella, describes a unique aircraft – the Osprey, which has tilt-rotors permitting it to take off like a helicopter then fly more or less like a conventional fixed-wing aircraft. A young female Osprey pilot locates a long-retired Marine Corps sniper Charles Dean, who was assigned to her father’s command with a story that makes him question her sanity. Her parents were killed on airplane destroyed by Libya-supported terrorists. She has a contact in the CIA who has given her inside information that these same terrorists are gathering at a remote location in the Libyan Desert to plan another such bombing. She wants Charles Dean to assist her in flying to this desert site to assassinate these terrorists. He thinks she is beyond crazy but is lured by the $3,000,000 she is offering to pay him. Each of the three novellas is exciting in painting very vivid pictures of what is or was involved in piloting the aircraft in question. I found the tales very interesting and do recommend the book to readers who like such action.[Book 59 of revised 2012 target 70 (Jan-10; Feb-11; Mar-9; Apr-8; May-7; Jun-8; Jul-6)] This is actually three seperate stories with the common theme of miitary aviation. The title story is a tale of a Navy PBY (flying boat that was actually obsolete at the start of WW II)crew in the South Pacific. Crews modified these cargo/search aircraft to bomb Japanese shipping. The dangerous long overwater flights at night, along with heavily defended targets, is an overlooked story of tenacity and heroism in naval aviation. The second story is one of a fairly new WW I British scout pilot trying to survive the critical fist missions of a fighter pilot on the western front. The last story centers on a woman Air Force pilot of the modern day C-22 Osprey hybryd aircraft that can take off and land like a helicopter and then swing its engines to fly straight and level like a conventional aircraft. If you enjoy fictional stories of miltary aviation, you'll find something to like. Its been a while since I have seen a collection of short stories by a prominent author, and the format suits today's fast pace of life.
What do You think about Sea Witch, The (2012)?
#nice easy short stories strangely out of sync though.
—Saphronite
Interesting novellas centering on period aircraft.
—StormyMarie
