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Group Captain Gavin Gallagher, distinguished RAF pilot, now commanding officer of the strategic missile squadron at North Luddenham, disappears in possession of the key allowing those missiles to be fired. Recently posted to North Luddenham is an old acquaintance, Wing Commander Bunting. Friends at Oxford, they did their flying training together before parting ways. Called in to a meeting with other senior officers, they discuss what they know of Group Captain Gallagher in the hopes of discovering why the man has disappeared, and just what he might be intending. But they each know a different Gavin Gallagher; a man who never found flying easy, haunted by the guilt of wartime deaths, and living in the shadow of personal loss, who nevertheless rose to a position of responsibility within the RAF. Where has he gone? And what is the cause of his sudden disappearance? David Beaty’s classic novel takes the reader from Bomber Command at the height of the Second World War, to the tensions of the Cold War in the 1970s, through the eyes of a singular officer with more to hide than his colleagues suspect.

In the unpredictable maelstrom of war, heroes can come from the unlikeliest places... Malta, 1942 – a thousand miles from friends, isolated, besieged, and slowly being starved into surrender... Into that hopeless situation fly two Wellington aircraft equipped with long-range radar. One is captained by a dedicated, veteran RAF pilot. The other by Peter Forrester, a hastily trained, carefree twenty-one-year-old. Their role is to find enemy convoys proceeding at night from Italy to Africa, and to lead a tiny naval force of cruiser and destroyer through the darkness to the unsuspecting target. The fate of a nation depends on their success... Climaxed by the mounting crescendo of a night battle at sea, this is a delicately balanced novel, caught between extremes of love and war, between guns and gardens.

Captain Paul Harker of Atlanta Airways must be on his mettle, if not for twenty-four hours a day, at least for the six or so hours it takes to fly the aircraft for which he is ultimately responsible across the Atlantic. There are, after all, two hundred and seventy-one passengers on board, as well as the crew. Harker, however, is not a machine but a human being and, like all human beings, is subject to the ups and downs of living. Age is creeping up; his wife Harriet is ill; he has become distanced from his son and bitterly estranged from his daughter. To complicate his life even further, a pretty, guileful young stewardess is all for boosting his fragile ego at the expense of his equilibrium. When the aeroplane’s number four engine catches fire Harker and his crew, led by First Officer Adams, follow the usual emergency procedure. Or at any rate, they think they do. Why then does the fire blaze more fiercely than ever after the release of the extinguisher bottles? And when does Captain Harker refuse to be parted from the strange walking stick with the shepherd’s crook handle? David Beaty’s novel is partly about flying and partly about love. He shows us that even in the era of super fast fail-safe technology, when we climb on board an aeroplane we place our lives in the hands of the Captain and his crew, all of whom are subject to just the same stresses as the rest of the world. The human factor is always there: the machine is still driven by the man.

The scene is a cadet training college for would-be civil aviation pilots, among them the average Benson and the brilliant Miller. It is Benson who tells the story from the moment when, coming in to land with Miller as co-pilot, he hits a tree, to the final scene when Miller is awarded the passing-out Sword of Honour. It is the trainer aircraft known to the cadets as ‘The Bastard, and feared by all but Miller, in which Benson has the accident. They are convinced that this reconditioned old machine is not airworthy, and soon there is further proof. Another cadet radios that the aircraft is out of control; ‘The Bastard’ crash-lands, the cadet is nearly killed. With great skill David Beaty builds up the resulting tension between the authorities – the Commandant and the Chief Flying Officer – and the cadets, to the point where the latter go on strike, refusing either to fly or attend lectures. Only Miller stands aside, and Miller is beaten up. The authorities maintain that the accidents in which ‘The Bastard’ has been concerned were due not to the aircraft but to carelessness on the part of the cadets. Through something he has observed Benson is forced to agree with them. And Miller? On his last flight before the passing-out ceremony he is saved from death only by Benson’s courage in emergency. Miller, the brilliant pupil, wins the Sword of Honour. But there is something else he doesn’t win – and Benson does. With his unrivalled knowledge of the techniques of flying and of the attitudes of those who fly, David Beaty has built a novel with a brilliantly paradoxical climax that keeps the reader turning the pages in excited anticipation.

With its tremendous tension and electrifying impact this is one of the great novels of the air. It is the early, dangerous days in the life of a new jet airliner. Millions of pounds have been invested in her—national prestige is at stake . . . Then Victor Fox comes near to disaster. The Court of Enquiry lays the blame on the pilot . . .

‘When an aircraft disappears completely there is usually no evidence as to exactly what happened. This time, we have at least certain pointers as to the possible causes of the accident . . .’ This gripping novel tells of the events leading up to a major air disaster, the disappearance over the Atlantic of a great airliner. It reveals the conflicting pressures that build up in a big commercial airline—and two strongly related love affairs that contribute their share of responsibility for the final tragedy . . .

A battle of nerves between a British squadron-leader and a German sea-captain. Deep in a Norwegian fjord hides the German merchant-cruiser Groningen. Squadron-leader Guy Strickland knows it is there, but Military Intelligence refuses to take his word for granted. He leads his exhausted squadron into the air in order to take the vital photographic evidence – but only his plane returns. A maverick and a brilliant flyer, Strickland becomes obsessed with the Groningen. So begins a grim and bitter struggle to the death, between Brit and German, between the plane and the ship... This thrilling wartime action story by a master storyteller of drama in the air vibrates with tension to the final page, and is perfect for fans of Max Hennessy, W. E. Johns and Alistair MacLean.

October 1960. The Russians are on the move in the Middle East. “Fuse K6!” cracks the order over the intercom of a giant jet bomber. Squadron Leader John Falkner and his crew whip into action. They arm their awesome cargo, a giant nuclear weapon capable of destroying 40,000 square miles. Then comes the order to defuse the bomb. The Russians are withdrawing. The proper procedure is followed – several times – but two warning red lights continue to blink. K6 will not defuse, their fuel is low and the bomb is set to automatically detonate at an altitude of 5,000 feet... David Beaty’s Cold War thriller is a classic of its genre.